| | | | | | | 01 - Mark Martin | Batesville, AR |
| | Primary Sponsor: U.S. Army
Manufacturer: Chevrolet
Car Owner: Bobby Ginn
Team: Ginn Racing Mark Martin will be No. 1 in 2007 – No. 01 U. S. Army Chevrolet, that is. Martin has joined forces with Ginn Racing as he enters his 25th season of NEXTEL Cup racing. The last 19 of those years he spent driving the No. 6 Roush Racing car. Now he will split seat time with rookie Regan Smith behind the wheel of the number 01 car. Martin is expected to run around 22 races, including Daytona 500, Budweiser Shootout, NEXTEL All-Star Challenge and Coca-Cola 600.
Martin has had a long and successful racing career. A legend in the sport, he became one of just three drivers to qualify for the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup last season, and his ninth-place finish in the points was his 16th top-10 points finish in the past 18 months.
In 2006 he started his 600th consecutive NEXTEL Cup race, and made his 617th consecutive start in the season finale at Homestead. He finished inside the top five in the final point standings in 12 of the past 16 seasons, and has four runner-up finishes, including a second-place in 2002. Martin’s 35 wins are the third most among active drivers, and he is now fourth in NEXTEL Cup’s all-time standings. In 674 starts, he has 234 top-five finishes, 374 top-ten finishes and 41 poles.
At age 15 Martin began stock car racing on the local Arkansas dirt tracks. He won his first race in his third start, then went on to win the Arkansas State Championship in 1974 – his first year of racing. By 1977, he started competing in the ASA series against drivers such as Rusty Wallace and Dick Trickle, and was named ASA Rookie of the Year the same year. He won three consecutive championships from 1978-80.
His first full NASCAR season came in 1982, an impressive rookie year in which he had eight top-10 finishes. But Martin never received payment from his sponsor, and, unable to fund the team himself, he auctioned off everything in his shop in April 1983. He ran a limited Cup schedule that year for different owners, and then returned to the ASA series from 1984-86. He claimed another championship in 1986.
In 1987, he drove a full-season Busch Grand National schedule for Bruce Lawmaster, and his victory at Dover caught the attention of Jack Roush. Preparing his own cup team in 1988, Roush selected Martin to be his driver.
For almost two decades, Martin and Roush achieved everything short of a Cup title. Martin earned 35 NEXTEL Cup victories, finishing second in the point standings four times – 1990, 1994, 1998 and 2002.
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