May 21, 2005
	Q&A With Mark Martin driver of the No. 6 Viagra Taurus after his win in the NEXTEL All-Star Challenge Question: THOUGHTS ON THE FANS REACTION. Mark: "The reaction of the fans, is number one. And part of that reaction was seeing the paint on that race car. So the Salute to You tour is about the fans. Their reaction to this win is number one. It is the thing that I'll remember as long as I live. Second of all, I want to thank Viagra and all our sponsors for allowing us to get a little glimpse of old school. That car ran like it did in '93 and it really means a lot. The other thing, next in line, is the look on the face of each and every guy who made that happen, the guys who do the work. I wish I could capture that and hold onto that and visit it every day. The best that we can do is photographs, and we'll do the best we can with that. That's really special. Then comes the trophy. It's really special. "This is how I want to do it. We did this by racing smart with a great race car tonight. Certainly don't feel like it was anything more than coming to the race track with a great race car and great execution by a team that I'm honored to drive for." Question: HOW HARD WERE YOU DRIVING THOSE FINAL LAPS? IT LOOKED LIKE ELLIOTT SADLER WAS CATCHING YOU? Mark: "I was driving as hard as I could and not mess up. And every single lap that I would check up into the comfort zone, he would gain on me. Then the next lap I would step outside the comfort zone and either stop him gaining or pull away. I didn't want to put together 15 laps outside the comfort zone, even though you can, I probably ran nine of the 15 out there right on the edge." Question: JACK SAID THAT HE DOESN'T HOLD OUT HOPE THAT YOU WON'T RETIRE. DO YOU EVER HAVE ANY SECOND THOUGHTS ABOUT RETIREMENT? ANY MORE RACES NEXT YEAR? Mark: "I only see the Bud Shootout and the All-Star race. That's all I really see at this time. I don't see how it would be possible to race a limited schedule on the level that I want to race on. It's just not possible to do that, so I've already said I can't sign up for another one of these. I don't know that I've ever completely explained to Jack why I've made this decision, because I know that he regrets it so much, but there are so many things that play into that decision and I'm excited about 2006, and I'm not regretting my decision at all. This just makes it even better. And we're not done yet. "Pat Tryson and this team, they want to deliver another miracle. This was a miracle tonight, and they want to deliver another one—that being a championship. We've been in the top 10 in every race but one this year, so it's not outside the realm of possibility. If we're going to come back here with fire in our eyes at the 600, and, man, we go from here to Dover, there to Pocono, and then from there to Michigan, we could get on a roll here. These are race tracks where we are strong. We've gone through a number of race tracks where we're not nearly as strong. I'm excited about what's coming up in front of us. We do have challenges in front of us. This business is not easy, and I have had to reach—last year I had to reach deeper than I've ever reached in my life to contend for that championship, and I thought there was no way to find any more and I've had to reach even deeper this year and find some more. And that's the real reason why I can't do it again next year. There's no possible way I could step it up another notch from 2005." Question: COMMENT ON THE LAST PIT STOP, WHEN YOU GOT OUT QUICKER THAN ANYBODY ELSE. Mark: "It never crossed my mind, either, to do two. I felt like it was the right decision and then out on the race tack I knew it was the right decision, because there we were right on top of those guys who had gotten two. So, great pit stop, great team effort, it's honor and a privilege to drive for these guys. I went to each and every one of them at the latter part of the season last year and asked them to stay together and give me one last shot at this thing, and that's what they've done. And that's a little treat tonight. Hopefully, there's many more to come." Question: THOUGHTS ON THIS SEASON. Mark: "This is exactly the kind of season I had hoped and dreamed for. Not only has the Cup thing been very, very stellar, aside from some bad luck, but we've won a couple of Busch races, and we've won an IROC race and we're leading the points in that thing, too, and we broke a record at Daytona when we won down there and if we're lucky we might not be done yet. This is what I was looking for, but as you know, most of what I've looked for in this business I haven't gotten, I've only gotten part of. It's an honor and a privilege to drive for these guys, and my biggest fear would be to have less of a team or less of a car to work with, but thanks to Pat and thanks to Jack Roush, here we are." Question: YOU SAID EARLIER THIS IS YOUR FAVORITE RACE TRACK. Mark: "Lowe's Motor Speedway is without a doubt, in my mind, it's only my opinion, the greatest race track in the world. There's nothing else close. And I still like it even though they ground it. It still is. I wish they wouldn't have, but here we are. And all I can hope for is that we can continue, we can come back for the 600 and Pat can put a setup under my car that will work and give me the latitude to move around on the race track like I did tonight. Top or bottom, either one." Question: AT DAYTONA, YOU WERE ASKED HOW EMOTIONAL YOU WERE GOING TO THE 500 FOR THE LAST TIME AND YOU SAID ASK THAT QUESTION WHEN I GET TO CHARLOTTE. WE'RE AT CHARLOTTE. Mark: "That's a scary question. Obviously, it's not emotional right now because I'm nowhere near done here. This was something that is very important to me and very important to my fans and to my sponsors and to my team. If I had to look out on the grandstands before the race started and think that I would never drive again here, I would cry, like a baby. But that's not the case yet. So, we don't have to worry about it yet." Question: EVERYBODY TALKS ABOUT THIS RACE BEING FUN, BUT IT IS EMOTIONAL, TOO. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE EMOTIONAL PART OF THIS RACE? Mark: "It's real fun for me tonight, but the last several years it hadn't any fun at all. It's incredibly frustrating when your expectations are higher than your results. Whether it is that you wish you could be up there contending, or that you got wrecked and didn't get a chance or whatever it might be, it was fun. It felt like it was supposed to feel tonight, for me, because we were never further back than fourth at any time in the race, so our car was spectacular and we were fortunate enough that the wreck didn't start in front of us. We had one of the more dominant cars. "The 38 was pretty incredible, but we had a car, as usual, that had legs, it seemed to run longer, better then it would take off. It's a high-intensity race, it pays a million bucks. There's not many races that pay that, and it happens quick. And there's nothing to lose in it. That's still no excuse for not racing like a sportsman. All I said when they had that big wreck was they had that too soon, because now they didn't have a chance. They shouldn't have done that, yet." Question: ELLIOTT SAID THAT THE CONTACT HE MADE WITH YOU ON THE RE-START WAS A FACTOR. DID YOU FEEL THAT IT WAS THAT SOLID A LICK? Mark: "I'm trying to remember. Was he on the outside or inside? I don't know. With 20 to go? He probably feels like it might have pushed his right-front fender in and that's a real sweet spot in these cars, and you have to think about that. You have to drive these cars today, you just can't touch anything with that right-front fender. Sometimes you get lucky and it doesn't hurt, but it killed us, it killed us, at Texas. We were running 10th and I hit the wall coming off the corner, not very hard and it pushed it in and I went right to dead last in the lead lap, 20th." Question: BUT IT DIDN'T BOTHER YOU TONIGHT? Mark: "No. We just barely touched. But it's a tender area and it may have been a factor for him"