volumes about the man, and made it abundantly clear how much he disliked the
question. It was as if he deemed it a personal attack.That's how much Roush Racing means to him.
He'd been queried about commitment, and whether he felt his had waned of late.
The 2001 season was his worst and most frustrating season in years. He managed just three top-five finishes -- tying his lowest output since joining Roush in 1988 -- and didn't log a victory for the first time in since 1996.
Folks searched for answers, but answers weren't readily available.
"There seems to be some confusion about things last year," said Mark, in a matter-of-fact tone between bites of a chicken sandwich, hacked in half and smothered in honey mustard.
"Last year we didn't run as good as we wanted to, so people tried to find a reason. People are fairly impatient. And if I'd had the answer, I wouldn't have had to tell you guys because we'd have been running better."
Well said, and all too true. No one questions a winner. But when a prominent driver is down, infinite questions arise, making the draining commitment to excellence even more exhausting.
Mark has not won since the spring race at Martinsville in 2000.
"Running well just makes you feel better about how hard you work," Mark said. "It makes you feel better about not being there for your family, whatever events are going on that you're not able to participate in. It makes that worthwhile."
Mark spent the vast majority of his free time in 2001 nurturing the career of his young son, Matt, who had developed the same love of racing his father has so long been know for. In doing so, Mark was reinvigorated. Working with Matt and the other youngsters reminded him of his affection for racing.
That's not to say he delights in riding around every Sunday afternoon. Just one thing brings him joy in a racecar -- winning.
"I'm having more fun this year because we're running good," he said. "I don't care anything about racing for 25th. I'm not interested in doing that. I race really for one reason -- that's to win. And if I think I can't, then I don't feel like I need to be racing.
"That's me. For me, I've dedicated my life since I was 15 years old to winning races and have been really, really successful at that. I have no intention of spending another large portion of my career doing anything different."
A new year and a new crew have produced fruitful results for Mark, and Roush Racing as a whole for that matter. Martin has already tallied more top-fives in the first 11 weeks than he did all of last year, including a pair of top-3 runs. He didn't finish in the top-3 at all in 2001.
He is currently fourth in the championship standings, just 193 points behind leader Sterling Marlin. All four Roush drivers are ranked in the top 10, with Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch and Martin making up three of the top four drivers. This time last year, none of them ranked in the top-10, and only Kenseth was in the top 15.
There is a slew of reasons for the vast turnaround.
"It's a cycle. When you get behind you can't go from behind to in front in one day," Mark said. "You didn't get behind in a day, and we're working our way out of a hole right now that we as a group sort of got in, not by not working, but maybe by working on the wrong things to some degree.
"We make quite a bit more horsepower than we made a year ago. We have better-handling cars than we had a year ago. We have faster pit stops than we had a year ago. And I'm having a little better luck on the racetrack than I had a year ago. When you put all those things together, it makes a significant difference."
2002 has produced a significant difference in the results column for Mark. But don't go thinking he has recommitted himself to excellence.
The commitment never left.
"I'm committed to what I do until I don't do it anymore," he said, now on sandwich No. 2. "That won't change."
