On the eve of the Daytona 500, Mark
ponders the discussions about who is the best ever stock car driver
and Mark's success over the years.
Mark's single-minded will to succeed, at least in one person's
mind, makes it fairly simple to decide who might just be the
best driver in stock-car racing today.
"It's definitely Mark Martin," says team owner Bill Davis.
"He's the most focused, hardest working individual that I
know when it comes to developing a career, no matter what it
would be. He has always been that way. From the time he was
12 or 13 years old, all he wanted to do was race, learn about
it and learn every aspect of it. He's done that.
"I truly believe that focus and desire overcomes all the
rest. When you just absolutely make it your passion and
that's all you do week in and week out, if you have the
natural, God-given ability and talent, you're going to be
successful at it. That's certainly what Mark has done."
Mark brushes off such evaluations, but the desire and
focus Davis sees in Mark comes through when the driver
talks about his career.
"Some people race because of a love of racing," Mark said.
"I race because I could win. I couldn't win NBA games,
I couldn't win NFL games, I wasn't a professional baseball
player. I wasn't good enough to be those things. I was good
enough to be a professional race car driver and I identified
that before I was out of high school. I followed that. That
was what was there for me.
"I would have hated to have loved racing and not been good
enough at it to have been successful. If I had chose to race
out of a love of racing and wasn't good enough at it not to
have been successful, that would have been a pretty miserable
thing."
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Mark knows what he's
accomplished, and he knows he'll do all he can to stay
at the top of the Winston Cup points race.
His answers to the questions are all delivered with a quiet,
wait-and-see attitude.
"We got to keep our eyes on the prize, I guess," Mark
said. "That's what I'm going to do this year. We got a great
race team. I'm going to try to keep it focused this year and
hopefully we'll have a good year. We've had a lot of good
years recently and there's a lot of competition here. My goal
is to have another competitive year. We'll see how it turns
out." But Mark's not even going to venture a guess if this is his
year. "I'm willing to give everything and maybe a little bit more
I have, and I hope that's enough. It's hard to speculate,"
Mark said. Mark doesn't seem too caught up in the hype of being one
of the circuit's premiere drivers. He's still wondering what
all the fuss is about. "I'm still just the hillbilly
from Arkansas that sees myself still racing dirt every
Friday and Saturday nights," he said. "I don't see
myself as the fans see me today."
With his health intact and his team solidified, the only
questions may circulate around the 2000 Ford Taurus. Prior to
rolling into Daytona, Mark couldn't answer any questions
about the car. NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Greg
Biffle did all the testing, and Mark was only in the car
once. When it came time to qualify, Mark removed all
doubts and pushed the car into the 5th position. He
thinks his qualifying spot may put some of the questions
about his back to rest. "It helped … it really did,"
Mark said. For now, Mark isn't concentrating on his health or a
championship points race. He's looking at the task at hand.
"Getting a starting spot for the 500 that's the aim … just
getting the spot," Mark said. "This is a long race. It's
not necessarily the fastest car that wins the race. Sometimes
you're shocked who finishes in the top 10 here. It's real
important to be patient and try to see the light at the end
of the tunnel."
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