weeks -- a welcome respite from the 2000 season that had
lasted 10 months and produced his worst points finish in 12
years. Mark, a man who doesn’t conceal his emotions well,
was clearly in a funk.But refreshed by his winter layoff, Mark says he is now eager to attack the 2001 Winston Cup campaign. The 2000 season -- eighth in the points with only one win and without a pole position -- was, he hopes, an anomaly. He is used to being in title contention, having finished second or third in the points standings seven times in his career.
"I was depressed because I really have enjoyed being a championship contender for a dozen years straight. It was some sort of blow to me to not be," Mark said. "I was depressed a little bit about that. It was because I had six DNFs (did not finish). Without those DNFs, we could have contended with anyone except (points champion) Bobby Labonte. He really had a spectacular year in performance as well as consistency. Mark started quickly in 2000 with five straight top-10 race finishes. When the circuit rolled into southern California at the end of April, Mark’s Roush Racing Ford was atop the standings.
The following week, at Richmond, Va., his season began to unravel when he finished 32nd after crashing. Engine failure left him 36th at Dover, Del., followed a week later by a 40th at Brooklyn, Mich.
The worst was yet come. On back-to-back weekends, Mark finished dead last, 43rd, at Pocono, Pa. (engine failure) and Indianapolis (wreck), and he plummeted to 10th in the standings. He wound up eighth at year’s end -- his worst showing since he was sixth in 1991-92.
He had hoped for much more, especially since he felt better physically than he had in many years. He had surgery to fuse his spine following the 1999 season, but his cars’ performance didn’t match his vigor. He’s confident that long-time crew chief Jimmy Fennig and Roush Racing’s engine department will make him competitive in 2001, when there will be 36 races -- an increase of two events because of new tracks in Kansas City and Chicago.
"Trying to have more cars built going into this season this year than ever before feels good," Martin said. "We have never really had an arsenal of cars when we left to go to Daytona. We usually kind of built as we went, and Jimmy and the guys have got cars lined up this year, so hopefully that won’t quite be as bad a thrash, especially if we really hit the mark on the cars the way we build them." Mark’s cars will have a new look this year. Gone is his sponsor of many seasons, Valvoline, and on board is Pfizer Pharmaceutical, which is reportedly paying $60 million to sponsor Mark for the next five seasons.
"I have what I believe is a great race team -- the best we have ever had," Mark said. "We’ll see when we place it in competition exactly how it stacks up."
