NASCAR 2005: Changing lanes

Thursday, March 10, 2005 | 8:48 a.m.

1978 -- Won first of four ASA championships ('78, '79, '80, '86)

1981 -- Made NASCAR Winston Cup debut at North Wilkesboro Speedway

1988 -- Returned to NASCAR Winston Cup full time driving for team owner Jack Roush

1989 -- Earned first NASCAR Winston Cup victory (Rockingham Motor Speedway)

1990 -- Runner-up to Dale Earnhardt for NASCAR Winston Cup championship

1993 -- Became sixth modern-era driver to win four Cup races in a row; won seven NASCAR Busch Series events

1994 -- Runner-up to Dale Earnhardt for NASCAR Winston Cup championship; won first of four IROC championships ('94, '96, '97, '98)

1997 -- Became all-time leader in NASCAR Busch Series wins with 33rd career victory

1998 -- Runner-up to Jeff Gordon for NASCAR Winston Cup championship with career-high seven wins; won inaugural Cup race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

2000 -- Won five NASCAR Busch Series races to push record total to 45

2002 -- Runner-up to Tony Stewart for NASCAR Winston Cup championship

2004 -- Earned 34th career Cup victory (Dover International Speedway)

2005 -- Became all-time leader in IROC series wins with 12th career victory; won 46th career NASCAR Busch Series race (California Speedway).

Driving a racecar at 200 mph doesn't faze Mark Martin, but that doesn't mean he is fearless.

Martin's fear of hanging around the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series too long -- past the time when he can win races and challenge for championships -- led him to announce that this season would be his last in NASCAR's premier series.

"I'm not going to be caught hanging on to something I can't hang onto and not being competitive out on the racetrack -- that scares me to death," Martin said. "It's really, really important to me to go out of this thing as close to the top of my game as possible.

"I just want to be remembered for being as competitive as I have been the last 10 years. I don't want to be remembered as the guy that raced for 25th (place) every week."

Martin, 46, will join Rusty Wallace, 48, in calling the 2005 season his last on the Nextel Cup circuit. Terry Labonte, 48, is running a limited schedule this year and next.

Like Labonte, Martin is not quitting NASCAR racing cold turkey. He said he plans to race in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series next season, perhaps for current team owner Jack Roush.

"I'm not going to quit racing -- I can't," Martin said. "I can't because I might short-circuit. There's no doubt that that void has to be filled in my life and that I have to transition."

Martin, a native of Batesville, Ark., won three consecutive American Speed Association championships from 1978-1980 before moving up the NASCAR in 1981. He ran five races in what was then called the Winston Cup Series in 1981 as an owner/driver and won two poles and posted a pair of top-10 finishes.

He competed in 52 Cup races for a variety of car owners from 1982 to 1987 before teaming up with car owner Jack Roush in 1988. Martin finished 15th in the series standings that season and posted 10 top-10 finishes in what would be the start of a highly successful relationship.

During the next 16 years, Martin won 34 Cup races and finished runner-up for the series championship four times. Last season, Martin was one of the 10 drivers who qualified for the Chase for the Nextel Cup. He finished the season with one victory and 15 top-10 finishes in the No. 6 Viagra Ford.

The fact that he remains in great shape, drives for one of the top teams on the circuit and still is competitive on the racetrack helped Martin decided that this was the right time to finish his career in the Nextel Cup Series.

"(I'm retiring) because I'm in great shape, I was fourth in the points (and) I have a great team," Martin said. "It's very important to me to get out with my dignity and not hang on to something that I can't hang on to."

And although racing has been his passion for the past 30 years, Martin said he doesn't necessarily love being a racecar driver.

"I don't love racing," Martin has said in the past, "I love winning races."

The demand of being one of the top drivers in the most visible form of American auto racing has taken its toll on Martin.

"I'm very capable and very passionate about racing, but I'm done with what I'm doing," he said. "I've got to close this chapter. It has grown to the point where I can't sign up for another year.

"I have other things that are important to me, (things) that I have put off for 30 years, but it is time for me to develop some personal relationships, to spend more time with my family, to be more accessible to my extended family, to be under less pressure, to have some Sundays to do what I choose."

And just what would Martin do on a Sunday if he weren't racing?

"Watch the race on TV, I guess," he said. "Go to a family reunion. I haven't ever been to a Martin family reunion in my life. I didn't go to my granddad's funeral; I haven't done anything (but race). I'm interested in reclaiming a life.

"If you've got a day off and it's Monday, and your kids are in school and everybody you know is working, what good is it? It's not the same as a Sunday, when you can go and have dinner with your family. Sunday is a totally different day than a Monday, it just really is and it's something that when you haven't had any for 30 years, it's a different day."

When Martin steps out of his Roush Racing Ford at the end of this season, he will leave a legacy in the sport that will be hard for future drivers to match. In addition to his success on the racetrack, Martin has been the model of humility and class both on and off the track.

When he earned his 23rd career Cup victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 1998, Martin said the win was special because "it's real hard to win these races and we may win 20 or 30 more in my career but we may not win any more and I realize that."

Martin went on to win 11 more races and has been a contender in each of the first two races this season. Martin finished sixth in the season-opening Daytona 500 and was seventh two weekends ago at California Speedway. Coming into Sunday's UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Martin is third in points and trails series leader and Roush Racing teammate Kurt Busch by 39 points.

If he were given a gold watch for his retirement, Martin was asked what would be an appropriate inscription. Always humble, Martin replied, "_thinspace'There was a guy who tried really, really hard and always did what he thought was right.' That's just the first thing that came to mind."

For his millions of fans, that doesn't even begin to define his legacy.