Martin wants to win

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. Mark Martin works out almost daily and scrutinizes everything he eats -- dedication that has the 50-year-old driver in top physical condition.

He knows that intense focus on personal health won't forever stave off the effects of aging. Eventually, his eyesight may fade or his coordination will drop just a tick.

For now, though, the veteran is at the top of his game and ready to make yet another run at that elusive NASCAR championship. After two years of easing his way into retirement with limited Sprint Cup schedules, he was lured back to a full-time job by an open seat at elite Hendrick Motorsports.

It was an opportunity too good to refuse, perhaps the last-gasp chance to win the title that's escaped him over his remarkable 26-year career.

No one involved in the effort -- team owner Rick Hendrick, crew chief Alan Gustafson, or teammates Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- doubt Martin will be a legitimate championship contender this season.

"There's not a single time when Mark has gotten into one of our cars where I haven't said to myself 'Wow, this dude is crazy good. How has he not won 10 championships?'" Gustafson said. "This guy might be the best to ever do this, or at least one of the top five stock car drivers in history."

Bobby Allison is the oldest driver ever to win a Cup championship. When he did it in 1983 he was 45 -- five years younger than Martin is now. Richard Petty was 42 when he won the last of his seven titles, Dale Earnhardt was 44. Since 1999, no driver over the age of 36 has claimed a Cup title.

Only 10 drivers in NASCAR history have won even so much as a race after runing 50. Nobody has done it since Morgan Shepherd at Atlanta in 1993.

But those around Martin insist he's in a different category.

For starters, his fitness regimen rivals that of anyone in the garage: strength training four days a week, cardio on the other three. A recovering alcoholic, he's also compulsively careful about what he puts into his body.

To Martin, age is just a number. It's the desire that actually means something.

"One of the things that really happens when you get my age, to race car drivers, is it's very common for that burning fire and desire, it seems to diminish to a degree," Martin said. "That hasn't happened to me.

"I want this as bad as I did the day I got fired in 1983 or the day I went broke in 1982 or the first win I got in 1989. I want it as bad, at least as bad, as I ever have in my life and I'm willing to do whatever it takes."

Martin qualified second fastest and will start on the front row in Sunday's Daytona 500. He's never won a Cup race at NASCAR's most famous track. In 2007, his best shot at victory in the 500 ended in a photo-finish. He was second to Kevin Harvick.

"This is the crown jewel of stock car racing," Martin said. "Everything else that I've done in my career would fit around this. If things go our way, then maybe we'll have a chance again here Sunday."

In 2007, Martin left Jack Roush, his car owner of 19 years, so he could cut back on his schedule. He joined Ginn Motorsports. When after four races he was leading the point standings, there was speculation that he would want to win the championship so much that he would run the full schedule after all

But Martin stuck with his plan.

He skipped 24 races the last two seasons, enough to recognize racing is still the cornerstone of his life. He said he had reached that point before Hendrick came calling, and the partnership was a no-brainer for both Martin and the car owner.

"I just needed a break to catch my breath and sort of figure out what was important to me," he said. "Retirement means one of two things: getting to do something you've wanted to do all your life, or sitting around bored and letting life wither you away.

"I don't want to sit around and shrivel up."