MARK MARTIN, NO. 8 U.S. ARMY IMPALA SS met with media and talked about his second place Daytona 500 finish, his part-time schedule, his workout routine, and more:
FROM A SPONSOR�S PERSPECTIVE, ARE THE DEMANDS OR EXPECTATIONS FROM THE ARMY ANY DIFFERENT THAN MAYBE PFIZER OR VALVOLINE, SPONSORS YOU�VE WORKED WITH IN THE PAST?
�You know, each sponsor that I�ve worked with has been a little bit different as far as what they want and what they need, but you know it�s really been a joy for me. The things that I�ve done for them have been things that I have been really proud to be a part of and really enjoyed. Of course 2007 was by far the best year of my lifetime; best sponsor experience as well as everything else. 2007�s tops and Army was a part of that.�
HOW DOES IT FEEL TO COME BACK HERE? DO YOU HAVE AN EXTRA SPRING IN YOUR STEP KNOWING YOU WERE SO CLOSE TO WINNING IT?
�Absolutely no difference. None. You know what I am saying; there is no difference in my step or anything else. I was very proud of the effort that my team made last year but that was last year you know, and I drove the race of my life last year and I�m also proud of that and beyond that to me it�s like it never happened. Just like all the wins to me, it feels like they never happened and I would be the same person had they not have happened. My life doesn�t revolve around the past. It mostly revolves around the future. I�ve always focused forward not much look back.�
SPEAKING OF THE FUTURE, NOW THAT YOU ARE ON THE PART-TIME PLAN, HAVE YOU GIVEN SERIOUS THOUGHT TO HOW MUCH LONGER YOU GOING TO KEEP DOING THIS?
�Yeah, don�t think I haven�t thought about it. I�m a planner. I planned on it for five years and it wound up being six instead of five but you know the circumstances around it. You know being in the No. 6 car in �06 I hadn�t planned on doing that. It�s not forever. What I�m doing now is not forever, that�s for sure. It�s limited as well and it�s limited for multiple reasons. One is I don�t really think it�s practical for me to try to do for another seven years or probably even another five years. It�s limited, but I do have �09 basically in place.�
SO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE PROBABLY GOOD FOR �09?
Mark Martin: Well, I have �09 in place; I mean we have �09 in place. All but sorting out the details. I actually have a long-term agreement with Dale Earnhardt Incorporated just as I had with Ginn although it didn�t transfer when we made the change. We did a new contract with Dale Earnhardt Incorporated that was long-term which includes my racing in Cup again in �09 and sort of unspecified for the next three years after that.
WHAT�S YOUR NON-CUP PROGRAM?
�Five races with Rick Hendrick and JR Motorsports, so ironically I work for Teresa, Dale Jr., and Rick Hendrick. So I�m still crossing the lines. Not as quite as dramatically as last year but still crossing lines again this year to some degree.�
DOING ANY TRUCKS?
�Not any trucks right now. I�d worked real hard on trying to put together trucks and it is an incredibly tough business model and we just weren�t able to do it. I�ve looked at it real hard especially with trying to get involved, and actually becoming part owner in David Dollar�s program. Might happen in the future, but we just you know, we really had to prioritize things and a number one priority was the No. 8 and Dale Earnhardt Incorporated and Aric Almirola and Regan Smith. That�s really where my heart is and where my priorities are and we are going to have some fun in the Busch car and who knows where that goes. But I have enormous respect for Dale Jr. and I�m really proud to be a part of that cooperative effort between Hendrick and Jr. and being a part of that shop and Tony Eury, Sr. and Chad Walters as crew chief obviously. Junior is going to drive the same car as I do and so I did the first test at Vegas. So I feel like I�m working and helping you know get things sort of in order for Junior. You know we�re working we�re going to work together obviously but doing some cool stuff, still really cool stuff.�
CAN YOU TELL A DIFFERENCE PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY OR SPIRITUALLY OR HOWEVER YOU WANT TO SAY IT IN YOUR BODY AND YOUR PERSONALITY NOW THAT YOU�VE GONE TO A PART-TIME SCHEDULE?
�Absolutely. Number one let�s talk about physically. I am by far in the best shape of my life today � by far. Just short of incredible condition right now and I love it. I was just talking coming in this morning, I�m as happy as I could be walking in here. If I were doing the full schedule I�d be walking in here with a snarl on my face. I�ve done this so many times and this wouldn�t be what I would want to be doing, but because I�m doing what I want to do. I want to be here, I want to be a part of this and that�s how I�ve addressed everything. That�s one of the things that made 2007 one of the greatest years of my life. To have the opportunity to not only represent U.S. Army but the No. 8 car and Dale Earnhardt Incorporated, it�s really special to me. You know it�s a once in a lifetime opportunity to work with that company and to work on bringing along Aric and seeing Regan reach his full potential and be a part of that organization and the legacy. 2008 is going to be I hope another one. I expect to be able to say that 2008 was the greatest year of my life. 2007 obviously is today and I�m a brand new person because I�m not doing anything that I don�t want to do � nothing. And I did a lot of that for a long, long time. A lot of stuff that I didn�t want to do and I did those for my career, for Roush Racing and for my career, the things that we had to do and now I only do the things that I want to do.�
ON THE NEW RACE CAR
�You know, I think we are making great progress with the new car and the handling department and all and the more we race it the better we�ll make the car.�
HOW DOES IT COMPARE TO THE OLD CAR?
�Well, technically the car is a giant step backwards from the old car, technically. So we have made great strides in bringing that back and getting a lot of that back in this new car.�
TALK ABOUT BEING IN THE BEST SHAPE OF YOUR LIFE. ARE YOU TRAINING DIFFERENTLY NOW THAN YOU DID? ARE YOU FINDING YOU HAVE TO TRAIN DIFFERENTLY?
�One thing is, I�m training at about 45 minutes later in the day, instead of at 5:30 � I�m a little bit after 6:00. That�s helped a lot. I have more time. I don�t have quite the same deadline so I�m doing more stretching. I have more time to plan and be more diligent on the way I eat and the nutrition program. But I think the stretching has done an awful lot for me and a little less pressed on time gives me an opportunity to vary my workouts more. In other words, before I just had to do it and get it done and I did the same thing every time and hurry up, hurry up and now I am doing a better job putting variety into my program. So instead of forcing through 45 minutes I may be using an hour and ten or fifteen, you know adding a lot of stretching. When you get older it becomes really important. I�ve lifted weights for 20 years. I should have been doing it a long time ago. It really makes me feel a lot better.�
DO YOU DO MORE REPS BECAUSE YOU HAVE MORE TIME?
�No, I change it around a lot more, no. I�m doing basically the same workload as I was doing before but I�m shocking and surprising.�
ON LAST YEAR�S DAYTONA 500
�I don�t replay it. I don�t think about it much. I don�t replay it in my mind. That�s behind us. I�ll say again, I�ve said it a hundred times or a hundred thousand times I�m very proud of the effort that my team made last year. I also am very proud of the fact that I drove the race of my life last year. And so, that�s that.�
BUT YOU SAID NOTHING CHANGED AFTER COMING SO CLOSE. WOULD A WIN CHANGE WOULD IT CHANGE YOUR CAREER, CHANGE ANYTHING?
�I went home after that race, after I got done with all that stuff. I went home, I took a shower and I did the same thing I do after every race. Now I have won a few races and I did the same thing that night as I did after the races I won or the races that I crashed - crash and burn. So, no I mean the only thing different was you could write Daytona 500 Champion Mark Martin and now you can�t write anything but Mark Martin. You know what I�m saying � you could, that would change because you would be able to say that well that�s how everything you write about me might read, but beyond that I mean, I don�t know I�m not a look back and you know I�m very proud � I�ll say again I�m very proud of the effort, very proud of the race I drove. I believe in my heart that I drove the race of my life and I don�t know if I�ve got more than that in me or if I could ever do that, you know I don�t know and I�m not worried about it.�
THEN THAT�S A GREAT FEELING?
�That�s a great feeling. I�m very proud of what we did last year. I wish we would have won, but winning that race wouldn�t change who I am and it really wouldn�t change my world that much. Just like winning the other races that I have won in my career really haven�t changed things that much either. I�m proud of the one�s we�ve won, I�m disappointed at all the ones that got away that we should have won but didn�t and that Daytona 500 is not one of those that got away. It�s not one of those we should have won and didn�t it�s one we could have won and didn�t.
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