Opinion—Martin’s mediocre finishes don’t tell entire story

While I admit to being a superfan of Mark Martin, I also must be a realist. The start to the 2011 season for the Batesville, Ark., native could have been much better. Through four races, Martin has finished no higher than 10th but no lower than 18th. That’s pretty average if you ask me.

However, if you look at the stories behind the finishes, Mark Martin has been nothing short of stellar to start the 2011 campaign—his last in a Hendrick Motorsports car.

Early on at Daytona, the GoDaddy.com car was tangled up in that wreck that took out half the field. Martin and new crew chief Lance McGrew worked on the fender damage and eventually made it back to the lead lap late in the race. On the final restart Martin was fourth, behind Tony Stewart, ready to push Smoke to victory in the season’s opening race.

Not bad for a car that was smashed up on lap 30. Even though Martin only ended up 10th, it could have been much worse for the GoDaddy team that day. McGrew and Martin set the tone for the next few races with that fight at Daytona.

At Phoenix Martin was once again tangled up in someone else’s mess, slightly damaging the front end of the car. Martin got into the back of Kevin Harvick, making the 2007 Daytona 500 champ slightly less than pleased.

But once again McGrew and Martin battled, making the car as good as they could near the end. Even though Martin only finished 13th it could have been a worse day for the team.

While Martin didn’t find any trouble in Vegas, his car was never quite fast enough to run up front. McGrew and Martin kept adjusting and never quite hit on what they needed to get to the front.

To add to fans’ frustrations, Martin was the lowest finishing Hendrick car that day.

Fans knew McGrew wasn’t held in high regard by fans of Dale Earnhardt Jr., whom McGrew last worked with at HMS, but prior to the 2011 Cup season the last time Martin and McGrew hooked up was for a 2008 Nationwide Series win in Vegas.

So things could get better for Martin and the No. 5 team, but likewise, they could be a whole heck of a lot worse. Martin is known for having very little luck, and this year he’s getting some breaks to go his way.

He sits 11th in Sprint Cup points after this weekend’s race in Bristol. A race that once again left Kevin Harvick fuming at the man he beat back to the line at Daytona in 2007 by a mere .02 seconds.

“That’s two times in four races,” Harvick said over the radio after Martin bumped him and spun him out on Sunday. “They need to check his old ass for vision.”

Kasey Kahne was running in front of Harvick with less than 100 laps to go and suddenly slowed up exiting turn two. Harvick had to let off and Martin, who was accelerating and tailing the No. 29 car, had nowhere to go.

Welcome to Bristol Mr. Harvick.

After the race he was a little more calm, simply saying, “You know when we were sitting there running third and fifth, really we were just riding. I just wanted to make sure that we had a race car left and (Kahne) got a little tight and (Martin) ran over us again,” Harvick said.

Once again, it’s typical Bristol racing. Although I’m still sticking by my theory that it’s just a Karmatic (is that even a word? Well, now it is) payback for the atrocities of the 2007 Daytona 500. You win some and you lose some.

Harvick rallied to finish 6th on Sunday and Martin came home 12th. Although they both could have had better finishes, the wreck could have completely devastated both men.

It’s another sign that although Mark Martin’s luck could have him sitting 30th in points, he’s only 11th, 27 markers back of the leader, Kurt Busch.

Martin will make his 800th career Cup start in two weeks at Martinsville, appropriately enough. By then we’ll have a better handle on how the season will turn out for the 52-year-old Martin. Right now, I’m sticking by the ‘it could be (a lot) worse’ mantra.

Some would call the start mediocre, but until you look at why Mark Martin is only averaging a 13th place finish, you’d say, “That’s awfully darn good.”

Those are my thoughts, and I’m sticking to ‘em.