Mark Martin’s bad weekend ends in wreck

“Impatience is a real hard thing to deal with and to work with,” Mark Martin said in October of 2007. “Impatience is waste of time. It’s a diversion. If you're impatient, you're worrying about things you can't control.”

He was caught in the wrong place at the wrong time on Saturday night, and the bashed in hood of the GoDaddy.com car signaled the early end to an otherwise forgettable evening in Texas for Mark Martin. Up to this point in the year, Martin and crew chief Lance McGrew had fought through little scrapes and minor damage to compile finishes no better than 10th but no worse than 20th.

On Saturday though, it sounded like Martin and McGrew couldn’t agree on what was best to help the car out, and they fell behind quickly. However, as I’ve noted numerous times in the past few weeks, not all is lost for fans of the No. 5 Chevy. Jeff Gordon didn’t do too well either, finishing 23rd on the evening.

When Rick Hendrick decided to make the monster move after the Homestead race last season, the main reasoning behind it was to help all four teams be more competitive. In 2009 Hendrick owned the three cars that finished 1-2-3 in the points standings. In 2010 that was far from the case.

The driver that was going to benefit the most from the move was Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was moving from his shop with Mark Martin across the campus of HMS to the shop that houses now five-time champion Jimmie Johnson. In turn, Jeff Gordon moved over to Mark Martin’s shop.

The results of that switch were very evident this weekend when the Nos. 48 and 88 were in the top ten while the Nos. 5 and 24 hung out in between 18th and 25th place. At some point someone with more credibility and access to these problems will raise a question on whether or not the move helped all four Hendrick teams.

As a fan I say heck no, and as an impartial observer, I say there’s still a lot of time for ground to be made up.

Last season, Jenna Fryer, of the Associated Press, noted that Alan Gustafson—who was then Mark Martin’s crew chief—was the most loyal Hendrick worker. He gave up some of his team that pushed Martin to the runner-up spot in points in 2009, to benefit the entire 5/88 shop in 2010.

Earnhardt Jr. told Fryer one year ago that he felt it helped both teams. “I think it helped us,” he said. “I know Mark is struggling compared to last year. But it helped us as a team. (Engineer) Chris Heroy come over was a big deal for me and Lance both. I think he’s enjoyed being part of our group.”

Gustafson agreed. In the same article from last year he said, “If I was somebody who was not involved in this everyday, that is what I would say because that is the most obvious and makes the most sense. I think it’s wrong. I do think our shop has made a net gain, even though we haven’t won any races. The 88 is significantly better than what they were. So I think the team strength is a lot better.”

I’d be interested to see where this goes if Martin and Gordon are still sitting outside the top 12 in points when we head into June or July. We know Alan Gustafson, Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin probably won’t trash the boss that has put them in their current predicament, but as fans looking from the outside in, we all sit back and wonder if the move has paid off so far.

In my opinion it hasn’t, but I’m willing to be patient. Because impatience is something that Mark Martin cannot tolerate.