Mark Martin never fell below 12th in the 2005 points standings and was in the top 10 all but two weeks. Credit: Autostock

In Review: Mark Martin

Veteran continuously got better as season progressed

For Mark Martin, 2005 was to be a swan song, a farewell salute to nearly 20 years spent chasing the NASCAR dream from a single cockpit -- the No. 6 Roush Racing Ford.

Turns out it was merely a warmup.

MARK MARTIN •   Driver Page •   2005 Stats •   Store: Get Mark's gear Inside the Numbers Mark Martin in 2005 Race Start Finish Daytona 500 32 6 Auto Club 500 18 7 UAW-DaimChrys 400 19 30 Golden Corral 500 12 4 Food City 500 34 31 Advance 500 22 3 Sam./R.Shack 500 16 20 Subway 500 22 16 Aaron's 499 16 33 Dodge Charger 500 20 4 Chevy 400 14 15 Coca-Cola 600 13 28 RacePoints 400 12 3 Pocono 500 13 7 Batman 400 15 3 Dodge/S. Mart 350 3 15 Pepsi 400 23 39 USG 400 20 10 New England 300 19 15 Pennsylvania 500 3 3 Allstate 400 10 7 Sirius at the Glen 6 7 GFS Marketplace 400 14 17 Sharpie 500 25 16 Sony HD 500 2 11 Chevy 400 4 13 Sylvania 300 15 7 RacePoints 400 7 4 UAW-Ford 500 24 41 Banquet 400 19 1 UAW-GM Quality 500 6 5 Subway 500 35 34 Bass Pro/MBNA 500 4 3 Dickies 500 8 2 Checker 500 29 14 Ford 400 5 2 Average 15.5 13.2 For the fansMark Martin dedicates his All-Star win to the fans Victory at KansasMark Martin celebrates in victory lane at Kansas Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE ALSO •   Year in Review Archive

Extenuating circumstances regarding chosen replacement Jamie McMurray's contractual obligations to Chip Ganassi Racing led Jack Roush to request Martin's return for an 18th season in the No. 6.

And while he truly had no desire to engage himself in the Cup Series circus one more time, Martin, ever selfless, obliged.

Judging by the 2005 season finale, he still has plenty of fight left.

Martin and teammate Greg Biffle treated fans to an epic duel in the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, a fierce door-to-door sprint off of Turn 4 that ultimately sent Biffle to victory lane by a scant .017 seconds -- the sixth-closest finish in NASCAR Cup Series history.

"I did everything I could," Martin said of the run to the checkers. "And I thought I had him, but we just came up inches short. Still, it was a lot of fun and it's really exciting to end the season this way.

"This is a great race team. These guys are killer. I've had the time of my life in 2005.

"I hope we can keep these guys (on the No. 6 team) together for another year, and we'll come back and make one more run at this thing."

All indications suggest Martin will once again be in the thick of the title hunt next November.

The No. 6 team got progressively stronger as the 2005 season unfolded, to the tune that his final ranking in the championship standings -- fourth -- was his highest position since the season's sixth week.

Moreover, on the strength of five top-fives -- including the season's lone win at Kansas Speedway in which he led a race-high 139 laps -- Martin improved five positions, from ninth to fourth, in the final eight races.

Alongside the Kansas victory, Martin scored second-place runs at Texas Motor Speedway and Homestead, runner-up finishes that both came at the hands of a teammate. Overall he had six top-fives in 10 Chase races.

"We scored a lot of points in the Chase," Martin said. "If you look at what we did, we were in the top five almost every race, except for two where one time we shot ourselves in the foot (at Phoenix), and the other time was the wreck at Talladega.

"I'm just hoping that I can drive cars that good again next year. That was fun."

Martin's sponsorship relationship with Viagra also comes to an end this season, with AAA taking over in 2006.