Head2Head: Ginn Racing

It was July 26, 2006, when Ginn Racing went from pretender to contender.

On that date, real estate developer Bobby Ginn purchased majority ownership in the race team formerly known as MB2 Motorsports and started dumping truckloads of money into what had been to that point NASCAR's top mediocre team.

Since then no Ginn Racing driver has won a race. No billionaire sponsor -- aside from Ginn himself -- has stepped in to help write checks. No prognosticator has spit that Ginn Racing is the future of NASCAR.

But that day is coming.

The organization has this Nextel Cup game all figured out, and continues to walk one step ahead of every other team in the garage. Sound crazy?

This is the same organization that uses Hendrick engines -- engines that have powered drivers to three COT victories in three COT races.

This is the same organization that became the first to sell to a non-racing investor who has the resources to put up top dollar. A year later, Jack Roush did the same thing and owners like Ray Evernham and Robert Yates are planning to.

This is the same organization that flat-out stole Mark Martin away from his rocking chair, gave the veteran a deal he couldn't refuse and said, "It's yours Mark, race when you wanna." Now the guy is doing half the season and yet he's still Chase material.

Plaguing Ginn Racing is depth: Sterling Marlin is 49; Martin is 48; Joe Nemechek is 43. Regan Smith has started three Cup races. And the team's prime development driver (Ricky Carmichael) has been labeled a stock-car driver for a total of six months.

The depth of Ginn's pockets, however, will easily lure successors to Marlin and Nemechek, one of which is Martin's son, Matt.

It shouldn't be a surprise. Bobby Ginn is a developer; when he sees property, he goes and gets it.

At first glance, Ginn Racing is having a pretty impressive 2007: Four top-fives, six top-10s and a car in fifth place in the owner standings. But take Mark Martin out of the equation and things begin to look quite ordinary, especially when compared to many of the other three-car teams in Nextel Cup.

Ginn has fared better this season than the established three-car teams of Evernham and DEI. However, two of the Ginn teams are right on the edge of the top 30, as Joe Nemechek is 26th and Sterling Marlin 30th. Ganassi's overall numbers are about the same, but two of the three Ganassi cars reside in the top 20.

Then there's Childress, which has all three of its drivers in the top 12, and Gibbs, which is no worse than 21st. That places Ginn pretty much in the middle of the pack at best.

With the exception of Joe Nemechek's ninth at Daytona, all the rest of Ginn's top finishes belong to Martin, who's running a partial schedule. The team has 14 lead-lap finishes in 26 starts, but Martin accounts for six of those.

Average finish? Martin is a stellar 6.2. The rest of the team? Not so much. Nemechek: 22.1, rookie Regan Smith 25.0, Marlin 26.4. And with the exception of Marlin's run near the front at Talladega last weekend, the combined total of laps led by Ginn drivers not named Martin? Four.

Obviously the future of Ginn Racing is Smith, Ricky Carmichael and Matt Martin. But for now, the three veteran drivers on the team are getting closer and closer to the senior discount. Martin turned 48 in January. Marlin reaches that same age in June. Nemechek, the baby of the bunch, turns 44 in September.

Don't me get wrong. I think Ginn's effort a quarter of the way into the 2007 season is worth a nod of the head and tip of the cap, especially what Martin has accomplished so far.

But a real championship contender? That's asking a bit too much at this point.

• Mark Aumann, NASCAR.COM