Notebook: Martin makes it official, will not run Bristol

HAMPTON, Ga -- Mark Martin has been denying for weeks that he'll change his mind and run next week at Bristol Motor Speedway. On Friday, he definitively put to rest any rumors to the contrary.

"You can make all the arguments that you want about changing your mind but the bottom line is I'm going to take a break," Martin said. "I need to take a break. I've committed to take a break.

"My family and I are committed to it. My team agreed to it. We made our deal and we're going to carry it out as far as the Bristol and Martinsville thing goes."

That will end Martin's consecutive race streak at 621 following Sunday's Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

"The biggest thing is that I love what I do and I want to continue to love it," Martin said. "There's been times in the last few years that I didn't love what I was doing and I don't want to ever feel that way again.

"I don't want to ever feel that way again about something that I love with the kind of passion that I have. So I need a break."

So what will Martin do instead of traveling to Bristol?

"Saturday, I'll be at Columbia Motorsports Park [in Lake City, Fla.] with two late models: Ricky Carmichael in one and Matt Martin in the other one," Martin said. "This will be Ricky's first race in a late model and that's what I'm going to be doing next weekend.

"And then next weekend [at Martinsville], I hope to just have off. I hope to just be on the couch with the remote control in my hand because I can use a little of that, too."

Tournament fever?

Elliott Sadler, recovering from a bad case of the flu, expects to be able to run all 500 miles on Sunday. But there was a time earlier in the week when he had to wonder what hit him.

"I don't think I've ever spent a whole week in bed, just freezing," Sadler said. "I was having to change T-shirts every hour and a half because I was sweating so bad."

However, Sadler wasn't willing to let something like a flu bug keep him away from the NCAA basketball tournament, especially with North Carolina close to home.

"I took it easy this week and felt well enough to go to Winston-Salem and see my Tar Heels kick butt," he said. (Continued)