Time away from Cup better than Martin envisioned

FORT WORTH, Texas -- It was almost rock star-like when the silver metallic doors opened. One, two, three men walked out to a mushroom-cloud of reporters and fans eagerly awaiting. The black director's chair had sat silent. The only thing missing was a spotlight, entrance music and fake smoke.

Finally, Mark Martin poked his gray head out of the doorway and took center stage.

"Variety is the spice of life," he joked as he sat down.

And Martin has certainly had that during his recent three-week hiatus after sticking to his 2007 plan of running a partial schedule for Ginn Racing. It was a vacation he hasn't had since he began racing.

"When I woke up Friday morning [before Bristol] at home instead of a racetrack with no anxiety, no pressure and being able to take my son to lunch on [that] Friday -- Friday was the best," Martin said with a smile. It was the greatest day of my life. I had worked hard all week, I had things organized and I didn't have anything to do except what I wanted. I took Matt to lunch and then we went off short-track racing.

"It's hard to have quality time with a 15-year-old. They've got their own lives, and certainly I've got mine."

The two went to Ellisville, Fla., the following Saturday night with Ginn Racing's new development driver, motocross star Ricky Carmichael, as Martin acted as mentor to his two new protégés. Both Carmichael and Matt Martin took laps in a Late Model ride and then ran an event under the lights.

Even there it was the elder Martin who received most of the camera clicks. But that small attention is not going to change his mind about semi-retirement.

"After Bristol was over with, I knew that I was fine -- that I had made the right decision," Martin said.

During the Martinsville weekend, Martin was back in his hometown of Batesville, Ark., for a fan appreciation outing at his museum and dealership.

Last weekend, he spent most of the time celebrating the Easter holiday with his family.

"I had a good vacation the last three weeks," Martin said. "I was digging as hard as I could go. Racing with Ricky Carmichael, having a weekend off, the fan appreciation weekend in Batesville were all really special weekends -- all different weekends."

Amid all the time off he didn't miss a single race -- on television.

"It was fun because I [watched] with friends," Martin said.

So did he get the itch to jump on a plane, fly out to the track and strap in for a late-race entry? "No," Martin said firmly.

"Now I have a set of friends away from the track and a set at the track. It started diminishing when I started racing. Really, in the last 30 years, outside of my wife, my crew chief and my team have been my friends."

It's the racetrack friends who take precedence this weekend as the vacation comes to an end. Martin has been nearly flawless in his four starts this year, all of which were top-10 finishes. And he stuck to his commitment of walking away for his break despite leading the points after Atlanta.

Now he's 15th in the standings, 21 points outside of a top-12 position that lock drivers in for NASCAR's Chase. And he has no risk of confusing notes between the Car of Tomorrow and the current car drivers will run this weekend.

He won here in 1998, and half of his starts at Texas have ended in a top-10 finish. Of course, all of those have been in a Jack Roush-owned Ford. But on Friday in a Bobby Ginn-owned Chevrolet he was seventh-fastest in a practice session interrupted by rain.

The showers told the story for Martin as he spoke about how much he enjoyed his time off while sitting across from his No. 01 Chevrolet being tuned. After that vacation, these types of Fridays may get trumped by more lunch dates.

"All three weekends have been completely different, and they have all been something that means so much to me," Martin said with a smile. "I just don't think I would ever give it back up."