Pemberton makes his mark as crew chief (cont'd)

"Andrea deserves all the credit," Ryan said. It's just like everyone else in the garage, every year you try to do more, work harder, and the home life becomes tougher. She does it all."

Ryan has spent nearly 20 years in the Nextel Cup garage, shirt untucked, working hard, learning to lead and learning to win. He has raced through the professional frustration of trying to climb to the upper tier in the sport; the frightening crash and life-threatening injuries to his driver, and having to patchwork together his starting rotation where the keys to success are consistency and communication.

His reward? A part-time driver named Mark Martin. Ryan and Mark finished second in the Daytona 500 last Sunday, by two one-hundredths of a second. So close. Nobody really knows how many races Mark Martin plans to drive this year, but he's off to a good start. He nearly won the Daytona 500!

"That was really our first chance to work together," Ryan said. "The Shootout was really a practice session, and in the 150 [qualifying race], I don't know how many people know this, but Mark's only focus in that race was to make sure [teammates] Joe [Nemechek] and Regan [Smith] had a chance to get into the 500. Mark gave up any chance of winning that day to make sure he was there for his teammates. That's pretty special."

So Mark Martin starts the season by finishing second in the Daytona 500. But you know what? Ryan Pemberton was there for Mark's first win, and he'll definitely be there for his next win.

"Yeah, I thought about that during the red flag," Ryan said. "That would be pretty cool. The emotions were something else. We were leading, then there's a caution. We're leading, then there's a red flag. Then it's green-white-checkers and Mark gets a great start, for the third time. On the final lap, when they disappeared into [turn] 3, I thought, 'Holy smokes, we got this thing.' Then, in the last few seconds, disbelief. I was kind of in a daze. I think it's probably the best Daytona 500 ... that didn't have a fight at the end of it."

And as for winning?

"We've got 20 more opportunities for Mark. We've got a pretty good chance to get it done," Ryan said.

And when they do, Mark Martin is the perfect guy to help Ryan lift that heavy trophy in victory lane.