When he was in high school in the late 1980s, Ryan Pemberton used to race over to the Roush Racing shop as soon as the final bell rang. He didn't have a job there; he just hung around and did whatever he was asked to.

"I just loved it," Ryan said. "I wasn't getting paid; I just wanted to be there."

Then one day Ryan didn't show up.

Bill Weber

"They started asking where I was," Pemberton said. "I was there so much people just figured I really worked there. That's how I got the job, by not showing up."

At the time the organization was building the team that eventually became the ride for Mark Martin. One of the team leaders was Ryan's older brother, Robin.

"He gave me an opportunity and needless to say I am very thankful for that," said Ryan.

I first met Ryan in 1990. There was this kid working on Mark Martin's car in the garage area. A skinny kid, maybe 16 or 17, but man was he a hard worker. I remember watching from a few feet away. This kid really knew what he was doing. I figured when he gets out of high school he's going to have some pretty good references; Mark Martin, car owner Jack Roush, Robin Pemberton...not too bad!

"That's Robin's brother, Ryan," someone pointed out.

Really, well there goes that reference. Still, I thought, in a couple of years he'll be ready for a full-time job.

Turns out, this was his full-time job! By now Ryan was 21 years-old but probably could have passed for 15. His shirt was dirty and untucked; he was running all over the place but always seemed to know where he was going and what he was doing. Turns out, Ryan was part of Mark Martin's crew when Martin got his first win at Rockingham in October of 1989. Ryan was 20 at the time, but probably looked 14.

"I was really sick that day with the flu," Ryan said. "It was a great day that's for sure but I can't remember much of it."

Today Ryan Pemberton is the 37-year-old crew chief for, that's right, Mark Martin. Racing goes in a circle, doesn't it?

"Ya know, no one has really asked me about being back together with him," Ryan said. "Working with [Mark] is an honor. It's cool to be back together but we really don't think about it that much. There's a job to do."

Pemberton has climbed his way up the racing ladder. He worked with a variety of teams as a crew man; he was crew chief for Larry Pearson in the Busch series in 1996.

"As I recall I started there in 1995," Pemberton remembered. "[Team owner] Mac Martin deserves a lot of credit. He really didn't even know me but he made me the youngest crew chief in the Busch garage. He put a lot of confidence in me, letting me call the shots and really run the team. I learned a lot from that experience. Mac deserves a lot of credit."

In 1997 he took a Cup series job at MB2 Motorsports as crew chief for former Daytona 500 winner Derrike Cope. Drivers have come and gone from MB2 Motorsports, even the name has changed to Ginn Racing. Ryan even left for three years, from 2000 to 2002 (He had moderate success at Jasper Motorsports finishing 19th in points in 2002).

Credit: Nick Laham/Getty Images

Martin has full-time
ride if he wants

After a dramatic second-place finish in the season-opening Daytona 500, Ginn Racing has expressed if Mark Martin wants to race full-time in Nextel Cup, they have a car waiting for him.

• Complete story click here

But Ryan came home in 2003 returning to MB2 to team with Jerry Nadeau on the U.S. Army car. In May of 2003, Nadeau was critically injured in a crash during practice. A head injury left Nadeau in a coma or semi-conscious state for nearly three weeks, but the team had to race on. Pemberton had to hold his team together. And he did.

"That was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do," Ryan told me.

"Everybody on our race team had a job description, Jerry's just happened to be "driver". He really was a part of the team. He was always right in there with us. All the guys were very close with him. And that made going on even more difficult when he got hurt."

But race teams have to go on, and this one did.

"You'll hear guys that win the championship talk about how tough things were," Ryan said. "Well, I can tell you this, it's a lot tougher when things go bad then it is when things are going well. We had to keep this good group together. We had to keep working hard."

They used five drivers to do the work of one: Boris Said, Jason Keller, Mike Wallace, Mike Skinner and Joe Nemechek.

Said earned a pole at Sonoma. Skinner did the same at Richmond. Nadeau continued a slow recovery.

With "Front Row Joe" in the seat in 2004, Pemberton got his first win as crew chief, when Nemechek won at Kansas, from the pole, of course.

"Yes, I have the trophy, and the champagne bottle," Ryan said. "I don't know how I got the trophy. Maybe they gave one to the driver, the owner and the crew chief. It's in my office at my house.

"I live and breathe racing. But I think that is the only piece of racing memorabilia that I have in my house. It's pretty special."

The team was really gaining momentum and was one of the strongest the last ten races of 2004. Ryan was now a well-recognized crew chief. And MB2 Motorsports was growing. In 2005 they finished 16th in points. Last year, while undergoing an ownership change, the team slipped to 27th in points.

One thing I really admire about Ryan is his honesty. These days it is hard to get some crew chiefs to admit the sun comes up in the east. But Ryan never hesitates to explain what they found to make the car better, or why they are struggling.

I was making my way through the garage at a track one Saturday morning and I passed Ryan.

"How are things going?" I asked.

"Where are we next week?" he replied.

I told him.

"We'll be great there."

Not a lot said, but plenty of information.

There have been other weekends when Ryan knew this was going to be their day, and while some weeks he will come right out and admit it, other weeks his superstitious side will come out.

"How's the car, Ryan?"

"Man, it's a beautiful day."

"You got something for them today?"

"Sure is a nice day."

"Maybe we could talk about the Knicks?"

"Man, those guys are really struggling again this year."

"Think I'll see you after the race?"

"Maybe ..."

"You'll hear guys that win the championship talk about how tough things were. Well, I can tell you this, it's a lot tougher when things go bad then it is when things are going well. We had to keep this good group together. We had to keep working hard."

Ryan Pemberton

Translation: We've got a great car and a good chance to win today but I'm not going to jinx it by saying anything about it. Our luck has just been lousy this season.

After years in the garage area, you pick up a little crew chief language. Kind of like going to Cancun for a few days, you pick up on the important stuff; "Dos cervesa par favor?"

Another thing about Ryan, he has a bad back.

"All those years as a tire carrier, a tire changer, checking air pressure. It has taken a toll," Ryan explained.

Some weekends he would hobble through the garage looking like Walter Brenner in The Real McCoy's. He has two bad disks that flare up on occasion. He had surgery a couple of years ago the same week it looked like Joe Nemechek was going to win the 600 at Charlotte, but cut a tire with three laps to go. Something good, something not so good.

"It hasn't been too bad since then," Ryan said. "If I don't bother it, it doesn't bother me. I don't even think about playing basketball [one of his favorite activities] or lifting anything heavy. My luggage is about it."

Ryan used to sleep on the floor instead of on a bed to try and alleviate the pain.

"I slept on the floor because I literally couldn't get into the bed, and that's no exaggeration," Ryan said.

Ryan comes from a racing family. His brother Robin is NASCAR's vice president for competition, but now they only get together occasionally because of their work schedules.

"We used to have dinner two or three times a week, now it's maybe four or five times a year," Ryan said. "If you watched TV last week you saw him a lot more than I did!"

His brother Randy has been a popular NASCAR broadcaster for many years. His third brother Roman worked with several Nextel Cup teams.

Ryan and his wife Andrea have a three-year-old daughter, Payton, and another baby due in late April. Family and racing, a tough combination.

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"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.