Martin revving up for his Hendrick debut, Chase '09

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- The dichotomy that's Mark Martin in 2008 has come to a glaring head this weekend at Kansas Speedway and with it, about as much of a prediction as the eminently low-key Martin is apt to make.

He said that chances were he'd get a first-hand look at what pressure from the media was like next season, when he thinks he'll be part of the 12-man Chase for the Sprint Cup field.

Because despite having a scintillating record in his most recent races in Dale Earnhardt Inc.'s No. 8 Chevrolet, Martin has found himself largely ignored; and amazingly enough, he doesn't appear to like it.

"Well, it's just how it's covered today," Martin said on Friday. "I obviously was in the Chase every year that they had it and I'm not really used to qualifying second or third and not having anybody ask me any questions -- or finishing in the top five two weeks in a row and not even being interviewed after the race.

"It seems different than the way I remembered it. But maybe next year will be different, you know? It's OK. It is what it is. I'm a fan, too [and] I'm watching the Chase, too."

Martin is passionate about his racing. It's why he's signed up for a full Sprint Cup season in 2009 with Hendrick Motorsports. It's why, at Kansas, he was bouncing back and forth between the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series garages, posting the 13th- and seventh-best times in two Saturday practices before he went over to start second in the Nationwide race.

But he's also totally cool with not having to talk too much about it.

That won't likely be the case next season, when he'll join two-time defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, four-time Cup champ Jeff Gordon and NASCAR's most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr.

But after qualifying second on Friday for Sunday's Camping World RV 400, the fourth time he's qualified second in his past seven races, Martin recalled the way it used to be -- when he was a Chase contender -- and even before that, when he scored 16 top-10 point finishes in 19 seasons with owner Jack Roush.

Martin, who's driven part-time schedules the past two seasons for DEI, made the Chase for the Sprint Cup each of the first three years it was held, until he stepped out of Cup racing full-time at the end of the 2006 season.

Martin hasn't lost a step or grown any mold in semi-retirement.

If you take his past four starts: At Dover, Richmond, Michigan and Pocono in August, his 617-point total is third-best of everyone in the league, behind overall Chase leader Carl Edwards (679 points) and current runner-up Johnson (637).

And qualifying? In his past seven races, stretching back to Daytona in mid-summer, the four men who will be Hendrick Motorsports teammates next season have the four best starting averages of the entire Cup garage: 6.5 for Earnhardt, 8.0 for Martin, 8.1 for Gordon and 8.8 for Johnson.

After qualifying Friday, Martin made no secret that he's lost none of his zeal for racing.

"We all are racers -- all of us are competitors and when Jimmie was saying about how important starting up front helps ... it's not everything, but at the end of the day you've got to remember we're all competitors," Martin said when asked about many of Johnson's Chase foes qualifying in the back of the field. "If I qualified in the back [Friday], I'd say I didn't work on qualifying either.

"But to be real honest with you, the guys who qualified in the back tried just as hard as all the rest of us. So it's a real competitive game and obviously I love it and I have passion for it."

And it's that passion that has Johnson openly enthused about next year's alliance with Martin, 49, as much as Johnson welcomed Earnhardt for this season.

"I guess I haven't thought about age much," Johnson said. "I did at the Charlotte test with Brad [Keselowski, 24] and in the past with Kyle [Busch, 23]. You see different things that show their age in comments and in music and small things. Then, Mark loves his rap so it's weird to look at Mark and his age and the fact the guy loves rap music like most kids would."

But after shaking off the mirth of the moment, Johnson got serious about what not only he, but the entire Hendrick organization has to gain from the next chapter in Martin's four-decade Cup career.

"I'm extremely excited to work with [Martin] and get inside of his brain," Johnson said. "He has an amazing feel for the car and looking at data from the [Lowe's] test, it's been nice having [Earnhardt] Junior, because Junior drives the car a lot like I do so we've been able to expand on some things.

"From the naked eye, I've always respected Mark's techniques and thought that we drove in a similar fashion, so I look forward to understanding more what he thinks about and how he drives the car. He's going to be a great asset to Hendrick Motorsports.

"Hopefully we can get that 5 car [Martin's ride next season, when he replaces Casey Mears] running like it needs to. That team is coming in the right direction now and it's good to see it. Mark's going to run with that next year."