The hard work and excitement from the race weekend has subsided and both of the Martin males have assumed their usual positions on the couch: Each has a hand behind the head while the other grips a Popsicle; both sets of feet are crossed at the ankles.

Passing by, wife and mother Ronda Martin laughs to herself.

A young Ford Martin with Kevin Harvick as he gets interviewed.

"I think 'what in my life did I do right to deserve these boys, they are really two peas in a pod, I can't believe how close they are some times," said Ronda, referring to husband Gil Martin, crew chief for the No. 29 RCR Chevrolet and her 13-year-old son, Ford Martin, his father's biggest supporter both on the pit box and at home.

"Ford wakes up in the morning; the first thing he thinks about is his is dad. His world is his daddy because daddy is Santa, Spider Man and Superman all rolled into one," she added.

The father-son relationship is not just cemented in paternal bonds but also fortified through the sport of NASCAR, where both share a passion for racing and have come to lead their own separate yet parallel roles in the sport.

Gil is the crew chief every Sunday and Ford often gives his father surprisingly valuable insight and advice for his age, but the teenager also is striving to become the next legendary voice of NASCAR. Ford wants to be up in the broadcast booth calling races for TNT.

"We've been taking Ford to races with us since he was three months old," Gil said. "When he got older he started putting tape on the carpet in the shape of the race track I was at. He would then get all his cars out and with a Sharpie write the pit stalls on the tape and other details. And if a driver got a new sponsor that year, he took out the finger nail polish remover and painted on the new, accurate one."

If it was a night race, Ford got out his flash lights for authenticity and if the track was under a rain delay you can bet there'd be water on the floor too. But most entertaining for his father was to listen to his son commentate the race.

His mother says Ford's first sentence was, "uh oh Darrell spins." And he learned his letters and numbers, not in order, but in accordance to what letters and numbers were on the stock cars, Richard Childress Racing stock cars in particular because that is the team his father worked for.

Eventually he started reading Dr. Seuss books like typical youngsters, but the level at which he wanted to be involved with NASCAR was anything but typical.

In fact, Ronda jokes that Ford is more well-known around the Cup garage than his crew chief father.

Gil and Ford Martin celebrate with Clint Bowyer at Nashville Superspeedway.

That might be because Ford is a regular guest on Sirius NASCAR radio, he often times shadows broadcaster Matt Yocum during driver interviews and he used to appear on Tony Stewart Live. He also conducts his own post-race shows on You Tube recorded in his basement and calls on neighborhood kids to be production assistants. The graphics are usually cardboard signs taped to the end of a broom stick, but the shows are packed with information, despite the seemingly positive slant towards the RCR stable.

"It amazes Rhonda and I all the time," Gil said. "The people that recognize him walking with me on pit road, they want his autograph not mine. I know I'm partial because he's mine, but really he's just a good kid. He'll talk to anyone that will listen and his manners get him a long way, he knows that."

Ford says 'yes maam' and 'no sir' and has won the Christian character award at his North Carolina school twice. He takes a heap of abuse and taunting from the drivers inside the garage, though all in good fun. Still, you'll never see Ford pout or sulk. On the contrary, Ronda says he loves it.

"They tie his shoestrings together when he's not looking, Kevin [Harvick] has taped him to doors before," Ronda laughed. "They treat him like one of the guys."

His relationship with the No. 29 team and Harvick is special to Ford.

In 2003, Harvick asked Gil if he could bring Ford home with him for a sleepover.

"Oh, Kevin was so nervous," Gil recalled. "Kevin asked, 'what do I do if he needs to go to the bathroom.' I said, 'he's not a dog Kevin.'"

Gil picked Ford up around noon the next day and Harvick said he made the mistake of getting out old race tapes.

"Kevin said, 'man I'm tired, Ford had me up until 4 a.m. playing cars and watching old races.' He was about seven or eight then ..."

The milestones of Ford's childhood have flown by and now he is officially a teenager. But during the maturation process from hanging out in the garage, Gil has really come to lean on the young man for words of encouragement and support, this season especially as he and Harvick still struggle to resolve the team's performance issues.

"It's a tremendous feeling to have him there," Gil said. "He is a huge supporter of mine."

Everyone knows how to celebrate and they know the best parts of Victory Lane, Gil points out, but not everyone knows what to do when you're having a rocky season.

"Ford has been the best medicine for me. When the race is over, he'll walk down pit road with me -- he'll be the first to say it's all right," he said. "As bad as I think it was he'll bring up a bright point like 'hey we made up some points on this driver or man the pit crew was had great stops today' and it really helps me get through the rough times."

Sometimes Gil does think his son is growing up too fast for his own liking.

"Especially these last couple years," Gil said. "Ford knows about as much as anyone in that garage and a lot more than most people in there. He's smart and pays attention to everything, but I don't want to see him grow up too fast."

Because for Gil and Ronda, Ford is their only child, so to them, he is a precious gift from God they'd like to wrap in bubble tape some days.

It took the couple five years to get pregnant after Ronda struggled with fertility issues caused by endometriosis. Finally her prayers were answered, she said, and the couple has been content to raise Ford as their only son.

"He is very much our miracle," Ronda said. "Gil's mother had just died and one night I just prayed 'Lord I really need a child, please send me one.'"

Ronda's fertility treatments helped. She found out on Christmas that she and Gil were expecting. Shortly after Ford was two months old, the couple thought of trying again but left it to fate.

"Ford was meant to be an only child," she said. "That way he doesn't have to share mom or dad."

And Ford certainly won't have to share or compete for his father's attention Sunday. For Father's Day, the teenager will be right beside Gil atop the No. 29 pit box in Sonoma, Calif., scanning other drivers and trying to help call the race.

"I have a photo of Ford on the box in Martinsville 2007 holding up two fingers calling for two tires," recalled Gil, who then was crew chief for Clint Bowyer. "I called for four tires but looking back we would've finished better had we taken two, so that picture always reminds me to listen to what Ford has to say."

And that's the goodness in their relationship, Ford believes.

"Being with him, the way we can talk at home or at the race track is awesome," Ford said. "I'll be glad to be sitting next to him on the pit box this weekend."

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.