Inside Mark Martin, there lives a go-go daddy indeed (cont'd)

"There are certain little, subtle things about my private life that are edgy -- the music I listen to, maybe the way I train," said Martin, who has GoDaddy.com as primary car sponsor for 21 Sprint Cup races this season, including a Daytona 500 where he will start from the pole. "Maybe being 51 years old and acting like a 20-year-old in some respects might be a little bit edgy. You might find some edges if you hung with me that you don't see in a business setting."

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In truth, the man has more edges than a marquise-cut diamond. There's his pre-dawn workout regimen, a routine that would double-over many other drivers half his age, which he's committed himself to for decades and wrote a book about -- Strength Training for Performance Driving, now available via the Internet -- in 1994. There's his fondness for rap music, particularly artists such as Eminem, Run DMC and Dr. Dre, an affinity which even inspired a tune in his honor, Start Your Engines, recorded by Budda Early in 2006. There's the fact that he flies his own airplane and lives in a neighborhood with a landing strip in the middle, where residents have hangars instead of garages. There was his resoluteness years ago when he was asked to drive a car sponsored by the little blue pill.

There was his ability to return from a part-time role and once again contend for NASCAR's highest championship, this at a point in his career when few thought such a thing was possible, and in the process stem the tide -- for a little while, at least -- toward younger, younger, younger in a series where the median age of drivers has dropped to the floor. There was his willingness to commit to not just one, or two, but at least three more 38-week campaigns at a time when most of his contemporaries have eased back or retired altogether. There's his aptitude in the race car, which instead of deteriorating seems only to be getting sharper, and has made the first weeks of the 2010 season feel like a seamless continuation of last year.

"We did a Goodyear tire test at Atlanta January 12 and 13, I believe it was. When we hit the race track, I knew we had picked up where we left off. It was just fun. We were fast. We just had a blast. So I knew then that it was just going to be an extension of last year. Certainly it is," Martin said.

"You know, I've looked deeper and worked harder. That's my commitment to the year, just like our race team, in every area. You know, we're ready to go. Can't wait to go racing every week so that we get in a routine, a normal routine. By the way, yeah, it's nice. I'm still under the radar compared to Danica. Even though we got the pole, we're still under the radar. That's cool. That's my style."

Ah, yes, Danica again. The Go Daddy girl herself. She's inescapable these Speedweeks, and rightly so, with her promising run in this past Saturday's ARCA event and her first Nationwide start coming up. She could become a NASCAR phenomenon in a very short period of time, if she isn't one already. But there are two drivers piloting green-and-orange cars this weekend, and only one of them truly has a chance to be daringly innovative -- the very definition of edginess. And that's the one who has a legitimate shot at becoming the oldest winner in the long history of NASCAR's biggest race.

We can only imagine the commercials that would follow. Would it be Martin ripping his shirt open instead of some buxom blonde? Maybe not.

"You never know," he said. "I would only do it if I wanted to. I would do it, if I wanted to. I haven't seen the situation, so I don't know. At Hendrick Motorsports we are a little bit conservative, so I don't know. But I don't think that's really an issue."

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.