Q. You own or manage a track, don’t you, in Florida?
MARK MARTIN: I helped a quarter midget racetrack get going and everything. I don’t own it. I did finance it or, you know, I helped make it happen and pulled a lot of people together, a lot of efforts together so there could be quarter midget racing in Central Florida. The track that was currently being used has now been closed down, the one prior to ours. So it was a good thing that we had ours going.
It’s good family entertainment. You know, football or T ball, whatever, is just not for everyone. It might be for almost everyone, but some people want to do that same kind of thing in motorsports. So for me, quarter midget racing is the safest, coolest, most fun, most economical, family-oriented, perfectly managed organization with QMA that you could have going. I mean, it’s just really a special time. The most fun I’ve ever had in racing was going racing with Matt, quarter midget racing. He did all kinds of racing, but the quarter midget racing was the most fun.
Q. The grass-roots of racing, all the places around the Midwest you went to, where would you be today had you not had those places to cut your teeth? As you said, football, baseball, you can go to any high school, grade school, there is a diamond that you can play on.
MARK MARTIN: Racing is much more difficult because, you’re right, you can’t go to the city-owned baseball field or whatever. It takes personal individuals. They’re usually not community funded.
This quarter midget track was obviously kind of the face of it, but there were a lot of people that rallied behind it to make it work. It was actually a big deal, even though they’re 1/20th of a mile racetracks. I can’t imagine what trying to do a whole stock car track was like, because that took a lot of work from a lot of people.
Q. Looking back at April, does the track itself have much of a difference in comparison to today or is it more of a mental difference in that there’s only two races left?
MARK MARTIN: For me there’s no difference. I mean, you know, today is a different day than Friday the last time. We have the whole weekend in front of us. You know, we have to go out here and make it happen, just like we did then. Every day’s a new day. There’s no telling how the weekend will turn out for us, but we sure are hoping to have the best results.
Q. I was talking to your crew chief this week about that go-get-you-some mentality that you talked about before Talladega. As you slide into this race this weekend, he said, Yeah, this is what you’re going to have to do. How aggressive, how much do you go after it this weekend?
MARK MARTIN: Same as every week. You just don’t realize it. I’m going after it every week. Every time I strap in that racecar, I’m going after it. Every time I strap in that racecar, I’m going to the extreme limits. I’ve raced that way, I’ve drove that 5 car, every time I strap in the 5 car, it’s the same. It’s everything I got, points or no points. If it’s just practice, I like being on the top of the scoreboard even in practice.
You know, we’re digging as hard as we can go.
Q. Mark, since you’ve had time now at Hendrick to work with some of the different crew chiefs, what have you learned about Chad Knaus in your dealings with him? Is there somebody over your years of experience, a crew chief in the past, a figure in the past, that he’s kind of like? You also mentioned there’s a little bit of Rick Hendrick in everybody. What part of Rick Hendrick is in Chad Knaus?
MARK MARTIN: That’s too hard a question, okay, too in-depth. That’s a pretty tough question. I will answer part of that question.
I see a lot of myself, younger self, in Chad Knaus, I do. Although I wasn’t a crew chief. He is very, very intense. He pushes really, really hard. He leaves no stone unturned. He’s insanely driven. That reminds me a lot of my younger self. So that I see.
You got to remember, I don’t work next to Chad all the time. I can’t get into his, you know, really, really great details. I see his work ethic. That’s what I notice, his drive and determination. That’s really what I see the most of.
Q. You talked about the chemistry over at Hendrick Motorsports. When you saw what Jimmie’s team did last weekend, in the garage fixing the car, somebody from your crew came over, Jeff’s crew came over and helped, is that part of what makes that 48 crew so special, those guys behind the scenes that we never hear or see about?
MARK MARTIN: You would have seen probably the same type of thing from any of the other top organizations, I would expect. If I was a car owner, I would expect the same kind of cooperation with my teams as you saw. But certainly, as I said before, the chemistry that flows through the whole organization has got some Rick Hendrick through it. I can see that. When I deal with different individuals in that company, I get a little feel of how he is. He is a very, very special person in the way he inspires people and the way he deals with people. Most of the individuals at Hendrick Motorsports have some of that going on, too. That really helps I think with the chemistry, helps them be successful.
Q. Why are his cars so different?
MARK MARTIN: I don’t know for sure why the Hendrick cars are so good here. We actually ran pretty good here before I drove a Hendrick car. Some of it is the drivers get around here good. Certain drivers get around certain tracks. For me to come and drive a Hendrick car here was definitely a good thing. If you remember last year in the 8 car, we were in position ahead of Jimmie when we pitted at the end of the race. So some drivers just get around certain racetracks good. Then you’ll go there one time, do terrible, then you wish you never said, I get around this place good. Maybe I shouldn’t have told you that.
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