Mark Martin, the standings leader for the past four weeks, will step aside the next two races and let newcomer Regan Smith (No. 01 U. S. Army Chevrolet) take the driver’s seat for Ginn Racing. As a result, Martin’s streak of 621 consecutive starts in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series – the longest active streak and the fifth-longest all-time – will come to an end.
When Martin announced last October that he would leave Roush Fenway Racing after 19 years, he made it known he would race a partial schedule in 2007, serving as a mentor for Smith. Owner of 35 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victories, Martin is a four-time series runner-up. After a thrilling second-place finish at the Daytona 500 in February, Martin took over the standings lead the following week at California and has been out front ever since.
“I feel good, ” said Martin, after his 10th-place finish at Atlanta last Sunday. “It’s really cool and kind of a story book ending to go out leading the points like this. It’s the way to do it and I’m just so proud of this team to finally get the recognition they deserve. I am looking forward to next weekend. ”
There have been several instances of the standings leader not starting the next race – most involving a driver who led after winning the season’s first race and not competing in the second. The most recent was in 1983 when Cale Yarborough won the Daytona 500, but didn’t run the next week at Richmond. The last time it happened this deep into the season was in 1971, when Richard Petty was the leader going into the next-to-the-last race of the year at Macon, Ga. Petty and several other drivers high in the points boycotted the race due to a dispute with a promoter over appearance money. Despite missing the race, Petty still won the championship by 364 points over James Hylton.
With Martin’s streak set to be snapped this week, here are the top six current drivers in consecutive starts:
1. Mark Martin—621
2. Jeff Gordon—477
3. Bobby Labonte—476
4. Dale Jarrett—419
5. Jeff Burton – 380
6. Tony Stewart—288
Martin has negotiated Bristol’s tricky. 533-mile surface superbly. Here is his resume at Bristol:
Starts: 40
Poles: 7, leads active drivers
Wins: 2, tied for 3rd active drivers
Top 5s: 15, 2nd active drivers
Top 10s: 21, 2nd active drivers
Avg. Start: 10.825, 3rd active drivers
Avg. Finish: 12.128, 5th active drivers
Laps Led: 957, 2nd active drivers
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