Mark Martin’s first NASCAR Sprint Cup victory in four years in Phoenix was another good news story on the weekend that saw Red Bull win for the first time in Formula One and Dario Franchitti claim the first victory of his IndyCar Series comeback. One of NASCAR’s most complete racing drivers as well as one of its nicest men, Martin has finished as runner-up in the Cup series four times. I couldn’t be pulling any harder for him to go one better in 2009.
To understand why it’s difficult not to root for the veteran from Arkansas, witness this lesson in accepting responsibility for your own mistakes, taken from a Busch Series race at Bristol in 1994. Had this happened in Formula One, it’d have been the team’s fault for not telling him the race hadn’t ended:
