Martin says car reason for his marked improvement

LAS VEGAS -- Somewhere along the line during the first three races of the 2007 Nextel Cup season, driver Mark Martin made a realization that has kept a smile pretty much frozen on his face -- even when he is deflecting repetitive questions about his plans for the immediate future.

He said following another top-five finish in Sunday's UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway that he now knows what he thought last year was false. Last year, in his 19th year of driving for Roush Racing, Martin thought he might be getting a little washed up.

"Here's the thing: I thought I was getting too old to do this stuff. And now I have found out that my car wasn't as sharp as it needed to be. It wasn't me," Martin said. "There's still some racing left in me. I really thought my ability was diminishing."

In other words, Martin, the long-time Ford man when he was driving for Roush, now seems certain that the Chevrolet he is driving for Bobby Ginn Racing is better than the Ford he competed in while with Roush. That appeared to be the statement he was making after driving his No. 01 Chevy to a fifth-place finish Sunday, although he tried to downplay it a little when pressed on by reporters.

"The biggest thing I have figured out in these first three races is that my ability has not diminished as much as I thought. My car, my team is very strong. My cars are very sharp right now," he said.

"I'm not going to go there with your statement. But my car is a Chevy and it is better than my car was last year. You know what I'm saying."

Actually, after three races in which he finished second in the Daytona 500, third at California Speedway and fifth in Vegas on Sunday, it looks as if Martin's driving skills have not diminished at all. He said that is not true, however.

"I'm sure they have diminished some; just not as much as I thought. I'm sure they've diminished some; I'm 48 years old," he said.

And while Martin conceded that he has somewhat made up in experience for whatever he may have lost because of his advanced age, he insisted that it is still a young man's game. This despite the fact that Martin still leads in the driver standings, holding a six-point advantage at the moment on Jeff Gordon, who finished second Sunday. (Continued)