Chegou ao fim a carreira de Mark Martin ??

Assim parece, depois do piloto de 54 anos, ter deixado todas as indicações que a próxima prova em Homestead, será a última na Cup Series.

Mark Martin noTexas

Se assim for, será o fim duma carreira que começou em 1981 e que tem como pontos altos 4 vice campeonatos e 40 vitórias na Cup Series.

Ficam as palavras de Mark Martin, que vem substituindo Tony Stewart no Chevrolet nº14 e que deverá continuar a fazê-lo quando os testes em Daytona tiverem lugar em Janeiro, altura em que o 3x campeão ainda estará a recuperar dos ferimentos sofridos num acidente em Sprint cars no passado mês de Agosto.

Um grande senhor do mundo da Nascar

“I am 100 percent comfortable and ready,’’ Martin said of not racing in 2014. “I’m not having to quit before I’m ready. I squeezed every ounce of the good stuff out of it, out of my driving career. I’m really excited about moving on.”

“I can still drive a race car pretty fast, but I’m not the driver I was at my peak, and I know it,’’ said Martin, who starts 16th Sunday. “Maybe for awhile I didn’t, but I know it. We still run good – we sat on the pole in the spring here. I’m not saying I can’t run good, but I can feel it in everything I do. Every time I get up and walk across the room, I can tell I’m not 35.’’

Vai uma vitória em Phoenix Mark ??

“The garage is full of drivers that are on their game, and I’ve gotten all the good out of mine. I squeezed every ounce of it out and no one can say I didn’t. I worked really, really hard the last 10 years to continue to be a formidable opponent in the garage. And from time to time when stuff was right, I was able to and I’m proud of that.

“But it’s time for me to open a new chapter and do some other things. And it’s exciting because I get to be involved in racing and I love it so much, but I don’t think I’m going to miss being a race car driver because I got to do that, and I was real good at it. And it’s not fun for me if I’m not real good at it. It’s only fun for me when I’m able to have a shot to put my number at the top of the scoreboard. That’s what’s fun. That’s what drives me.’’

Apesar de não pretender competir para lá de 2013, Mark Martin irá continuar em 2014 na SHR, com um papel de “treinador” e mesmo de piloto de testes, o que não deixará de ser muito importante, que o digam Danica Pratick e mesmo Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick e Kurt Busch, que só irão beneficiar com toda a sua experiência.