Since Mark Martin’s sponsorship contract with Pfizer’s Viagra is up at the end of this season, Roush and team president Geoff Smith are looking for both a new driver and a new sponsor. Carl Edwards was slated for that [#6 Ford] ride, but Edwards wound up in another Roush car when Jeff Burton left last summer to join Richard Childress. “We’re hoping to get some of our associate sponsors to step up to a full car sponsorship,” Smith said.(Winston Salem Journal)
AND Martin’s plans? Mar Martin still doesn’t have firm plans for 2006, but he said they probably won’t include a part-time Nextel Cup schedule. Martin, like Rusty Wallace, is doing a retirement tour this year. But he plans to continue racing in some capacity. “I still say again that there are no plans for Nextel Cup racing for the obvious fact that if you really sit and analyze it, to have what you would call a short program or a limited program, you would also have to have limited people,” Martin said. “You couldn’t possibly have the quality of car that I drive today, and I’m not going to do it like that. `I didn’t say it never would happen for a lot of reasons. Someone could get injured. I’m not going to say never.” Martin repeated his interest in the Craftsman Truck series, which is becoming something of a seniors circuit for NASCAR veterans.(Tampa Tribune)(1-20-2005)
