Mark Martin continues to mull over whether he will stay on as driver of the #6 Ford as a favor to car owner Jack Roush. As reported last Wed, Jamie McMurray will take over that ride in 2007. Roush has a list of drivers theyre talking with about a 2006 deal. Martin says the whole team is on him hard to stay. The first time the question was asked I laughed at em and of course I said no. But, for many of us the six-car will always be my car, and Jamie McMurray is my choice to take the car over. When it first came up it was gonna be fine for me for them to find someone to fill the gap but theyve been working on me pretty hard about the guilt of how that would be letting my team down and thats why Im considering it because of my 18 years with Jack Roush and because of the team giving me everything theyve got. If I turn my back on it, that will be for selfish reasons. Its not what I wanna do, I think everybody knows that. 18 months is a whole lot longer than 6 months. Martin says there arguments for both sides. One side you could say I told them two years ago and then you could come back and say, yeah, and Jamie McMurray was the guy you wanted. And I say yeah, Jamies the guy I wanted, Jamies the guy you guys wanted and we got him and that feels good. My greatest hope would be he could be in it in 2006. I know that Chip (Ganassi) says otherwise, but Chip has an option, and as far as I know he hasnt exercised that option yet. I dont mean to cause any problems but all Im saying is theres both sides and the perfect scenario would be if Jamie would drive it in 2006. If he doesnt I would consider doing it rather than having to try to put together a one year race driver deal that would be tough from a marketing stand point and a team standpoint. My hope is to deliver Jamie a championship team. All I know is that when Jamie sits down in that thing theyre gonna see an immediate performance improvement over me, so, Im anxious for them to get their hands on him as soon as possible.”(PRN’s Garage Pass Radio Show)(7-14-2005)
MORE Mark Martin has said yes to another year behind the wheel for Jack Roush, and is willing to race the Nextel Cup tour another year, instead of retiring as planned in November. “Mark has agreed to drive for us again if Jamie McMurray is not available, and we don’t expect Jamie to be,” Roush said. “Mark said he would consider that if we thought the team was in jeopardy, and I do – to keep everybody in place and functioning. So, based on what Mark has told me, I expect Mark to be back in this car next year.”(Winston Salem Journal)(7-16-2005)
