Mark Martin on Friday said that he will not drive the #6 Roush Racing Ford in 2007. “I’m not worried about next year, but I will tell you this: there never has been — ever — a consideration for me to drive the 6 car in 2007,” Martin said. “Everybody’s in this frenzy about what I’m going to do in 2007 — it’s just not important right now,” Martin said. “What’s here in front of me is what’s important to me. I’ve tried to help these guys and keep the ship on track, and if we don’t produce then so be it. I’ve never once this year thought or considered driving it again in ’07. I’ve driven it 19 years. That’s enough for the 6 car and me.”(see full report at NASCAR.com)(9-1-2006)
UPDATE: #6-Mark Martin’s farewell tour will be extended yet another year when he drives the #88 Ford next year for Robert Yates Racing. Martin originally said last year would be his final as a full-time driver in the Nextel Cup Series, but he changed his mind to return to his familiar #6 Ford at Roush Racing this season. Now it appears he will keep going, but for a new team. Three different sources close to Ford Racing said Martin will take over for Dale Jarrett at Yates after Jarrett moves into a new Toyota Camry at Michael Waltrip Racing in 2007, Morris News Service has learned. Martin said Friday he won’t drive the #6 Ford at Roush next year – a ride he’s had since the 1988 season – and most people believed that meant he finally planned to start his planned retirement. Robby Gordon confirmed this week he attempted to buy half of Robert Yates Racing recently, but the deal apparently fell through in the last couple weeks. Sources close to Yates confirmed Sunday that Martin – apparently with support of Jack Roush – also tried to buy Yates during the summer. Negotiations went so far that Yates had an inventory completed to show the exact worth of his racing operation. Robert Yates Racing said they would make an announcement on a new driver in about a week. They’ve already hinted it would be a veteran racer.(Athens Banner-Herald)(9-5-2006)
UPDATE 2 – sponsors: hearing McDonald’s and Citi-Financial will be the sponsors for Martin and the #88 Ford in 2007, not sure if as co-primaries or some other arrangement.(9-6-2006)
UPDATE 3: Benny Ertel, who is Mark Martin’s business manager, went Internet surfing Wednesday morning and found some interesting “fiction” on various racing Web sites. The stories indicated Martin would be buying into Robert Yates Racing and the veteran would drive the #88 Ford, which will be abandoned by Dale Jarrett at season’s end. “Wishful thinking,” Ertel said. “I read that online. There’s no truth to it. I can’t say Robert wouldn’t want Mark in his car. They may come at him hard when we get to Richmond. I don’t know. I know we haven’t talked to Robert Yates; (or) to my knowledge, nobody at Yates Racing.”(Daytona Beach News-Journal)(9-7-2006)
UPDATE 4: Robert Yates Racing co-owner Doug Yates says he hasn’t talked with Mark Martin, but he certainly would like to have him in the team’s #88 Ford next season. But first he needs to land sponsorship for the team. Yates admitted that courting a driver at this point would be “putting the cart before the horse.” He expects to finalize sponsorship plans for the team in the next three to four weeks. Yates was then asked if the #88 would definitely be back next season. “Well, I hope so,” he said after a pause. “That’s our plan.” [Yates] did say, though, that with sponsorship approval he’d be very interested in [Martin]. He also said the team would be interested in Ricky Rudd. Martin says he’d like to compete with a 12-race limited schedule in 2007. Yates said any partial or full-time driver decisions would be made by the future sponsor. Yates added that it makes sense to have a rookie driver with one team and a veteran in the other car.(SceneDaily.com)(9-9-2006)
UPDATE 5: Mark Martin, Ricky Rudd and Ward Burton are the top choices of Robert Yates Racing to drive the #88 Ford opposite rookie David Gilliland in 2007. “We really want a veteran driver to work with David,” Doug Yates, the co-owner of RYR, said.(NASCAR.com)(9-9-2006)
