hearing that Mark Martin may get started on his ride a few races early and running the #5 Carquest/Kelloggs Chevy for Hendrick Motorsports in the final four races [Atlanta , Texas, Phoenix, Homestead] of the 2008 Cup season. Casey Mears currently drives the car. Martin is slated to drive the #8 US Army Chevy for DEI in 3 of the 4 final 2008 races, with Aric Almirola in at Phoenix.(8-6-2008) UPDATE: during SPEED’s coverage of the first Saturday practice, Larry McReynolds said he had a nugget….Mark Martin will run the final four races of the 2008 Sprint Cup season, including the final race at Homestead, but not in the #8 DEI Chevy, but in a Hendrick Chevy, so he could be in the #5 Chevy, meaning we may see Casey Mears in a 4th RCR car [#33?] at Homestead.(10-25-2008) UPDATE 2: Hendrick Motorsports is considering a plan that would put Mark Martin in the #5 car for the final race of this season at Homestead Speedway, sources told ESPN.com. Martin will drive the #5 car for Hendrick Motorsports in the 2009 season. A contingency to the plan is getting Casey Mears, the current driver of the #5, into the fourth car at Richard Childress Racing that he will drive next season. But in order to do that Mears likely would have to drive the #33, not the #07 that he is slated to drive because Clint Bowyer is driving that car in the Chase. Richard Childress Racing is willing to put Mears in the #33 car unsponsored as it wants to get him in the race. Martin will be free of his duties in the #8 at Dale Earnhardt Enterprises after the next two races at Texas and Phoenix. He will end his part-time schedule that he has been on for a couple of years to run a full-time schedule for Hendrick Motorsports. Officials from Hendrick Motorsports and Richard Childress Racing were not immediately available for comment.(ESPN)(10-27-2008) UPDATE 3: Although a switch for the Sprint Cup finale at Homestead-Miami was discussed, Casey Mears will remain in the #5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy while Mark Martin will sit on the sideline. There were discussions about Mears driving for RCR with Martin going into the Hendrick car for the finale so they could get a head start on next season, Mears and Martin said last Sunday. But Hendrick Motorsports has opted to just keep Mears in the car, Hendrick spokesman Jesse Essex said Friday at Texas Motor Speedway.(Scene Daily)(10-31-2008)
