Mark Martin’s Last Full Season Will Be 2005
Written by John Davison · October 14, 2004
Mark Martin announced his plans for the future Thursday afternoon. In an emotionally-charged press conference at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Martin announced his “Salute to You” Tour for the 2005 season.
Mark Martin announced his plans for the 2005 season and beyond. In a press conference held Thursday afternoon, he will run the 2005 season as his last season challenging for the Nextel Cup. “First off I have to be clear that I’m not retiring from racing,” said Martin. “I’m too young to retire from racing, but I’ve been out here chasing this thing for a long time. I’m very proud of what we’ve been able to do over the years.
“We’re gonna call the 2005 year, ‘My Salute to You Tour,’ and what that means is that can go a million different ways,” Martin added. “Obviously, I’d like to start right here with a salute and respect to Jack Roush for making my career what it is today. To NASCAR, to Bill France, to Brian France, who, I think, is gonna propel NASCAR into the 21st century in a big way with more brilliant ideas like the chase for the Nextel Cup. To great people that I’ve had the opportunity to work with and see here in this room - like Pat Tryson, Ben Leslie, Jimmy Fennig, Robin Pemberton, Steve Hmiel and all the people that worked on the 6 car all through the years. We had some great times. Like I said, we didn’t know we were having them at the time, but when you look back on them, the best times in our career were the years that we were building the 6 car and doing things that we always wanted to do and dreamed of doing and finally had the opportunity to go do.
“Obviously, this is a tough day for us, but, at the same time, I think that there are great times to come. First of all, I’d like to stress that I am not announcing retirement today, but 2005 will be my final year to race for the Nextel Cup. I don’t have 2006 plans totally in order yet, but, certainly, I look forward to continuing driving race cars. Hopefully, I’ll have a little bit more time on my hands.
A very emotional team owner Jack Roush paid tribute to his No. 1 driver’s career: “As a team we’ve logged more than 224,000 miles, often against the fiercest competition you could imagine. Additionally, we’ve consumed at least 15,800 Goodyear tires, but who’s counting? Five 50-foot transport haulers, five corporate airplanes, and more rental cars than I care to remember or count, and Robin and Steve are responsible for some of those.”
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Mark,
I have liked you ever sence I was about 7yrs old and thats a really long time.But I have never been to a race to really watch you race and thats really sad and bad and I would LOVE to watch YOU RACE!!!
Me and my step dad really like you very much and we are a big fan of yours. I would like your e-mail address please.I hope you win this year alot.thank you for listning to this.