There have not been many times in Mark Martin’s NASCAR career when he has been willing to make bold predictions.
Yet after winning the pole for Sunday’s Allstate 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway he was certain of this:
“I can promise you one thing. There is nobody in NASCAR having more fun than me. I’m sure about that,” said Martin, 50, who became the oldest pole winner of a major racing event in the 100-year history of the track with a lap at 182.054 m.p.h.
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The previous record was set by Cliff Bergere, who was 49 years 175 days old when he won the pole for the 1946 Indianapolis 500.
Why shouldn’t Martin be having fun?
He leads the Sprint Cup Series with four wins this season, is on pace to contend for his first series championship and is looking forward to being “in the fray” to win his first Allstate 400.
“I like making history,” Martin said Saturday before final practice at the Brickyard. “The very most fun of the whole thing that we’re doing here is to see [my team’s] faces.
“I love those guys and I’m a pretty tough unit and I’ve had a lot of disappointment. But I feel toward them like you do toward your children. I don’t want them to suffer through disappointment. So, I put a lot of pressure on myself to get a good lap so I wouldn’t let them down.”
Martin’s success fueled a round of questions related to age. He was asked if he had watched any of Tom Watson’s charge last week when the 59-year-old was trying to become the oldest player to win a golf major.
“I did hear about it. … I knew a little bit about what’s going on,” Martin said. “But if it doesn’t have wheels on it, I don’t know much.”