Mark Martin will NOT race in Bristol

[Realtree]

Notebook: Martin makes it official, will not run Bristol
By Mark Aumann, NASCAR.COM
March 17, 2007
12:53 AM EDT
   
HAMPTON, Ga -- Mark Martin has been denying for weeks that he'll change his mind and run next week at Bristol Motor Speedway. On Friday, he definitively put to rest any rumors to the contrary.

"You can make all the arguments that you want about changing your mind but the bottom line is I'm going to take a break," Martin said. "I need to take a break. I've committed to take a break.

"My family and I are committed to it. My team agreed to it. We made our deal and we're going to carry it out as far as the Bristol and Martinsville thing goes."

That will end Martin's consecutive race streak at 621 following Sunday's Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

"The biggest thing is that I love what I do and I want to continue to love it," Martin said. "There's been times in the last few years that I didn't love what I was doing and I don't want to ever feel that way again.

"I don't want to ever feel that way again about something that I love with the kind of passion that I have. So I need a break."

So what will Martin do instead of traveling to Bristol?

"Saturday, I'll be at Columbia Motorsports Park [in Lake City, Fla.] with two late models: Ricky Carmichael in one and Matt Martin in the other one," Martin said. "This will be Ricky's first race in a late model and that's what I'm going to be doing next weekend.

"And then next weekend [at Martinsville], I hope to just have off. I hope to just be on the couch with the remote control in my hand because I can use a little of that, too."

[Realtree]

Martin says, again, he will NOT race at Bristol next week:

For weeks, Mark Martin has been answering the questions. Would he or wouldn't he run Bristol? Friday in the Atlanta Motor Speedway media center, Martin put those rumors to bed, for once and for all. So fans that want to watch him race will have to do so at this weekend's Kobalt Tools 500, or miss him until the April 15 race at Texas.

"There are mixed emotions, but the bottom line is that I'm gonna take a break," Martin said. "Right now I'm doing what I love. I want to keep doing it and I want to keep loving it. There have been a few times in the past few years that I didn't love it. I need a break."

He said this in spite of the pressure he's been getting from former teammates Matt Kenseth and Jeff Burton, who have bets riding on whether he'll return for next week's Bristol race. Both have said they expect him to race.

 "Last week I was trying to taxi the plane and my phone rang and it was Kenseth," Martin said. "He called saying, 'I wouldn't have passed you on the last lap, but you aren't running for points, so I did.' We were hanging out the other night and he just kept at me; he's relentless. I finally just had to get up and leave."(AMS Pit Notes)