Martin Is Excited To Be Back

Sunday was the first day of the rest of Mark Martin's life - his return to full-time racing - and it was a good one.

Martin Truex Jr. won the pole for the 51st Daytona 500, and Martin, 50 years young, if you will excuse the close-cropped gray hair and crow's-feet, took the other front-row spot.

For Martin, the attention-attracting debut in Hendrick Motorsports' No. 5 Chevy was an affirmation that, yes, he really does still belong.

"It's an amazing feeling," Martin said. "I feel so grateful to team owner Rick Hendrick. What an incredible person he is for giving me this opportunity.

"It's so much fun to go to work every day with a group that is so fired up and excited as these guys. I actually wish we were starting the 500 in about five minutes."

Anyone who has followed Martin through the years knows he's rarely been the cheeriest face in the place. But two years of doing a part-time schedule has altered his perspective.

Learning he can still compete with the best at this stage of his career convinced him he had to come back. It was a revelation he has treated as a gift.

"I had to have a break," Martin said. "I was tired, burned out and frustrated. I'd put every ounce that I had into my career from the time I graduated from high school until the last day at Homestead in '06.

"I caught my breath. Mentally I'm in a much better frame of mind than I was now."

Truex led a surprising showing by newly merged Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, which placed three cars in the top seven, with his winning lap at 188.001 mph.

Juan Pablo Montoya was fourth fastest, and Tampa's Aric Almirola seventh.

"I'm really happy for Aric," said Martin, who shared Dale Earnhardt's No. 8 Chevy with Almirola last year. "He qualified great, and he will do a great job here Sunday, I'm sure."

Only Truex and Martin locked up their starting spots for Sunday. They'll each be in the pole in one of Thursday's 150-mile qualifying duels, with Bill Elliott starting on the outside pole in the first race and Ryan Newman in the second.