Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR
2011 brought winds of change for the most experienced full-time NASCAR Sprint Cup driver, Mark Martin. Who would have guessed that Martin would have his worst season of his entire career while driving for Hendrick Motorsports, one of the very best teams in all of NASCAR.
Martin had a career low of only two top five finishes in 2011, the first coming at Dover in the FedEx 400 with a second and the other coming at Michigan in the Pure Michigan 400 with a fourth. Martin scored 10 top 10 finishes in 2011, the lowest amount since 2003. The previous time Martin had less than 11 top 10 finishes prior to 2003 was in his first season with Roush Racing in 1988. The highlights of Martin's season came in qualifying at Daytona in July and Talladega in October when his GoDaddy.com car took pole position in both races.
Even though 2011 was a tough year for Martin and the 5 crew, they were able to avoid getting penalized by NASCAR for most of the year. Martin was penalized a single time for passing on a restart. His crew did not receive any penalties at all all year long.
2011 Statistics For Mark Martin
22nd in Sprint Cup standings
2 top 5s
10 top 10s
Best Finish: 2nd in the FedEx 400
75 laps led
2011 Penalty Report For Mark Martin
Race 1 - Pitting before pit road is open, tail end
Race 6 - Passing on a start or restart, Pass Thru
Race 9 - Pitting before pit road is open, Tail of Field
Race 12 - Pitting before pit road is open, Garage
Race 19 - Pitting before pit road is open, Tail of Field