tool name
closeMartin believes Ginn team could be a good fit for Earnhardt Jr.
JIM UTTER
The Charlotte Observer
Sunday, May. 27, 2007
CONCORD, N.C. – If Dale Earnhardt Jr. needs any advice on whether Ginn Racing would be a viable location to continue his Nextel Cup career, he will find Mark Martin ready to provide it.
“They have a great team here and were able to give me everything - and more - that I was used to having. So, if they could do the same for Dale Earnhardt Jr. he could realize more of his potential as well,” said Martin, who joined Ginn this season after 19 years with Roush Racing and was instantly successful.
“I think it’s a matter of a lot of the pieces of the puzzle to fit for that to happen. I stepped into a situation that certainly enabled me to realize more of my potential.”
Martin said the most important reason he joined Ginn, formerly MB2 Motosports, was the organization’s willingness to allow him flexibility in creating the kind of schedule he wanted and providing the resources to be competitive.
“This situation was right for me. It allowed me to do what I wanted to do and I wanted to be a part of building something again. I had that once before at Roush,” Martin said before Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600.
“It would be huge, for whomever, to land Dale Jr. His performance today is going to be governed by the people you put around him more than anything. That can be done here, that can be done other places as well.”
Jay Frye, CEO and general manager at Ginn, said Martin should provide a shining example of what is possible with the organization.
“What is a race team? It’s great people. We have great people. I would put our people against any others in the garage,” he said.
“People are everybody from the drivers to the crew chiefs to the tire changers to the engineers we have. Mark has helped bring exposure in the garage to the people that we have.”
Frye believes the only ingredient drivers might find missing at Ginn Racing is a history of competing for championships.
“That’s black and white. There is no grey area to that,” Frye said. “The organization is on the rise and we are doing everything we can to be one of the teams that is doing that. Mark has accelerated that process in showing people that we can do that.”
