LOUDON, N.H. (AP) -- Mark Martin simply cannot say no to car owner Jack Roush, who wants him to come back for one more Nextel Cup season -- maybe.
Martin wanted to move next season to the Craftsman Truck Series after 18 years as the keystone driver of Roush's huge NASCAR operation. Jamie McMurray, still under contract next year at Chip Ganassi Racing, has been hired to succeed Martin in the No. 6 car in 2007.
That plan left a void for next season, however. But the persistence of Roush has paid off, and Martin expects to be back if McMurray isn't released by Ganassi.
"He wants me to drive until I'm 90,'' Martin said of Roush. "The man has cried a number of times over this. He was giddy last week when I said I would reconsider.
"My career has been built on the 6 car and Jack Roush, and it's important to me to feel that I haven't let them down. For 18 years that's been my car, and for the next 18 it'll probably be my car to me.''
The return of Martin also could be an outstanding selling point for Roush, seeking a sponsor for the car with Viagra's deal expiring after this season.
"It's never been difficult to find a sponsor for Mark Martin,'' Roush said. "Hopefully out of the people we're talking to we'll be able to make a seamless transition.''
Martin wants to move to the Truck Series because there will be fewer demands on his time. He calls it the "new chapter,'' one that will allow him 13 weekends off during the racing season -- something he can only dream about in the Nextel Cup Series, which has 36 points races and two special events. Virtually all truck series venues require one less day at the track.
The Craftsman series also races only once on a Sunday. Martin hardly knows what it's like to be home on a Sunday, and hopes to make the best of it when he completes his Nextel Cup obligation to Roush.
"It's real important to put my family first, and I haven't done that in the past,'' Martin said Friday at New Hampshire International Speedway, where he'll race Sunday in the New England 300.
