If Mark Martin decides to come back and run a full Sprint Cup schedule for owner Rick Hendrick, that’ll be a day to celebrate for the fans of an undying, professional commitment to excel at the highest level possible.

Mark Martin was criticized in 2007 when he left the series while he was leading the standings after four races.

That shows two things with glaring simplicity. One, that Martin could still get it done. And two, that he had the loyalty to stand by the original program he was an integral part of setting up; and that he had the commitment to his family to walk away as he had promised.

In 2008, unlike some drivers who have dawdled and dwindled and stretched their careers beyond their natural, viable conclusion; Martin is still performing at a high level. He ran the same four races to begin the season and a much poorer start in the Daytona 500 — unlike his loss by inches to Kevin Harvick the previous year — set Martin into a little hole in the standings.

But by the time he’d run his first seven races, Martin was firmly entrenched in a position that would qualify him for the Chase for the Sprint Cup if he maintained that pace.

To my mind, Martin is the type of driver, with dogged determination and gritty natural ability; who compels his crew to step up and maintain a level of excellence to match his own. That’s a tough commodity to match in this era.

Over the last two years, Martin has opted out of running certain races, but only because he can. He’s won at all of them, road course, speedways and short tracks alike. He has nothing to prove.

Can Martin win the championship? Who knows — but that’s something that can be said about anyone from Jeff Gordon, who’s already won four of them; to Jimmie Johnson, who’s won the last two of them; to Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards — who are among the most dangerous competitors in the garage today.

Going part time didn’t hurt Mark Martin’s level of competitiveness. If he returns to full time competition in 2009, that will be a cause for concern for the competition.

• Dave Rodman, NASCAR.COM

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.

It would have been outstanding to see Mark Martin win a Cup championship. He’s been so close so many times and as one of the classiest guys in the garage, probably deserves a title more than anyone who doesn’t have one.

And it looks like he will give it one more go if the rumors are true, and he will drive the No. 5 for Hendrick Motorsports next season. Unfortunately for Martin, he isn’t a championship contender anymore and while he will be competitive, there is no way he will make the Chase in 2009 — let alone challenge for a championship.

Supporters of Martin point to last season, when after four races he was leading the points but decided to stick to his part-time schedule and not race at Bristol. What they don’t tell you is in the 20 races after that he had just two top-five finishes and five finishes of 20th or worse, which kill you in the points standings.

Even if Martin ran the full 36-race schedule, he wasn’t going to make the Chase. He needed to make up 835 points in the eight races he missed. That means he would have to finish at least 18th in every race — never once having a crash, or blown tire, or pit road error, it’s just not feasible.

Since 2003, Martin has visited Victory Lane twice. Bobby Labonte, Joe Nemechek, Elliott Sadler, Michael Waltrip, Dale Jarrett — each of them have two wins in that same time frame and none of them have been mentioned in championship talk in quite some time.

This season it’s more of the same. Martin has just three finishes of ninth or better in 12 of the 17 races run. His last five races he’s finished between 10th and 25th — not how you qualify for the Chase.

There is no questioning how great Mark Martin was — with major emphasis on the word “was.” Martin was one of the best on the track in the 90s. But this is 2008, this is a young man’s sport, and Martin has run out of time.

It’s time for him to get out of the driver’s seat and get cozy in the rocking chair FOX gave him in 2005