Let me tell you a story about a man...

It is difficult for me to tell you much about the intimate and personal characteristics of said man, because I have personally never met him. But thankfully he is a man of high stature and has accrued some amount of fame over the course of his career, and according to all accounts, this man is perhaps the nicest, cleanest man in the business. When I say cleanest, I'm not speaking to his personal hygiene, I'm referring to the way in which he does his job. For there are other, younger men, who have also garnered much fame, money, and accomplishments by occasionally using tactics that our protagonist would deem dishonorable. But he never speaks a bad word about any of his colleagues, and is has humble as they come, occasionally verging on the point of being self-deprecating.

But despite these admirable qualities and his large amount of talent and skill, this man has never achieved the one thing all men in his field value the most: a championship. You see, in his profession, at the end of each year a championship is given out, and unfortunately our protagonist has never won one. That isn't to say he hasn't come close. In fact he's come close more than most. He's finished in second place a whopping 4 times, and in the top 5 many more than that. Not only is he considered the nicest man in his field never to win said championship, but he's also the best who's yet to win one. All this, despite having never having the best equipment, or being with the best organization.

And over the course of his career he's endured more than his share of almosts and near misses. He's battled through injury and personal loss only to come up just short. The toll that this has had on him caused our protagonist to go through a two year semi-retirement. But then, at the ripe old age of 50, arguably the best organization in his field offered to give him one more chance. One more shot to compete with men half his age and prove to the world and to himself what he is actually capable of.

A pretty compelling story line eh? Well, it would be if I hadn't been so damn vague. But I had to be. To prove a point. You see, this storyline is actually playing out, right now, in real life. Yes, as you may have guessed it's a sports story. But the main reason I was so vague is because this story is actually happening in NASCAR. The problem is, the moment most people hear NASCAR they roll their eyes and turn a deaf ear, wondering why they should care about people who drive in circles for hours on end. This of course, is a gross generalization. But whatever your misgivings are about NASCAR, you shouldn't miss one of the more compelling real life dramas playing out in sports right now.

The man's name is Mark Martin. And all the things I have said about him is true. He's been deemed as the nice guy or good guy of auto racing, and has rarely if ever been the cause of wrecks and has never been accused of racing dirty, or causing a wreck for personal gain. Unfortunately, although he has won many races in his career, he has never won a season championship. A title which would seal him as one of the sport's greatest drivers ever.

And amazingly he has his best shot right now, at the age of 50, competing against men who are literally half his age. His success at such an old age (comparatively) is less to do with the demands of driving a car at 200 mph and more to do with the fact that he's always lived on a strict diet and work out routine and can bench more than twice his weight (125 lbs.). That being said, he is currently 1st in the points standings and is now only 9 races away from winning the one thing that has eluded him his entire career. If he won, he would be the oldest driver to do so, and perhaps the most deserving.

I know, I know. It's NASCAR. But don't look at it that way. This man has striven nearly 30 years in a profession for this one goal, and he's always done it honorably (perhaps even at a detriment to himself). And now this is the closest he's ever been at achieving it. If he comes up short, that will be nothing new to Mark Martin. And if a 24 year old hot shot driver wins it all, that will be nothing new for a society that says out with the old and in with the new. But what if this one time, we can witness an event where a career's worth of hard work and dedication and a philosophy of doing the right thing actually pays off?

It'd be a pretty great story yeah?