Team owner Rick Hendrick announced this afternoon at the Daytona International Speedway that Mark Martin will replace Casey Mears in the No. 5 Chevrolet for the 2009 season. In an interesting and somewhat unexpected twist, Martin made it clear he would run the full schedule and go after the championship next year.

One of the worst kept secrets in the garage, Martin has been linked to the No. 5 for weeks. Friday afternoon, Rick Hendrick and Martin made the announcement official.

"Since this has been a well kept secret," Hendrick joked, "this is a real special day for me, this has been fifteen years that we've been trying to do this. It's real exciting for me to be able to announce Mark Martin coming on board to run for the championship in the No. 5 car."

"We're honored to have a guy of his caliber," Hendrick added of Martin.

Martin appeared relieved and excited about the announcement and said he looks forward to "being a part of the stoutest organization in NASCAR." Next year, Martin will join Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. to make one of the strongest combinations in NASCAR history.

Martin explained driving for Hendrick Motorsports was an honor that "most people can't comprehend."

Although the pair has worked together in the Nationwide Series in the past, Martin pointed to last season when he was being fitted for a seat at Hendrick Motorsports as the turning point. Martin was scheduled to be on hand to drive for Jeff Gordon in Sonoma in case Gordon had to leave for the birth of his daughter.

"I really saw and got a taste of Hendrick Motorsports from the inside," Martin explained. "It was just an opportunity I absolutely could not let pass by. At this point in my life I was very concerned with regretting that decision the rest of my life."

"After two years of catching my breath, I've learned I enjoyed it," Martin went on to say. "It's been very meaningful to my family and myself, but it has also rekindled my passion for racing and what it means to me and also given me a taste of what it would be like not to have that in my life."

When the 2009 season rolls into Daytona next February for the Daytona 500, Mark Martin will be starting his twenty-seventh season at the age of fifty.  A series championship runner-up four times, Martin will be a threat for the Chase next year as he attempts to finally add that trophy to his mantle.