On Friday, Mark Martin announced his plans to join MB2 Motorsports next season. Credit: Autostock

Frye, MB2 enjoying reversal of fortune

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- One morning late last year Jay Frye awoke to a sobering realization: His team, MB2 Motorsports, was in peril.

He was never concerned about the doors closing, refused to let it happen, but the future looked bleak. Toyota was coming. The team was struggling. And money was tight. Real tight.

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"It was morbid," owner and CEO Frye said of team morale. "I was really, really worried."

Frye entertained a merger offer from Dale Earnhardt Inc., but knew accepting it would erase his team's individualism.

"DEI was a great scenario. The merger rumors were true," Frye said. "But we'd have lost our identity. We'd have become them."

Enter Bobby Ginn, multimillionaire land developer who'd been looking to buy into a Nextel Cup team for three years. He had many options, but chose to purchase MB2.

Problem solved. Identity saved, though reshaped. The team will be renamed Ginn Racing in 2007, Ginn said.

"We needed an identity," Frye said. "Now we have an identity."

Ginn's influence offers a more enticing sell to potential sponsors -- and drivers.

Mark Martin wanted autonomy, wanted to race when he dang well pleased. He'd known Frye for years, as Frye was Valvoline's at-track representative in the early '90s when the oil company backed Martin's Roush Fords.

Frye approached him about a full-time ride at MB2. Martin, again, wasn't interested in full-time work.

The full-time offers were more lucrative, mind you. And he had several. But he wanted part-time work, told Frye so. Frye shrugged, said, "Fine, then let's do it."

	MB2 owner and CEO Jay Frye shares a moment with Sterling Marlin. Credit: Autostock
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Ten days later Martin signed a contract.

"It got done so fast, I think, because of [Martin's] personal anguish," Ginn said, alluding to the difficulty Martin faced in leaving owner Jack Roush, for whom he's driven for nearly two decades.

For MB2, no-brainer.

"We had the opportunity to get a Hall of Fame driver, and we went and did it," Frye said. "Why wouldn't you?"

Martin will mentor Busch Series driver Regan Smith in 2007, then likely come back and do the same for Craftsman Truck Series driver Craig Kinser in 2008. Ginn said Sunday at Talladega that further announcements are pending.

Recent speculation says the team is on the verge of landing Motocross star Ricky Carmichael, a rumor regarding which the team chooses not to comment. And then there's Matt Martin, Mark's son, an up-and-coming talent. What's this mean for him?

Ginn said Matt's future wasn't discussed during negotiations with Mark. But he and Frye aren't blind.

"We know how important Matt's future is to Mark," Ginn said.

Ginn is uncertain whether Ginn Racing will field a Craftsman Truck Series ride for Mark Martin next year. MB2 has an association with Morgan-Dollar Motorsports, for whom Kinser, a MB2/Ginn development driver, currently drives.

Many felt Joe Nemechek was the biggest loser in the scenario, but Ginn said the decision to move him to the third MB2/Ginn Chevy for 2007 was made prior to Martin's arrival.

His identity is G.I. Joe. That will soon change.

Next year he'll drive the No. 13 Chevrolet, for which Ginn said a full-time sponsorship package is nearly complete. There will be more than 50 full-time, fully funded teams in 2007, meaning Nemechek's new team must qualify on time. Ginn isn't concerned.

"Joe didn't get the nickname [Front Row Joe] by accident," Ginn chuckled.

Yeah. And Jay Frye isn't waking up giddy by accident, either.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.