Mark Martin doesn't have the shiny Sprint Cup Series trophy above his mantle. Nor does he have four like his teammate Jimmie Johnson. While Johnson fits the bill of domination and pure statistical elegance for his championships, Martin is a champion in his own right.

After the race on Sunday at Homestead Martin was one of the first to meet Johnson in the victory lane turned champion's stage. He met Johnson, face-to-face, as the two drivers congratulated each other on a season well done.

This isn't the first time the Batesville, Ark. native has had to power through the not so sweet taste of defeat. As far as championship races go, this is the fifth time he has had to climb out of his car to go watch someone else hold that trophy up high.

No one can get used to that feeling. Although, no one can deny the effort that Martin and the entire No. 5 team has placed on this season.

Even though he was still racing through his two years of semi-retirement, it took a little while to get used to the long haul of a 36-race schedule. Not too long though.

Once he got through the first four grueling races of the season, Martin started to hit his stride. After those first four races at Daytona, California, Las Vegas and Atlanta, he only finished outside of the top-20 in six of the next 32 races of the season.

But he did it. And in the process, he ignited an entire older generation of NASCAR fans. Actually, he ignited the true spirit and passion in every NASCAR fan—young and old. Nearly everyone that watched NASCAR racing called “the kid” their second, if not ultimate, favorite driver.

He became a true model of what a champion is. He always gave everything he had. He took his win's with grace and his loses with the knowing he and his team did everything they could on that day.

While the say second is the first loser, it tough to call the 2009 season a loss for Martin's team. He accomplished many things, including a comeback from a dreadful, DNF-filled start to the season. Coming back from that to even make the chase was a victory in itself.

In one of Martin's best seasons from a statistical standpoint, he beat nearly every team.

Every team but one—Johnson's No. 48 team. Even with that, Martin is proud of what his team has accomplished.

“We got beat, and we got beat under any scenario that might have happened,” Martin said. “I didn't leave anything out there (tonight).

“My race team dug as hard as they could dig, and we accomplished more than anybody else in the garage this year except for the 48. That ought to be enough to make you proud.”

Sometimes instead of losing, you just get beat.

Sometimes, you just aren't quite good enough.

Sometimes you just have to say “maybe next year.”

For Martin, he has said that for five years.

However, Martin is a champion, regardless of whether or not he is listed in the record books as one of the elite. In the minds of many fans, he fits the bill of everything a champion is and ever will be. The only thing missing is his name on the side of the ever-elusive Sprint Cup Series trophy after confetti spills into the sky at the end of the season.

Now, the driver from Arkansas has one sentence to close out the season. He knows that he has “got (a) challenge on our hands for next year.”