Dearborn, Mich. — This week, Martinsville. The last time a Ford won at Martinsville was, Hey, look! Over there! No, no, no. Over there. What were we talkin’ about? Oh, yeah, the great job turned in by Matt Kenseth last Saturday night at Charlotte.

When competin’ in sports—or merely livin’ life, for that matter—it’s not so much what happens as much as how one responds to what happens. If the 99 team, for example, leaves a loose lugnut followin’ a pit stop, that’s obviously not a good thing, but how does the team and Carl Edwards respond to that adversity? Does he complain and point fingers and keep fallin’ back in the field, or does he get up on the wheel and charge to the front? (Edwards, it should be noted, is a great responder.) That’s what sports and life are about: Respondin’.

So, although Ford Racing’s history is vast and successful, it, unfortunately for those who live in the right here and right now, does not include 2009 or Martinsville. As far as the Sparkster is concerned, it’s not even a bad inning, just a pitch or two that slipped away. Ford Racing will again be throwin’ strikes soon enough.

HALL, HALL, THE GANG’S ALL HERE (OKAY, AT LEAST FIVE OF ‘EM)
Did you happen to see how everybody was talkin’ almost immediately about who didn’t make the inaugural NASCAR Hall of Fame class? None other than David Pearson, who many have called the greatest racer the series has ever seen. And, really, doesn’t matter how many have called him that, because among those who said he should’ve been in the Hall’s top five was Richard Petty, The King, whose credentials include 200 victories and seven championships.

Pearson is second on the all-time wins list with 105, the only other driver in Cup history to reach triple digits in victories. He rarely ran a full season, but when he did, he was pretty good. He won three championships—including back to back in 1968 and ’69. And there was nobody better when he was runnin’ for the Wood Brothers in the 1970s. Nineteen seventy-three alone was some kind of year for Pearson: He started 18 races and won 11 of them. His winnin’ rate of just over 61 percent that year is an all-time single-season record.

NASCAR decided that only five would go into each class, and whenever a number is attached, there’s always goin’ to be debate. Ten could’ve gone in and the first nine would’ve been clear choices, and there would’ve been debate over 10th and 11th. Or 15 could’ve gone and there would’ve been a dispute over the 16th. Or 20, and 21. It wouldn’t have mattered. That’s just the way it goes. Be sure of this, though: David Pearson will be among the five inducted in 2011.

MUSTANG TALLY
Now that it’s officially official that the Mustang is goin’ to run selected Nationwide Series races in 2010, it will be on track later this month—but for a test session. The Mustang is scheduled to participate in a test at Talladega on the Monday after the race weekend there.

And, that Mustang is one of the best-ever lookin’ race cars Ford has put on a track—up there, even, with the Torino and Fairlane.