As the little girl in “Poltergeist” once said, “He’s baaaaack!”

I’m speaking of course of Mark Martin, who was on the verge of falling out of the top-35 in points after the Atlanta race. He had terrible to luck to start the season, and his goal of competing for a title in 2009 seemed dead on arrival.

At that time, I wrote that unless Martin caught fire immediately, his hopes of a Chase berth were done. Guess what … that’s exactly what he did.

Finishes of 6th, 7th, and 6th have catapulted him to 18th in points. He jumped NINE positions this week after his Texas finish, and is only 93 points behind the 12th place driver, Jeff Burton.

Not only is it possible at this point that Martin will make the Chase, it’s pretty likely if he continues to race at this level. Of all the drivers on the track each week, Martin has perhaps the most thirst for a championship, having coming in second four times. Starting out the way he did had to be disheartening, especially since he was driving for a team as capable of winning as Hendrick Motorsports.

But his team appears to have gotten the mechanical bugs worked out, and Martin is finally getting the results he wants. There’s a long way to go still, and things could turn bad again, but it appears this team has its ducks in a row and is ready to compete.

If he can manage to pull off a Chase spot and contend for that elusive title, he will be the sentimental favorite among fans and everyone involved in the sport.