DAYTONA BEACH, FL— Four-time NASCAR Cup Series runner-up Mark Martin, 48, surprised reporters at a post-race press conference by saying he may have aged past his prime as a driver of automobiles. "It just seems that everyone out there is going so fast all of a sudden," said Martin, who began racing professionally in 1977. "And then I start thinking, my, I must be going pretty fast, too! It just bothers me a lot more than it used to, I suppose." Martin claims he lost the lead on the last lap of the Daytona 500 when it occurred to him that the speed at which he was battling race winner Kevin Harvick was potentially hazardous in the event of something happening suddenly.