The announcement on Friday that Mark Martin will move from his longtime home at Roush Racing to a partial Cup schedule with MB2 Motorsports next season was a shocker for many people.

But the man who will sign Martin's checks next season, new principal owner Bobby Ginn, said the move just made sense for a team that is trying to move from also-ran to contender.

``It takes time,'' said Ginn, who will change the name of the team to Ginn Racing in 2007. ``So I made a long-term commitment to the plan.''

That includes some new high-tech equipment and new personnel for the team that will also continue to field Cup cars for Sterling Marlin and Joe Nemechek.

``We're going to start an extensive testing program in the off-season,'' Ginn explained. ``We've got two great drivers in Joe and Sterling and they can still win a lot of races. We've just got to put the right equipment underneath them. That's team building.''

The addition of Martin, who will share his ride with rookie Regan Smith, is big, too.

``To have some like Mark Martin come in is huge,'' Ginn said. ``He's demanding in a good way. He's got a vast knowledge of racing, but also the shop and what it takes. And he's helped Jack (Roush) for 19 years to put his organization together, and we're going to be the recipient, hopefully, of those years of experience.''

Ginn, who owns a company specializing in entertainment, real estate and hospitality, became 80-per cent owner of MB2 over the summer. General Manager Jay Frye, who runs the team's day-to-day operation, owns the other 20 per cent.