Martin ready to continue battle with Stewart

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Mark Martin is keeping his focus on winning his first Winston Cup championship despite a penalty and 112-point deficit in the standings.

He was stunned earlier this week when NASCAR docked him 25 points for an illegal spring on his No. 6 Ford after he finished second in last Sunday's race in Rockingham, N.C.

The penalty dropped Martin further behind Cup leader Tony Stewart, who has 4,549 points entering Sunday's Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.

Martin's Roush Racing team is considering filing an appeal on the penalty, and has until Nov. 13 to do so.

Although he has not won here, Martin's record on the 1-mile oval is impressive, with seven top-fives and 11 top-10s in 14 races. With that history, and two races left in which to catch Stewart, the two-time series runner-up isn't conceding anything.

"We're going into Phoenix with at least as much optimism as we went into Rockingham," said Martin, who dueled winner Johnny Benson to the end at Rockingham. "I've been racing for 28 years or something like that. Over that period of time I've developed some tools or skills for survival.

"In order to be successful at anything as competitive as this is, you have to be really, really thick-skinned and you have to be tough or you won't ever survive."

Stewart does have the numbers on his side, though.

A win by Stewart on Sunday, combined with a finish of 26th or worse by Martin, would give Stewart his first Cup title. A Stewart win combined with a 13th-place or worse finish by Martin would mean Stewart could wrap up the championship by starting the finale Nov. 17 in Homestead, Fla.

If Stewart doesn't win on the familiar Phoenix oval, all he has to do is finish 11th or better in each of the last two races to hold off Martin.

And, despite Martin's record here, Stewart may be more at home on the track.

In his three Cup starts at PIR, Stewart has sandwiched a win between finishes of 14th and fifth last year. But that's only part of the story.

Stewart, who last won here in January of 2000 behind the wheel of a U.S. Auto Club midget racer, has raced his share of cars in Phoenix.

"I started racing in Phoenix in '93, when I ran a Silver Crown car," Stewart said. "Since then, I've run USAC Midgets, Indy Racing League, Supermodifieds and, of course, Winston Cup.

"So, I've logged a bunch of laps here. I even made my 100th Winston Cup start here last year. Now I'm running for a championship. To think that it all kind of started at Phoenix, I guess you could say it's the place where my career came full-circle."

With all the laps he has run here, Stewart feels like he knows the asphalt track with the dogleg in the back as well as anyone.

"With every different division of car that I've run here, I've ended up running a different line," Stewart said. "With that, I've learned a lot about the racetrack, where the sweet spots are.

"You learn where the bumps are on the racetrack. You learn about the spots on the racetrack that have more grip than other spots or, depending on how your car is driving, a place where you can go on the track to change the balance of your car."

In Rockingham, Stewart struggled with a poor-handling car all day and wound up 14th. Martin can only hope for more of the same Sunday.

"In order to win the thing, Tony's got to continue to have performances like he had at Rockingham, or worse," Martin said. "We'll see. Racing deals everybody blows at different times."

Martin, who was 12th in the points last year, is happy just to be in this position.

"To be honest with you," Martin said, "I'm real thankful to be contending because I wasn't even contending for a top-10 position last year. I've been blessed with a tremendous season."