HOMESTEAD, Fla. - About a month and a half ago, car owner Jack Roush took all his Winston Cup teams to test at Kentucky Speedway. The idea was to help Mark Martin win this season's championship.
"Jack wanted us to let Mark drive our cars with different setups, wanted us to let Mark try different things," said Martin's teammate, Kurt Busch. "Mark's been a mentor of mine, and it felt great to be given the opportunity to help him."
The result of that test has enabled Martin to remain in the hunt, but not overtake NASCAR Winston Cup points leader Tony Stewart.
Yesterday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Busch drove his Ford onto the pole for tomorrow's Ford 400 with a run of 154.365 mph, while Martin, driving a similar car, managed to be only 34th fastest at 150.184. Stewart, who holds an 89-point lead - pending the result of Martin's appeal of a 25-point penalty today - will start sixth after a run of 152.547 mph in his Pontiac.
All of which means Martin will have a long road to run if he hopes to make up the difference, whether it is 89 points or 64 points, should the appeal go his way.
If the points margin remains at 89, Stewart needs only to finish 22nd or better to clinch the title, no matter what Martin does.
"We've got a really good car," said Stewart, who has won twice in three races at this 1.5-mile track. "We're normally bad to the bone on Sunday here and my car is really, really good in race trim, so I'm pretty excited about Sunday."
Martin, running what he described as a "terrible" lap, still managed to sound somewhat confident.
"We weren't prepared for the sun like this," said Martin, a Florida resident who qualified during the hottest part of the 80-plus-degree afternoon. "But we've got a great car for the race. This is just one part of it."
For Martin's team, preparation has been a sticking point from time to time this season. The most costly, so far, was his team's failure to double check a left front spring before putting it on his car two weeks ago in Rockingham, N.C.
Martin finished second in that race but was docked 25 championship points because the spring was found to be lacking an eighth of a coil during post-race inspection. The Roush team reportedly took the spring straight from the NASCAR-sanctioned manufacturer's box and put it on the car without thinking about it.
Since then, three other irregular springs, including a twin to the one used at Rockingham, have been discovered in the supply sent to them by the manufacturer.
Geoff Smith, president of Roush Racing, said that no matter the outcome of the appeal, which is to be heard this morning by three members of the National Stock Car Racing Commission, Roush will not seek legal recourse against the manufacturer or the seller of the spring.
"It was pretty clear that we had legitimate commercial claims under the uniform commercial code," Smith said. "But ... basically, litigation and racing don't really go hand-in-hand to build a sport in a positive way."
The Martin team expects a ruling by this afternoon, and Smith said he is hoping for a positive decision.
"The NASCAR rules say penalties are determined by the gravity of the violation and effects on fairness, and for the life of me, I can't see how this inconsequential violation had any effect on the fairness of competition," Smith said. "It didn't alter the performance of the spring or the car in any fashion.
"So, in terms of ... rules that are in place, I felt like we're [in] as strong a position as is available to us."
Busch, who is trying to nail down third in the points standings, was direct when asked about his teammate's chances for the championship.
"Mark's been a championship contender for many years without sealing the deal," Busch said. "Now, being 89 points back is somewhat of a deficit that is very difficult to overcome.
"There have been 35 other races where he could have done a little bit better, and it's going to be tough for him to get it all back in one race. ... Mark will carry his own destiny in his own hands."