Martin's schedule could still change
NASCAR Nextel Cup points leader Mark Martin has insisted he will not be racing for the championship this year but left doubts over whether he will stick to his plan of running a limited schedule in 2007
The 47-year-old, who has never won the championship and is having the best start of a season he has ever enjoyed, stated that there are specific races that he does not want to do, starting with Bristol later this month.
"I could run the first 23 (races)," Martin told reporters at Las Vegas. "Only problem is I don't want to run Bristol, I don't want to run Martinsville, I don't want to run Loudon and I don't want to run Talladega, and I don't want to run the two road courses.
"That being said, that leaves what...? 28 races? And I'm at 23? Would I add the 28th? What purpose would it serve? What purpose would it serve if I ran the first 23 and then took the rest of the year off?
"I could do that, but at 23 that's as far as I might want to go, or 28 or whatever. So I don't see any real purpose in that because I don't want to run for the chamionship, I don't want to race for points. In 2007 I'm taking a break."
However the Ginn Racing driver again left some room for doubt after saying he will know better if his plans will change after Bristol, as he claims to have enjoyed the weekend off watching the Mexico Busch Series Race on TV.
"I'll know more about what I don't want to do after Bristol," he said. "If I feel after Bristol as I felt after Mexico last week, I don't know.
"But if I feel sick that I missed that race, or I feel sick during that race that I wish I was there, which I doubt very seriously, then my mind might change.
"I was asked by the guys at (television station) ESPN earlier this week, is there any thing that anyone can do to get you to run the full schedule? It's like, I don't want to. I don't know what to say.
"That's where I am on that right now and I don't expect that to change. We've had a little bit of fun going along here. I just don't see that changing.
"If we could win this race and we could win next week, that would be the coolest thing to continue on with my plan."
The driver of the No. 01 U.S. Army Chevrolet arrives at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend with seven top-ten finishes in nine races at the 1.5-mile oval, including a win in the inaugural event in 1998.
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