He didn't win it in 1990, or in 1994, or in 1998, either. Just like in
each of those seasons, he fell short again on Sunday when Tony Stewart
wrapped up this year's crown in the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.The record books will note that Mark fell 38 points short of the 4,800 Stewart amassed in winning this year's title. Mark and his car owner Jack Roush feel strongly that the true final margin was 13 points, believing a 25-point penalty against Mark for a spring rule violation in Pop Secret 400 at Rockingham was unjust.
"I think that was important," Mark said Sunday when asked if it was better for all concerned that Stewart's final margin was greater than the 25 points he lost to that ruling. "I feel good about that. I feel like they beat us, they earned it and I congratulate them."
So be it. Stewart will go to New York the week after Thanksgiving as headliner at NASCAR's annual awards ceremony. Mark, once more, must settle for second banana.
"I never really looked at this thing this year and allowed myself to think I would win it," said Mark, who took the points lead after the Sept. 22 race a Dover but lost it, for good as it turned out, one week later at Kansas. "That's a good thing, because I feel no letdown now."
In some ways, of course, that's hard to believe. He's 43 years old and has 33 career Winston Cup victories, but every time he turns around somebody else is asking him about how tough it is to not have a Winston Cup title on his resume.
Mark has a fairly stock answer to the question, one he repeated on Sunday.
"You can beat on me all you want about running second and that's not good because I feel like that sometimes," he said. "But I've had a great career and I've done all I can do. Say what you want. I didn't score enough points this year. I never scored enough points."
"I don't think I'm the greatest race car driver in the world that ever lived and I don't want anybody to write that about me. I do what I do and I have been very fortunate. I have a lot of respect and a lot of trophies."
The trophies are nice, but you get the sense that Mark enjoys the respect more.
Stewart praised Mark repeatedly on the season's final weekend, recalling that back in 1996 when Stewart first came to NASCAR's Grand National series he often sought out Mark, who's the all-time race winner in that series, too, for advice.
"He always took time for me," Stewart recalled. "He gave me plenty of good tips and answered questions I had. And I had a lot of them.
"If we weren't fortunate enough to get it done, I was going to lose to someone that I really liked and someone that I have a lot of respect and admiration for. ...Some guys go their whole career without winning a championship. I hope that doesn't happen to Mark."
Mark said he heard a lot of that over the final days of the long season, and that the support humbled him. It also, he said, put a little more pressure on his shoulders.
"I had so many people who wanted me to win it so bad, I almost got afraid
that they were going to be let down so bad, that I was going to let them
down," he said. "What I'm trying to say is thank you, to the all the
competitors and all the fans and all the people I know who felt that
way."Mark won one race this season, the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. He scored more points that everyone else but Stewart one year after going winless and finishing 12th in the standings, his first time out of the top 10 since 1988. Mark swapped teams with Kurt Busch, and credits new crew chief Ben Leslie and his group with reviving his career. Mark's former crew, led by crew chief Jimmy Fennig, helped Busch to four wins and a third-place points finish this year, so it was a win-win kind of deal.
Sure, Mark would love to be in Stewart's position in New York next month. Sure, he'd love to be able to win a championship and share that with his team. And just like he did this year, he'll try with every fiber of his being to do exactly that in 2003.
He's just not counting on it. "I don't predict next year," he said Sunday. "But I know one thing – my guys are going to be there. I've got a great sponsor and great people on my team. I don't know if we can make the top 10 next year. I don't know how we did it this year. I just know that we did it. ...These guys gave me a shot right down to the very last lap and you'd better believe I'm grateful for that."
"I don't feel disappointed and I don't feel excited. I don't feel anything right now. I just raced my brains out ...and made it close. That's all I know."
That's all he had, which is exactly what Mark will give every time he gets in the car for as long as he chooses to do it. No matter how the points add up, that makes him a champion by any true definition of that word.
