Old-man Martin has no victory burnouts planned

Thursday, Oct. 27, 2005 | 6:50 a.m.

If Mark Martin were to overcome his current 170-point deficit and win the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series championship, don't expect him to celebrate by doing burnouts at the start-finish line.

"Burnouts are for juveniles and for the kids," Martin said this week when asked to explain why he didn't perform the obligatory tire-smoking spectacle following his victory earlier this month at Kansas Speedway. "I'm old school. You didn't ever see Dale Earnhardt doing burnouts ... (or) Bobby Allison, Darrell Waltrip, Richard Petty; that's just not our style."

Martin, 46, and in his 19th full season in NASCAR's premier series, said he would leave the burnouts to the younger drivers.

"My luck, I'd wind up with the same engine parts in my car in the next race and they'd break," he joked. "It's just not what I do. It is pretty entertaining to watch these young kids do them, though; they put on a heck of a show."

Martin has 35 Cup victories, including the inaugural Cup race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 1998.

THAT'S NO BULL

Ron Capps, who is embroiled in the closest National Hot-Rod Association Funny Car points battle in history, turned to an unusual source -- former champion bull rider Ty Murray -- to learn how to deal with the pressure of his situation.

"I talked to Ty Murray, who's an unbelievable bull rider and all-around cowboy and we talked about the pressure of him having to go out the last (round) and ride a bull and win a world championship in the past," Capps said. "We had a good talk because (I learned the pressure) is just part of it ... and I've come to grips with it's just going to be that way."

Capps won the Funny Car category in the ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals this past weekend by defeating Gary Scelzi in the final. Scelzi assumed the points lead by a narrow two-point margin over Capps. Thirteen-time Funny Car champion John Force is 28 points back going into the season finale Nov. 3-6 in Pomona, Calif.

ALSO NOTED:

* Sterling Marlin has signed a multiyear contract to drive for MB2 Motorsports beginning next season. The team, which fields the No. 10 Chevrolet this season, will switch to car number 14 next season in honor of Marlin's father, Clifton "Coo Coo" Marlin, who drove with that number on his car in the 1960s and 1970s. Coo Coo Marlin died in August.

* Steve Park, who was released as driver of the No. 62 Dodge truck for Las Vegas-based Orleans Racing, will pilot the No. 67 Toyota for Bill Davis Racing in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway and next weekend at Texas Motor Speedway.

* Noted road racer and NASCAR semiregular Boris Said will add another racing discipline to his resume next month when he competes in the 38th Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 desert race. Said will team with Martin Christensen and Dave Mason in a BMW-powered Unlimited Class 1 race vehicle. Other crossover drivers expected to compete are NASCAR's Robby Gordon and Michel Jourdain Jr. and open-wheel stars Sebastien Bourdais and Buddy Rice.

By the numbers

15 -- The number of points separating Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series standings

2 -- The number of consecutive Champ Car World Series season championships won by Sebastien Bourdais

3.1 -- Overnight television rating earned by NBC's delayed broadcast Sunday of the U.S. Open of Supercross, held Oct. 8 in the MGM Grand Garden Arena