Martin has his own tough at to follow in ‘06

Thursday, Jan. 26, 2006 | 6:52 a.m.

Mark Martin would have loved to end his NASCAR Nextel Cup career with the kind of season he had in 2005.

Martin won a race -- the 35th victory of his career -- and finished fourth in points with 19 top-10 finishes in 36 races. But instead of walking away from the Cup series and moving to the lower-key NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series as he had planned, team owner Jack Roush talked Martin into sticking around for another season.

And Martin is doing nothing to hide the fact that he wished 2005 was his Cup swan song.

"I would really love 2005's performance to be the last year of my Cup (career)," Martin said. "So if I can do that well again in '06, it would be fantastic. If I can do better than that, obviously it would be a dream come true.

"It would be incredible if we could race for that championship and win. It would be the coolest thing. At the same time, realistically speaking, I know the odds that I'm up against and ... it would be hard for me to ask more of myself at this stage of my career."

Martin, 47, said Roush has told him to "go have fun this year," but Martin acknowledged that is not always an easy task for him to manage.

"You're not going to get the Jack Roush philosophy recommendation from me, and that is 'don't sweat it, don't strain so hard, just go do it and see if it turns out,' " Martin said. "I think that's a good strategy. I wish that would work for me."

Instead, Martin said he is trying to keep positive thoughts in his head -- such as the closing laps of the season finale last year at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida, where he finished second to teammate Greg Biffle -- as the 2006 season approaches.

"I love what happened the last lap of Homestead," Martin said. "It's one of the few occasions that I've ever gotten beat that I had fun. Yeah, it would have been cool to win, but everybody there was on their feet and that's why I race."

Nice start

Spencer Clark of Las Vegas won the pole and finished fourth Sunday in the season-opening race of the NASCAR West Series at Phoenix International Raceway.

Clark, 18, led 64 of the 125 laps but surrendered the lead to NASCAR veteran and eventual race winner Ken Schrader when Clark's car developed a push late in the race. It was Clark's third top-five finish in six West Series starts.

Also noted:

* Because of a scheduling conflict, Carl Edwards will not race in the International Race of Champions series this year. Ryan Newman will take Edwards' spot in the series.

* Indy Racing League sensation Danica Patrick will team with Rusty Wallace, Allan McNish and Jan Lammers in Howard-Boss Motorsports' No. 2 Pontiac Crawford for this weekend's Rolex 24 at Daytona endurance race.

* Wally Parks, who founded the National Hot Rod Association in 1951, celebrated his 93rd birthday Monday.

BY THE NUMBERS:

13 -- The number of victories posted by Toyota in two seasons in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Toyota announced it would compete in the Nextel Cup Series beginning in 2007.

1 -- The number of Indy Racing League IndyCar Series show cars reported stolen last weekend in Indianapolis

Mark Martin:

"I couldn't quit racing. Racing is my life. It's been my life since I was 15 years old and I'm certainly not ready to give up racing."

on moving to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series full time in 2007 after retiring from the Nextel Cup Series after this season

Brian Hilderbrand can be reached at 259-4089 or at bh@lasvegassun.com.