Martin finishes 16th, takes point lead

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LOUDON, N.H. -- Veteran Mark Martin took the lead in the NASCAR Winston Cup standings on Sunday for the first time in two and a half years, but in complete character, refused to get too excited about the feat.

Points leaders in 2002  Ward Burton: 1 race (Daytona to Rockingham)  Sterling Marlin: 25 races (Rockingham to Loudon)  Mark Martin: 1 race (Loudon-present)

With a 16th-place finish in the New Hampshire 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway in his No. 6 Viagra Ford, Martin was five positions ahead of Sterling Marlin's No. 40 Coors Light Dodge when the race was checkered after 207 of 300 laps were run.

Martin is unofficially six points ahead of Marlin, who had led the standings since the second race of the season.

With nine races left in the 36-event schedule, Martin leads third place rookie Jimmie Johnson by 40 points, fourth place Tony Stewart by 59 and defending Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon by 67.

"It doesn't mean much," Martin said of his lead in the best five-man point race at this stage of any Winston Cup season in history. "There are nine (races) to go."

While Marlin's only comment after the race was about Dodge's aerodynamic deficiencies that prevented him from ever threatening to advance much from his 24th starting position all day, Martin had a potential top-five car before a cut tire forced him to short pit at lap 146.

The greedy part in you says you'd have a big point lead had you not cut a right rear tire down and we would have finished fifth or sixth like we did last week," Martin said. "But the lucky side of you says, 'I should have hit the wall and had I done that I wouldn't be leading the points."

Martin has finished second in the standings three times in the 1990s, including 1998 when he won seven races to champion Gordon's 13. Martin was third four other times since 1989.

However, he has only led the standings three times since 1990. His last time in the lead was after the April race at Talladega in 2000.

The last time he led with 10 or less races remaining was in 1997, when he held a 13-point lead over Gordon with 10 events remaining.

That was the closest three-man race in NASCAR history, with Gordon beating Dale Jarrett by 14 points and third place Martin by 29.