Martin finds himself odd man out ... again (cont'd)

Like the NASCAR penalty assessed to his No. 6 Roush car for an illegal but non-performance-enhancing carburetor spacer in 1990, which cost him 46 points in a championship race he would lose by 26 to Dale Earnhardt. Or the penalty for a too-wide spring coil that cost him 25 points in his pursuit of eventual champion Tony Stewart in 2002. Sunday, he blamed the fact that he didn't have anyone pushing him. He blamed himself for not getting the job done.

But he didn't blame NASCAR officials. Over the semi-privacy of team radio, immediately after crossing the finish line, he sounded astonished that a caution had not frozen the field. "I can't believe they waited," he told his team. But later, despite given every opportunity, he steadfastly refused to point a finger at race control.

"Nobody wants to hear a grown man cry," Martin said, a steely edge in his voice. "That's what it is, and I'm not going to cry about it. This is what it is, and that's it. That's the end. They made the decision, and that's what we're going to live with."

It's yet another chapter in the story of NASCAR's tragic hero, a driver unfortunately defined more by what he hasn't won that what he has. Somehow, that makes him more endearing than if he had 10 Nextel Cups in his trophy case. Somehow, near misses like Sunday and the way he reacts to them make Mark Martin seem more human.

"That's what I love about this sport. It's hard," he said. "It's driven me for almost 30 years. That's why I was here today. I had the choice whether or not to race the Daytona 500. I wanted a shot at it, and these guys gave me a shot."

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.