INDIANAPOLIS -- The question hangs over Mark Martin like the white, puffy cumulus clouds hung over Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday. He's said it, he's reiterated it, he's become passionate about it, he's gotten angry over it, and still people wonder -- what will Mark Martin do next season?

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I made myself perfectly clear last weekend, or over the last several weeks. There is no inclination of any change. But I will tell you this -- there is no road map for me and my future. So don't even start to think about criticizing what I do in 2012 or beyond, because I don't know.

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-- MARK MARTIN

The 51-year-old NASCAR veteran is signed to drive the No. 5 car for Hendrick Motorsports through the end of next year, but the more time that passes without some resolution on what the organization will do with Kasey Kahne, the more Martin hears the questions. Hendrick signed Kahne to take control of the No. 5 beginning in 2012, and because of NASCAR's four-car maximum, won't be able to accommodate the young star until then -- unless there's some movement in the team's driver lineup beforehand.

Which is exactly what Ray Evernham thinks might happen. The former Hendrick crew chief, who won three championships with Jeff Gordon before leaving to start his own race team, surmised Friday that at some point Martin will step aside for the greater good of the organization, opening a seat for Kahne for next year.

"At some point Mark will realize Rick Hendrick has been very good to him, and ... the best thing for Hendrick Motorsports is for Mark to make room for Kasey to come over there," said Evernham, speaking to reporters as part of a panel of ESPN television analysts. "I think Mark eventually will do that. There's lots of balls in the air. I wouldn't be surprised if in the next three to four weeks that Mark Martin says, 'Rick Hendrick has been good to me, but the best thing I can do for him is to make room for Kasey Kahne.'"

Coming from someone with the authority and pedigree of Evernham, the comment caused plenty of eyebrows to perk up. Hendrick wasn't at the speedway on Friday, and was unavailable for comment. Martin, who's addressed similar speculation in recent weeks, did what he always does when he hears things like that -- he bristled.

"I made myself perfectly clear last weekend, or over the last several weeks. There is no inclination of any change," he said before opening practice for the Brickyard 400. "But I will tell you this -- there is no road map for me and my future. So don't even start to think about criticizing what I do in 2012 or beyond, because I don't know, so don't even ask what I want to do because I don't know. I'm going to do what I want to do, but for now I'm going to drive the No. 5 car. That's what I'm going to do in 2011. That's what I've said all along and I felt very disrespected when the media doesn't accept that."

And yet, this isn't a media creation -- Friday's comments about Martin and Kahne came from one of the most respected men ever to set foot in the Cup Series garage area, a former car owner who brought Kahne into NASCAR's premier series. And when Kahne's signing for 2012 was announced, Hendrick said he wanted to have the driver's 2011 plans wrapped up in 60 days. That loose, self-imposed deadline expired July 14.

To Martin, though, the unending speculation feels like something else.

"You [make] me look like I am about to get fired," he told a group of reporters. "That's very disrespectful, guys. That's what you all are doing. It's very disrespectful, and I deserve better than that from you guys. I've always been as straight as I can be, and any little bit of waffling that I have done in my whole career was based on being asked questions before I was ready to answer them. I should be able to do the things that I want to do."

Martin planned to step away from full-time competition after the 2006 season, when he parted ways with longtime car owner Jack Roush. He ran part-time schedules the next two seasons before Hendrick lured him into the No. 5 car after Casey Mears was released following the 2008 campaign.

"I went to a limited schedule because I wanted to. I came back full-time because I wanted to drive the No. 5 car. I never said I was going to retire," Martin said. "I said I wasn't going to run a full schedule anymore, and I changed my mind. I'm going to have a hard time telling you guys what I'm going to do in 2012 and beyond, because you pick at that like I'm indecisive. I'm at the point in my career where I get to do whatever in the heck I want to do. Rick Hendrick and [crew chief] Alan Gustafson indicated to me that they wanted me to drive their car as long as I would drive it. After thinking about it, I told them I would drive it through 2011 and that would be long enough commitment for me and then I would do something else.

"They wanted me to go further than that and I wouldn't do it, because it's too far out. I don't have a road map, and I don't want to change my mind. I just want to do what I said I was going to do. That's what we're going to do, that's what they want, that's what I want, and I don't know why everybody makes such a big deal out of all this. Understand that it will all be put to rest whenever they announce what Kasey is going to do, and I understand that, but you should be focusing on that. What is Kasey going to do? Because I have told you what I'm going to do."

All this speculation comes as Martin -- who won five times and was in the championship hunt until the final week last season -- attempts to fight his way out of a slump that's left him winless in 2010 and currently outside of Chase position. But the 40-time race winner on the Cup tour said he's still enjoying the competition as much as he did a year ago, and doesn't want to slow down.

"Last year was the time of my life," he said, "but I just had a week and a half off, and I'm damn glad to be back at the race track. Just like I told you last year, racing is my life, and I don't know what I'll do if I was to ever lose that. I'm not going to lose that anytime soon. It is my life. It is what I want to do, and I'm happy to be here at the Brickyard and be surrounded with my team and my guys and fixing to strap in a race car."