LOUDON, N.H. (AP) - It's been seven years since Mark Martin legitimately challenged for the championship. Now he's got his best shot at the title that's so painfully eluded him over 27 years in NASCAR.
He'll only have to deal with Jimmie Johnson.
And Jeff Gordon.
And Tony Stewart.
Oh, don't forget Denny Hamlin. Or Juan Pablo Montoya.
The tightest Chase for the championship since its 2004 inception begins Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and Martin starts as the points leader. The sentimental favorite earned the top spot with four victories during an invigorating "regular season" that saw him match in 26 races his entire win total from 2000 to 2008.
"This is certainly the best year of my career, the most fun," said the 50-year-old driver. "We'll see how things fare here. Anybody in this Chase can win this Chase. Every team that's in it is capable of putting together a 10-race row. That's all it takes is the magic 10 races, and anybody can win it."
Everyone in contention came to New Hampshire ready to roll, proven by a quick qualifying session Friday that saw Chase drivers claim the first five spots.
Montoya, in his first Chase since moving from Formula One three seasons ago, won the pole with a record-breaking lap in his Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. His lap of 133.431 mph bettered Ryan Newman's 2003 record of 133.357 and gave him the a front-row starting spot.
Two-time series champion Stewart, who built a monstrous points lead that was wiped out when the Chase field was set this week, qualified second. He was followed by Kurt Busch, winner of the 2004 inaugural Chase, Denny Hamlin, who is still riding high from last week's victory at hometrack Richmond, and Carl Edwards, the preseason championship favorite.
Four-time series champion Gordon qualified 10th, and Kasey Kahne was 11th. Three spots back was Martin, who qualified a disappointing 14th. His Hendrick Motorsports teammate, three-time defending champion Johnson, was 16th.
Newman was 18th, Greg Biffle was 22nd and Brian Vickers, who raced his way into the field last weekend at Richmond, was the worst of the Chase qualifiers at 26th.
But Martin, who is convinced his car is far better than his qualifying effort, said Sunday's opener won't give much of an indication of how this Chase will shape up.
"It'll take five races. You're not going to know anything after this race, I'm telling you," Martin said. "You could have a terrible finish and run here and then come back and rebound from it. It's going to take five races to see. And then when it's four to go, the picture is going to get much clearer.
"I wouldn't get too carried away about how everything lands in this race."
His opinion is debatable.
Stewart was wrecked in the 2004 Chase opener and never recovered. Busch had the same fate the next season. Then last year, points leader Kyle Busch had a mechanical problem early in the race that ultimately derailed his title chances.
Then there's Johnson, who finished a career-worst 39th at New Hampshire in 2006, only to rebound and win the first of his three consecutive titles. He's set such an unbelievable pace during his title run that there's little room for anyone else to have even the slightest error.
Martin doesn't think it will take that sort of dominance to win this year.
"Nobody is going to beat a 5.0 or 5.5 (average) finish. Anybody that does that for 10 races is going to hold that trophy," he said. "But I'll be surprised if anyone can do that this year with the way it looks like the contenders are. It's going to be a great race between all 12."
And that includes Martin, even though he doesn't want to focus on the championship.
He's finished second in title races four times in his career, most recently when he lost by 38 points to Stewart in 2002. He was penalized 25 points that season for an illegal spring, so in terms of performance, he only missed the title by 13 points.
It's been an up-and-down road since then, even though Martin made the Chase in each of its first three seasons. He wasn't a strong contender then, though, and his best finish in this format was fourth in 2004 and '05.
Worn out in 2007, he scaled back to a partial schedule for two seasons. It was evident as he nearly won the 2007 Daytona 500 that his performance had not missed a beat, and it took just that little break to get Martin geared up for a full return this season with Hendrick.
Now, he's having so much fun, there's no clue when he'll quit. He announced a contract extension Friday that will keep him in the car through 2011.
With so many Sundays in front of him, Martin isn't worried about the next 10 weeks and this wonderful shot at a championship.
"It's not something that defines my career," he said. "I didn't take this job to win the championship. I took this job to drive a fast race car and hopefully win a race. So what we will do and what I will do is do my very best, I'm a really intense person, I'm really competitive, and I will give every ounce that I have at it just like I do every time.
"And we'll see how it turns out."