Associated Press

During his career, Mark Martin has finished second four times and third four times in his efforts to win a Cup championship.

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Mark Martin chases a championship he doesn't need. He refuses to define himself based on titles won even if many others do.

Championships, though, once consumed him, ate at him and caused sleepless nights. No matter how hard he worked, how focused he was and how much he inspired his team, he couldn't win a championship in NASCAR's top series.

Four times he finished second. Four other times he was third. Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart -- among this era's greatest drivers -- beat him for crowns. Three times Martin finished within 40 points of the champion, adding to the angst.

Unless something dramatic happens today at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Martin seems destined to place second to another of this era's greats: Jimmie Johnson. All Johnson needs to do is finish 25th or better to clinch his record fourth consecutive championship.

Should that happen, it will reinforce how some view Martin. He won't be the 50-year-old who ignored time to challenge for a crown. He'll be known as the "Greatest NASCAR driver to have never won a Cup championship.''

Martin winces at those words.

It's not because the label implies failure. He just doesn't feel he's worthy of such praise.

"That might be a misuse of that first word,'' Martin said.

Greatest?

"Yeah,'' he said. "My record does not stand against the greats in the business.''

Without a Cup championship, he is excluded from a fraternity of 28 men who have won at least one Cup crown in NASCAR's history.

"I have come to realize that I'm not Dale Earnhardt,'' Martin said. "And when you stand me up against Jeff Gordon ... it just don't stand up to it. I gave them something to shoot at in the race from time to time. I gave their fans something to be concerned about, and I gave mine something to cheer about. My record just don't stand up against theirs. It's just that plain and simple. Tony Stewart's either.''

Even so, current and former competitors defend Martin's place among the sport's top drivers. They go beyond his 40 wins, which rank 16th on the all-time list, and his 48 poles, which place him ninth on the career list.

Competitors marvel at his talent. They note his constant success. He's finished in the top five in points 12 times, a sign of his ability to adjust to different sets of rules and even cars throughout his career.

His greatest accomplishment might be what he's done this year. He shocked many by contending for the championship after not running a full schedule the past two seasons. He's done this racing beyond an age when many drivers remained competitive.

"He certainly deserves to be a champion,'' Gordon said. "In my opinion, he is. I know that nobody is going to consider him that until he has the actual trophy.''

The trophy matters to others. Bobby Allison admits he feared having the "greatest ... to never win'' label. He finished second five times before he "sold my soul'' and joined a team that led him to the 1983 title but didn't pay him all that he said he was owed.

The only driver to finish second in the points more often than Allison and Martin is Richard Petty. He placed second six times. Of course, his seven championships overshadow those near-misses.

Martin has nothing to distract people from his close calls, though. Former champion Dale Jarrett remembers a time when Martin kept score of the titles and how it impacted him.

"There were times that the sport was so hard on him because he was so competitive that it would just eat at him,'' Jarrett said. "He tried to keep a lot inside.''

Instead, it seeped through. Martin often was called a pessimist. Even after a win, he worried that it might be his last time in Victory Lane. And then he'd win soon after and repeat the same speech.

Martin's attitude is brighter this season. Winning races and running well helps, but age also changed his perspective. A lifetime of experiences showed him he could survive if he didn't win a championship. That doesn't mean he's any less motivated to succeed.

"I just want to be a winner,'' he said.

To do that, some would argue, it will take the ultimate win. A championship. Otherwise he'll always wear the Scarlet Letter of having never won a championship. Martin doesn't see it that way.

"I was haunted by chasing those points so hard for so long,'' he said. "My life, my career and my season has been a tremendous success no matter if we go out here and we fall out on the first lap and finish fourth in the points.

"I can't measure what I've done as a person and as a driver and the contribution I've made to Hendrick Motorsports. I can't measure that by points. To me it can't be measured by points and shouldn't be.''

Today he'll be measured by points, whether he wants to be or not. If he does win the championship, then others will see Martin as many of his competitors already do.