Mark Martin at a fork in the road

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - What will Mark Martin do?

Two races into a new season, Martin finds himself first in the Nextel Cup standings. But he's scheduled to run only 23 races, giving the No.01 Chevrolet over to rookie Regan Smith in the others, beginning with the March 25 Food City 500 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.

Martin's quick start, however, has sparked speculation that as long as he's in position to get a spot in the Chase for the Nextel Cup it will be hard to give that up. He's never won a championship in NASCAR's top series, so how could he walk away from what might be a chance to pursue that dream one more time?

Evert time anybody has asked him, Martin has insisted his plans have not changed and that he wants to run the partial schedule as it was set out before the season.

But there are those, including former teammates Matt Kenseth and Jeff Burton, who've been openly skeptical that, when the time comes for Martin to sit out Bristol, he won't be able to do it.

I don't have any idea what Martin will do. But I do know what he should do.

Whatever he wants.

If winning a championship meant as much to Martin as it seems to for everybody else, Martin would still be driving a Ford at what's now Roush Fenway Racing.

Martin, however, wanted something different. He wanted to walk away from the grind of racing week after week, but he also wanted to race when he wanted to in cars he felt could win. Ginn Racing gave him cars that, so far, have provided that opportunity.

All during the preseason, Martin was actually looking for people to tell how great his new arrangement is. He's doing what he wants in Nextel Cup and he's pieced together some rides with car owners like Rick Hendrick, the Wood Brothers and, yes, Jack Roush in the Busch and Truck series, too.

For a change, Martin is calling his dance.

When he takes the green flag in next Sunday's race at Las Vegas, it will be his 620th consecutive Cup start. If he doesn't change his mind, after the following weekend at Atlanta the streak will end.

I don't think he's going to change his mind. I believe Martin knows that, even if he gets off to incredible start, the odds of winning a championship are stacked high against him.

At 47, he's older than anybody who's won a championship. He's with a team that shows signs of growing and improving, but which heretofore has shown no sign it can compete long-term with power teams.

More to the point, the idea that Martin needs a championship to somehow validate all he's done in racing is ridiculous.

If Martin wants to race every weekend this year, as long as Ginn Racing feels it has the resources to make that happen, then I say more power to him. But it shouldn't happen out of any sense of responsibility to meet some goal set for him by anyone other than himself.

It's his call. He's earned that.