Martin

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Jack Roush is seething over a 25-point penalty that could cost Mark Martin the Winston Cup championship.

Instead of enjoying what has become a duel between Roush Racing driver Martin and leader Tony Stewart for the title with only two races left, Roush is angry with NASCAR.

Martin cut Stewart's lead to 87 points with a second-place finish last Sunday in Rockingham, N.C. But a postrace inspection found an unapproved spring on the No. 6 Ford.

The next day, NASCAR docked Martin 25 points, took 25 team owner points from Roush and fined crew chief Ben Leslie $5,000.

That left Martin 112 points behind Stewart going into Sunday's Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.

"Based on what NASCAR has done over a period of time, if Mark would happen to lose the championship and is less than 25 points behind Tony Stewart, that would be the third time that NASCAR, through an unwarranted, unjust, unfair, unacceptable -- to me -- punitive action has taken one of my drivers out of a championship,'' Roush said Friday.

Martin was fined 46 driver points in 1990 for an illegal carburetor spacer found on his Roush Ford after a race in Richmond, Va. He lost the championship that year to Dale Earnhardt by 26 points.

In 1999, Greg Biffle, driving a NASCAR truck series entry for Roush, was penalized 120 points for an illegal carburetor spacer following a race in Las Vegas. He lost the title to Jack Sprague by eight points.

Roush said the penalty against Biffle was definitely unjustified.

"We'd won one other race with that manifold, and we'd raced it seven other times,'' Roush explained. ``So, seven times they'd looked at it and one other time they had it for teardown.''

The inspector who allegedly told the team at the beginning of the season that the manifolds were legal, denied it, Roush said.

"So I lined all my guys up and I got the state police guys and the lawyers and we went and did a lie-detector test,'' Roush said. "I went to NASCAR and said, 'OK, here's everyone that prepared that manifold, here's all the documentation of when it was built, and work orders that went through the shop. Here's when it was built. It hasn't been modified. What are you going to do about that?' They said, 'Nothing.'

"It's a kangaroo court.''

The Roush team has until Wednesday to appeal the decision to the National Stock Car Racing Commission. He said an appeal is being recommended by lawyers as part of the process that could lead to action against the spring manufacturer, whom he did not name.

"That's the people that damaged us,'' he said. "They gave us a part that was presented to us with the implied warranty that it was acceptable to NASCAR's rules.

"For us to have the opportunity to get our relief from them, we may have to go through the appeal process so that we've done what we could to get our relief before we go after the spring manufacturer.''

Oh, deer
Tony Stewart's plane was involved in a strange accident on the way to Phoenix.

The Cessna Citation Bravo, a twin-engine executive aircraft, with Stewart aboard, was taking off Tuesday night from a small airport in rural after refueling. A deer darted across the runway and collided with the plane.

"I was sitting in the back of the plane and I felt a bump,'' Stewart said. "I knew there wasn't supposed to be a bump like that on takeoff and I went up front to see what happened. They said we hit a small deer.''

No one was injured, but the collision did considerable damage to the plane. Stewart said the pilot was able to fly the plane to San Antonio, where it is being repaired. Stewart and his party had to charter a plane to continue their journey.

Stewart was en route to personal appearance in Las Vegas.

Military mind
The United States Army will invade Winston Cup in 2003.

A spokesman said the Army will be the primary sponsor for 27 of 36 races next year for an MB2 Pontiac driven by Jerry Nadeau. It will remain on the car as an associate sponsor for the other nine races.

Ken Schrader has been the driver for Nelson Bower's MB2 team since 2000 with no victories and seven top-10 finishes.

Lt. Gen. Dennis D. Cavin, commanding general for the U.S. Army Accessions Command at Fort Monroe, Va., said, "NASCAR fans share our interest and support what the Army proudly stands for in America.''

Cavin noted that NASCAR's huge following includes many young adults, 18-24, the target audience for Army recruiting.

"This helps raise awareness among America's youth of what the Army has to offer,'' Cavin said.

The Army has been involved in racing for several years, sponsoring Schumacher Racing in the NHRA.

Spark plugs
Fords have won 10 of the 14 Winston Cup races at Phoenix and has at least two top-five finishes in each of the events. ... The only two-time winners here are Jeff Burton and the late Davey Allison. ... Brett Bodine is the only driver of the nine who have competed in all 14 races here without finishing in the top 10. ... Phoenix is one of only four active tracks on which Jeff Gordon has not won a race. Gordon does have seven top-10 finishes in nine starts. He best finish was fourth in 1994.