HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Day one, and Mark Martin's already-dim championship hopes looks even more bleak.

Needing to make up 89 points on Tony Stewart, who has won two of three races at Homestead-Miami Speedway, qualifying 34th for Sunday's Ford 400 didn't quite deliver the boost Martin was hoping for.

	Tony Stewart outruns the media after qualifying sixth Friday at Homestead, Fla.

Especially when Stewart qualified sixth at a place he is so confident that he calls it "my track."

"That was terrible," Martin said. "We weren't prepared for the sun like this. Were not used to this qualifying time, practice time and everything -- and we just missed it."

Martin's teammate Kurt Busch hit it right on the nail, grabbing the pole with a 154.365 mph lap. But having a teammate at the front won't help Martin much unless he can catch up and race for the win. It will take a victory-contending effort just to keep Martin's hopes alive.

Even then, he's got to hope Stewart doesn't finish better than 22nd -- lest he clinch the title. On Saturday, a commission will rule on Martin's appeal for 25 points that were taken away after his car failed post-race inspection Nov. 3, but even then Stewart could clinch by finishing 14th or better.

And the Indiana native is starting to feel confident.

"That wasn't the prettiest lap out here today, but it was good enough," Stewart said. "We've got a really good car. We're normally 'bad to the bone' here on Sunday ... so I'm pretty excited about Sunday, now."

Although Martin is off to a pretty bad start to the weekend, both he and teammate Busch don't think that will necessarily translate into a bad outing Sunday -- so Martin, the eternal pessimist, is trying his best to keep a positive outlook.

"That was a bad run for us, but it's just a starting spot," Martin said. "This is a great race car and this is a great race track, so I look forward to getting out there in race trim ... on Sunday."

With qualifying out of the way, the game for both Stewart and Martin is now one of blocking out the hype surrounding them as they decide the champion. For Martin, that might be easier than for Stewart.

Martin has distanced himself from the points race -- ever since he took the lead in the standings almost two months ago. Through Martin lost the lead after the next race and seemed to begin a free fall from contention, he re-emerged again with three races remaining.

He takes the questions and down plays them.

For Stewart, they are everywhere. Television reporters from Indianapolis, many of whom don't normally come to races, are in town following Stewart. Fans all want a piece of him, too, hoping to talk to him or get an autograph during the weekend, they hope, he will be crowned champion.

Stewart's strategy so far, like Martin, has been to dodge the questions. But while Martin hears them out and downplays them, Stewart tries to run away from them -- literally. After posting his qualifying speed, which at the time was fourth fastest, Stewart answered a couple of questions and began to walk away.

When cameras started following, he sprinted into the garage and to his hauler. But while the two competitors may have handled the attention differently, they feel the same way about it.

"I just want to get through the weekend and then I'll talk," Stewart has said.

Martin agreed.

"I can't say anything that will make a difference on where I finish," Martin said. "Whatever I say here, I still have to make it happen on the track. So, that's what I would rather do."

So with Day One down, Stewart, who came into the weekend with the edge, leaves with it, too.

"We've got some ground to make up," Martin said. "I've been there before. We can handle it."

Rupen Fofaria is a beat writer for The Raleigh News & Observer and a regular contributor to ESPN.com.