HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- MARK MARTIN LOST ANOTHER WINSTON CUP CHAMPIONSHIP!

Scream it as loud as you want to as many people as you want. Martin isn't depressed or bitter in defeat. In fact, he's celebrating revival.

"You can beat me all you want to about running second, but I've had a great career," Martin said. "I've done all I can do. Say what you want. I didn't score enough points this year.

"I don't think I'm the greatest race car driver that ever lived, and I don't want anybody to write that about me. I do what I do and I've been very fortunate. I've got a lot of respect, and I've got a lot of trophies -- a lot more trophies than most people. I've done a lot of really neat things in my career, and that's all I can do."

Losing this championship -- by a mere 38 points to Tony Stewart -- marks the fourth time Martin has finished second in the Winston Cup standings. But of all the title hunts, this year's was his favorite.

He was a non-factor last season, finishing outside the top 10 in points for the first time in 13 years. To bounce back and have a shot -- albeit remote -- to win the title on the last day of the 2002 season was more than the 43-year-old driver could ask for.

"This might be the greatest battle that myself and the people around me have ever fought," Martin said while, out of the corner of his eye, watching on a nearby big-screen television images of Stewart celebrating in victory lane. "It was incredible."

Martin has had a successful 19-year career in Cup despite not winning a championship -- and he knows it. The popular driver -- with several fans inside the garage as well as outside -- knows success is measured in many ways.

His competitors measure it with respect -- of which Martin gets a lot.

Over the years, Martin has sometimes been curt and almost always been pessimistic, but he's also always been fair. That's what everyone in the garage seems to say about him. And, lately, he's been gracious, too.

	Martin has now finished second in points four times in his career.

"There isn't a classier guy around," Ford driver Dale Jarrett said. "He's been around here a long time and after all that time it'd be hard for you to find someone that will say anything bad about the man."

And the man doesn't say many bad things about others, either. In fact, when asked about how he had actually out-performed Stewart over the final three races of the season, Martin made sure to turn his response into a compliment to himself, and to Stewart.

"We gained points on a guy that's incredibly hard to beat in the last three races in a row and I'm as proud of that as anything we did all year long," Martin said. "We beat him the last three races in a row and I'm telling you, that's a tall order."

Martin's team owner, Jack Roush, hopes Martin can deliver another tall order before he hangs up his helmet.

Roush has been with Martin through all the defeats in the championship races. He was there in 1990, when it hurt worst after getting penalized 46 points that season and losing the title to Dale Earnhardt by 26 points.

And he was there earlier this month when Martin was penalized 25 points in a tight championship race because of an non-approved spring found on Martin's No. 6 Ford at North Carolina Speedway, where Martin finished second.

Roush touched on NASCAR finding ways to stop his drivers from winning -- presumably referring to these two penalty situations -- but said he hopes Martin finds a way to pull one out sooner than later, even though he believes there's plenty of time left.

"There's a lot of time left for him," Roush said. "It's a matter of him deciding when he wants to start focusing on (his youngest son) Matt and other things in his family life that would get in the way of his racing. I don't think we're to that point yet. I hope we've got five years to pursue a championship with Mark."

	“	There isn't a classier guy around. He's been around here a long time and after all that time it'd be hard for you to find someone that will say anything bad about the man. ”
		— Dale Jarrett

But you can bet that Martin will treat anymore title runs just like he treated this one -- distancing himself, emotionally.

Martin's not a guy who needs to be told things twice. He's no glutton for punishment. He anticipated another heartbreaking end to this championship run, so he decided not to invest his heart so as not to have anything to break.

Still, that strategy almost backfired.

"I never really looked at this thing this year and allowed myself to think I would win it -- and that's a good thing because I don't feel a let down," Martin said. "But I had so many guys that wanted me to win it so bad that I almost got afraid that they were going to be let down so bad and I was going to let them down. I guess what I'm trying to say is, 'Thank you.' Thank you to all the competitors that felt that way."

Martin begins the 2003 season on Tuesday, testing a Ford he will race next season. And as little as he cares about anyone screaming that HE LOST THE CHAMPIONSHIP! he cares even less about people dumping high expectations for next year on him.

He says he doesn't know where he's going to finish -- might not even be in the top 10. All he can do is try hard and, since Stewart won by more than the margin of the penalty he was assessed, be thankful that he lost the championship to a guy who deserves it.

"I feel good about that," Martin said. "They beat us, they earned it and I congratulate them."

Rupen Fofaria is a beat writer for The Raleigh News & Observer.