Martin becoming fan of new rules

LONG POND, Pa. — Mark Martin feels a lot better now than he did seven weeks ago about having a shot at the Nextel Cup title.

After a second-place finish Sunday at Pocono Raceway, Martin is only 89 points from joining NASCAR’s new “Chase for the Championship.” Drivers in the top 10 and any others within 400 points of the lead after the 26th race will compete for the title over the last 10 events.

“I don’t like it, but you know what, I stand to benefit from it so I’m not going to criticize it at this point because I might be the lucky one,” Martin said.

He wasn’t so optimistic in early June, when a blown engine in the Pocono 500 left Martin feeling as if he had no chance to win his first NASCAR championship.

“We could still make it into the top 10 if they didn’t have this cutoff thing at 26 races, but it’s done now,” Martin said then.

Now Martin is one of the biggest beneficiaries of NASCAR’s first-year points system that established a playoff-like structure to crown its next champion.

NASCAR created a scenario to generate fan interest down the stretch and keep drivers such as Martin — who would have been racing out the string under the old system — viable for a possible shot at the title.

He not only raced well Sunday, but dropouts of some top-10 drivers caused a dramatic shakeup in the standings. Only points leader and race winner Jimmie Johnson held his position.

Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick, Bobby Labonte and Kurt Busch failed to finish, and injured Dale Earnhardt Jr. needed a relief driver before his car was black-flagged.

All the scrambling helped Ryan Newman jump from 10th place to eighth, 52 points clear of the final slot. Elliott Sadler also gained two spots, going from eighth to sixth while Labonte slid from seventh to ninth.

Jeremy Mayfield went from being 106 points behind No. 10 to 40 points back. Kasey Kahne jumped from 162 points behind to 69 and Martin from 192 to 89 out.