The most compelling story

By DAVID GREEN

Journalists are supposed to be objective, detached observers of the events they cover. Of course, they -- "we," I suppose, since I still dabble in the journalism thing part-time -- are not. We have our own prejudices and our own experiences that cannot but affect our sentiments. When we are at our best, we're able to recognize and suspend those non-objective feelings and keep them out of the text of our reporting, and save it for opinion columns.

Even in columns, we should retain some sense of fairness and balance. But we can be objective and still speculate about which outcome of a story might turn out to be the most compelling one. We can evaluate human interest factors (elements of mass appeal, they called them in journalism school) and come up with a dispassionate choice.

In the race for the Nextel Cup, the most compelling story would be if Mark Martin were to win it.

Sure, prejudice is a part of my assessment. In the years he has raced in Winston/Nextel Cup, I have come to admire Martin as a true gentleman racer, a hard-driving competitor who sometimes makes mistakes (we have seen a few this season), who is not above making an angry gesture (just ask J.J. Yeley), but whose integrity as a driver is unimpeachable.

I remember his first venture into NASCAR in the early 1980s, how focused and intense and talented he was, saw it eat him alive, saw him go back to the Midwest and the old ASA series -- not to lick his wounds and pout, but to rededicate himself and eventually to return, triumphant this time, to Winston Cup.

I saw him evolve from a character much like A.A. Milne's Eeyore (the pessimistic donkey in the "Winnie the Pooh" stories, best known for lines such as, "It's not much of a tail, but I'm kind of attached to it") -- a humble, self-deprecating character who could be almost morose in victory lane ("You just don't know if you'll ever win another one of these things") -- into a guy who, after a 150-mph head-on crash into a steel barrier, a 30th-place finish and a big hit in Chase for the Cup points, grins into the TV camera and says, "I'm havin' fun!"

All along, gloomy or giddy, Martin was not merely good but great, a special talent and a guy who did it right, winning race after race without ever, ever resorting to any dirty tricks to get to the checkered flag first.

How could a Martin championship not be the best story?

Some will question the sincerity of Martin's "final" season of 2005 and his decision to keep competing in 2007 in a part-time role with a different team. Fans of a more lusty, reckless style will be lukewarm at best about Martin.

I think his history trumps any and all negatives. Few drivers -- Fireball Roberts, Junior Johnson, maybe a few others -- ever achieved so much and sustained it for so long without winning a championship. Few came so close, so many times.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. would be the most popular champion, for sure. Should Jeff Gordon rise from the dreary land of "no chance" and win a fifth Cup, it would be the most unlikely and most controversial. A title for Kevin Harvick (nominated as a likely titlist by this writer several weeks ago) would make for an unprecedented Cup-Busch same-year double championship.

Besides Martin, "most overdue" honors go to either Jeff Burton or Jimmie Johnson. A championship by rookie Denny Hamlin would be gonzo, as would a come-from-way-behind triumph by Kasey Kahne or Kyle Busch.

And Matt Kenseth, of course, is the guy whose one-victory consistency in 2003 led to the concept of the Chase, to prevent anybody from sewing up the championship title too quickly and quietly. So, were Kenseth to win, it would mean vindication.

Good stories, all. But the most compelling championship story would be Martin.

How likely are we to see that? Eeyore would say, "Not very, I suppose." Which, of course, only adds to the drama.