Short Laps

1 Despite skipping three races, Mark Martin (right), who ran seventh at Pocono, is 12th in the standings, ahead of such big guns as Ryan Newman and Dale Earnhardt Jr. But Martin, 48, who plans to skip eight more races this season beginning with Infineon on June 24, says he has no plans to compete for the Nextel Cup. "I enjoy being off," he said last Friday. "So if I was leading [in points], like when I missed my first race [on March 25], I still wouldn't do it."

2 The season's two first-time Cup winners are proving that those triumphs weren't flukes. Martin Truex Jr., who won at Dover on June 4, placed third at Pocono and moved up to 11th in the points standings. Casey Mears, who made his winner's circle debut at Charlotte on May 27, finished fourth on Sunday; in three weeks he has climbed 11 spots in the standings to 23rd, only 277 points out of 12th.