WINSTON CUP Tony Stewart recognizes his job is not complete

KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- There's a reason Tony Stewart doesn't want to answer a lot of questions this week about being the Winston Cup champion.
"I haven't won the title yet," he said Tuesday. "Yeah, I'm very close, but at the same time, I could lose it and that's what I've been trying to say all along -- that this isn't done, yet."
Stewart leads by 89 points going into Sunday's season-ending Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, needing to finish 22nd or better to clinch the title no matter how second-place Mark Martin does.
Questions irritating
Since he took over the points lead six weeks ago, Stewart has been fending off questions about the championship. That's still his approach going into the final weekend of the long NASCAR season.
"Six weeks ago, [the media] started talking about something that was so far off that I couldn't believe I was answering questions about it," he said. "To be honest, I still don't. I realize with what our circumstances are this weekend, it's more realistic. But, this is something that I was hoping I'd be answering this coming Sunday after the race was over, instead of now.
"These are the kinds of questions that I think jinx somebody like myself in a situation like this."
The questions, however, are also inevitable for any driver in Stewart's position. Since the current points system was put in place in 1975, only two drivers have gone into the final race of the season with the lead and not won the championship.
Not only does Stewart have that history on his side, he's also got his own record at Homestead pointing in his favor. In the three Cup races there, he has won twice and led the most laps in the third last year before a late-race penalty doomed him to 19th place.
Stewart said again he and his Joe Gibbs Racing team plan to go to Homestead with one simple plan in mind -- winning the race.