This weekend, you won't see Kurt Busch or Matt Kenseth or Jeff Burton go kamikaze on Tony Stewart.

But that doesn't mean you won't see Mark Martin's Roush Racing teammates figure into the championship battle somehow.

With just 89 points separating Martin from points leader Stewart entering this weekend's final race of the year at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Martin's teammates will do everything they can to help the organization's senior driver win his, and the team's, first Winston Cup title.

And while that doesn't mean you should be looking for Burton to, say, cut a tire while running next to Stewart and bounce the Pontiac driver from the race, there are other ways Martin's having three other teammates -- two that are consistently running at the front of the pack with him and Stewart -- can help him.

For instance, if Martin needs a lap back and a Roush driver is in the lead -- he'll get his lap back. If Stewart happens to need that same lap back, he'll be racing harder for it than he has had to all year if the Roush stable has anything to do with it.

And if Stewart happens to be running toward the back, far enough to where it's going to be a matter of a few points deciding the title, don't think for a second Roush Racing won't coordinate who leads what laps if it's a couple of Jack Roush's drivers leading the way.

That's happened before -- so it could easily happen again.

At North Carolina Speedway, when Busch was stout all day and still seemed fastest late in the race, Martin ended up passing Busch with about 30 laps to go after Busch was passed by Johnny Benson. Busch never tried to pass Martin and Martin never did catch Benson.

Martin and Roush said there were no instructions for Busch to give up a position to Martin. But earlier in the season, Roush said he had talked to all of Martin's teammates and asked them to think about what they could do to help Martin win the title.

Busch would not deny he was told to let Martin pass him at the end two Sundays ago, and he did say he was told to let Martin take the lead earlier so Martin could lead the most laps in the race to collect five bonus points.

If those five bonus points become an issue Sunday, and Busch, Burton or Kenseth are leading Martin -- don't think that will last for long. No matter what Roush says.

	Martin, left, could get some help from Burton on Sunday.

"The short answer to that is no," Roush said when asked if the rest of his drivers become blockers for Martin at Homestead. "We are one race team that races four cars, but the feeling of fair play does pervade the team. If Tony Stewart wins by more than 25 points, we'll certainly celebrate his victory as we should, as being our champion going into next year and the guys, I'm sure, without any conversation, will give him every consideration to have clean track and an opportunity to do what he needs to do."

For clarification, Roush is not ready to concede fair defeat if he loses by less than 25 points because there is an issue over 25 points NASCAR penalized the team after the Rockingham, N.C., race two weekends ago. The No. 6 car failed post-race inspection and was docked 25 owner and driver points, and crew chief Ben Leslie was fined. Roush Racing has appealed that penalty.

But with the penalty being dealt with by NASCAR and Roush Racing President Geoff Smith, Roush, Martin and Co. are concentrating on winning a championship.

"Honestly, this is Mark's championship, but without Mark, none of us in Roush Racing would be where we are," sophomore driver Busch said. "I'm not out there to take anybody out by any means -- we're still racing for third place and that would be an amazing finish for us. But if there's anything I can do to help Mark on the race track, I wouldn't hesitate."

"We've all talked," Burton said. "One thing Roush Racing prides itself on is fairness and we're fair. I don't think you'll see us do anything other than be fair on Sunday, but if a situation arises where I can help Mark do something, I'm going to do it. So will Kurt and so will Matt. That's the way our team is. We're four teams but we all work together."

	“	Honestly, this is Mark's championship, but without Mark, none of us in Roush Racing would be where we are. I'm not out there to take anybody out by any means -- we're still racing for third place and that would be an amazing finish for us. But if there's anything I can do to help Mark on the race track, I wouldn't hesitate. ”
		— Kurt Busch

With what happened between Formula One drivers Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher this year, surely fans will be watching the way these teammates interact this weekend -- but when Busch, Kenseth and Burton say they're going to help Martin on the race track, they're talking within reason, Roush said.

This past F1 season, Barrichello pulled over to let teammate Schumacher win because Schumacher was still trying to wrap up the title. Roush said it would be difficult for that to happen in NASCAR because, whereas Barrichello and Schumacher are both owned by the same team, drive the same car and carry the same sponsor, each Roush car has different sponsorship with different expectations.

Still, even Roush concedes that Martin -- who could be as close as 64 points away from Stewart if his appeal goes through -- is close once again and as he gets older it becomes a priority among the organization to finally get him the championship they all believe they should already have by now.

Although he says his teams will not gang up on Stewart, he admits to sitting everyone down and asking them to think about what they can do to help Martin and he said that nothing would make him happier in racing than to win his first title with Martin -- the driver he has been with for 14 years.

"Mark and I have been through so much -- most of it good, some of it bad," Roush said earlier this season. "We've had some heartbreaks from NASCAR as I'm sure everybody will say they have, but it's time for something to go Mark's and my way, we believe. This championship could be it."

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