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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Another Stern Test For Martin
Mark Martin has led the points after all three Chase races...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted October 09, 2009   Fontana, CA
Mark Martin entered the Chase in first place in the points and has held the lead for the first three races. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

In the last few weeks, Mark Martin has managed to stay atop the NASCAR Sprint Cup points for two reasons: He’s been blindingly fast and unfailingly consistent.

In his first season behind the wheel of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Impala SS, Martin has put together an impressive streak of late. It started with a runner-up finish to Kyle Busch at Bristol in August. Then Martin finished fifth at Atlanta and fourth at Richmond to lock himself into the Chase for the Sprint Cup started.

And once the Chase began, Martin, crew chief Alan Gustafson and the rest of the team raised their games a notch, winning at New Hampshire, finishing second at Dover and coming home seventh at Kansas Speedway. And that seventh-place run, by the way, was Martin’s worst result in six races.

The bottom line is that the 50-year-old Batesville, Ark., native heads into Sunday’s Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway with a lead of 18 points over teammate Jimmie Johnson and 51 over Juan Pablo Montoya.

But in a Chase where the top six drivers are separated by a mere 99 points and seven races are left in the season, Martin is sticking to his long-held belief that it’s too early to talk championship. “Right now, there is no pressure,” said Martin. “Everyone is talking about the Chase, and how each winner, each weekend is suddenly the top contender. I'll say it again: Ask me with four races to go.”

More than anyone, Martin knows that a $2 part failure can turn a potentially race-winning car into a last-place one. And given that he had seven finishes of 30th or worse in his first 23 races of the season, Martin is taking nothing for granted.

Especially not after losing an engine in the first Auto Club race in February, resulting a 40th-place finish. If that happens again on Sunday, Martin could see himself tumble from the points lead to seventh- or eighth-place.

Still his performance of late has been remarkable, something Martin admits surprised him.

“Going into the Chase, when we were in New York City (speaking with media), I repeatedly said that I didn't think there was any way that any one of these guys could have a top-five average finish like Jimmie (Johnson) has done in the past,” said Martin, who four times has finished second in points. “The competition is just too strong. So far, I'm proving myself wrong.”

And Martin said he’s curious to see how things will play out as the Chase goes on.

“Can this keep up? I don't know,” said Martin. “But I'm not going to judge this year or our performance in the Chase by a top-five average. We'll go out like we've done every weekend and race our guts out. And if we finish like the effort we put in, we'll have top-fives every weekend. We'll just see.”

Indeed. The team had an off-week last time in Kansas, but hung on for a respectable finish, something that gave Martin some extra optimism.

“Last week this team could have succumbed to the pressure of not having a perfect race car, but we didn't do it,” he said. “I watched my guys dig and scratch and claw to the best finish we could possibly get. And it was enough. It wasn't a great day, and I know there is not a guy on this team that was happy with a seventh-place finish. But for where we could have finished, it was great.”

Crew chief Gustafson knows there’s no margin for error at this point in the season.

“Having an average finish at the end of the Chase inside the top five has been our goal since we knew we were in,” he said. “That's what it will take to win the championship with the Chase format. You have to have consistent top-five finishes and at least two wins I think. This team can continue on the same level it has been. If we do, we will win this championship. But we're going to have to be perfect for that to happen.”

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of ?Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,? and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to



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