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CUP: List Of Best Races Led By LifeLock 400

Mark Martin won the LifeLock 400 when first Jimmie Johnson and then Greg Biffle ran out of gas on the last lap...

Tom Jensen | Posted November 28, 2009 Charlotte, NC

Mark Martin won the LifeLock 400 at Michigan after first Jimmie Johnson and then Greg Biffle ran out of fuel on the last lap. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

While some complained that the racing was boring in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2009, the reality is that there were some terrific battles from coast to coast throughout the season.

Mark Martin won the LifeLock 400 at Michigan after first Jimmie Johnson and then Greg Biffle ran out of fuel on the last lap. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

By coincidence or not, the majority of the most compelling races seemed to fall in the first half of the year, a time that was heavy on upsets, odd-ball finishes and the just plain strange.

The first half of the 2009 season produced, among other things:

• First-time Cup winners in Brad Keselowski, David Reutimann and Joey Logano.

• The first victory for Mark Martin since 2005.

• Richard Petty’s first victory as a car owner since 1999.

• Tony Stewart’s first victory as a car owner.

• Jack Roush’s first Daytona 500 victory after 22 years of trying.

• Jeff Gordon breaking his Texas curse.

The second half of the season?

How about Jimmie Johnson’s fourth championship, with the widest point margin by a Sprint Cup champion since 2001?

With that in mind, here’s my list of top-five Sprint Cup races for 2009:

1. Race No. 15: LifeLock 400, Michigan International Speedway, winner Mark Martin — For the last 40 laps or so, you knew this one was going to come down to fuel mileage, and sure enough, leader Jimmie Johnson ran out coming to take the white flag, while Greg Biffle’s tank ran dry on the final lap.

“When the 48 (Johnson) ran out, I knew the 16 (Biffle) was just right up there,” said Martin, who led only the last lap of the race. “I was just lollygagging. I got past the start/finish line. Came on the radio and said, ‘I've got fuel pressure right now, I'm gonna go for it.’ I jumped on the gas, ran hard. I couldn't believe how much I was gaining on him through the corner. Then all of a sudden I got on the straightaway, I was really gaining on him. It was like, ‘Whoa! Oh, he's out.’ A lot of stuff was happening then.”

2. Race No. 9: Aaron’s 499, Talladega Superspeedway, Brad Keselowski — No one, but no one predicted that Keselowski would be a contender in one of James Finch’s part-time Chevrolets. But the youngster planted himself on Carl Edwards’s bumper on the last lap. As they headed down the frontstretch, Keselowski faked high and when Edwards went up for the block, Keselowski ducked under him. Edwards came down, made contact and ended up airborne, landing first on Ryan Newman’s hood and then into the Talladega catchfence in a terrifying crash.

“Talladega is such a crapshoot. You can't expect anything. Can't expect to win, can't expect not to win,” said Keselowski, who won his first Sprint Cup race by leading only the last lap “… This is NASCAR racing at its finest. This was a great show. I really hope everyone enjoyed it, because I had fun. I found myself laughing in the race car halfway through the race, and I hope the fans were cheering and having fun, too.”

3. Race No. 18: Coke Zero 400, Daytona International Speedway, Tony Stewart — More restrictor-plate, last-lap madness as Kyle Busch was leading Stewart when Stewart got a run on the outside of Busch heading down the frontstretch for the final time. When Busch moved up for the block, the right rear of his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota made contact with the left front of Stewart’s Chevrolet. That turned Busch hard into the outside wall, nose first. It was also the turning point of Busch’s Cup season, as he fell out of title contention from then on.

“I don't want any part of earning a race because the guy that was leading the race got wrecked,” said Stewart. “I don't know that we did anything wrong. I've seen replays of it, and he's protecting his position, which he's got to do. That's what he has to do as a driver. He can't just sit there and let us make a move like that and not try to defend it. But … but you don't want to see somebody that ran up front all day lose that many spots and lose an opportunity to win because of an accident like that coming to the checkered flag.”

4. Race No. 16,Toyota/Save Mart 350, Infineon Raceway, Kasey Kahne — Not known as a road-race ace, the Enumclaw, Wash., native drove one of his finest races as he repeatedly held off Tony Stewart through a series of late-race double-file restarts to score his first road-course victory. More importantly, the win returned team co-owner Richard Petty to victory lane for the first time in a decade.

“That's what we set out to try to accomplish,” said Petty. “But it was one of those days. Everything fell together, okay? The car was good, the crew was good, they made really good strategy on making their pit stops, the whole deal. And it was one of those picture-perfect days. They did everything exactly what they needed to do to win the race.”

5. Race No. 8, Subway Fresh Fit 500, Phoenix International Raceway, Mark Martin — The 50-year-old Martin came to PIR having not won a NASCAR Sprint Cup race since Kansas in 2005, when he drove for Jack Roush. But back in the saddle full time after two-part time seasons, Martin became re-energized with Hendrick Motorsports and crew chief Alan Gustafson. He dominated the second half of the Phoenix race to score an immensely popular victory, his first of five on the season.

“I didn't plan all this out,” said Martin. “It's been an incredible ride since stepping out of the 6 car, and you know, having a chance to re energize myself and realize that — how much I love it, and how, you know, something that's going to be hard to give up; obviously not hard to give up if you were not doing well, but the good fortune. The performance level that I have and the cars that I'm get to go drive right now, I love it. I feel really lucky.”

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

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or Speed Channel

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Tom Jensen

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