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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Martin Down, Gordon Out Of Title Race
Mark Martin finished fourth for the second week in a row...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted November 15, 2009   Avondale, AZ
Mark Martin made the NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup in 2009 but chances are slim that he can win the championship. (Photo: Getty Images)

Way back at Daytona International Speedway, two days before the Budweiser Shootout in early February, Mark Martin made a solemn vow to the assembled media: In making his return to a full-time NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule for the first time since 2006, Martin was not racing for a championship.

Instead, he had a simple goal: Win a race. And if he was fortunate enough to win one race, he would try to win another. He wouldn’t even discuss the possibility of a championship. That’s not why he took car owner Rick Hendrick up on his offer to drive the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. He came back to drive fast cars.

As it turns out, that was probably a wise way to look at it.

That’s because barring a miracle, Martin will not win the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup championship.

With Jimmie Johnson's thorough butt-whipping of the field in Sunday’s Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway, Martin will head to next weekend’s season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway 108 points behind Johnson.

In order for Martin to take the championship next week, he’ll have to win the race, lead the most laps and hope that Johnson finishes 26th or worse without leading a single lap.

What are the odds of Martin being able to accomplish that? Roughly one in 30. In 265 head-to-head starts against Johnson, Martin has made up 108 or more points in a single race nine times.

So his championship hopes now are at best remote.

This despite a strong Chase effort. Martin finished fourth at PIR, his fifth finish of fourth or better in nine Chase races, and his second consecutive fourth-place finish. But two stumbles, a 17th-place finish at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and the infamous last-lap crash at Talladega Superspeedway that dropped him from a likely top-five finish to 28th, have effectively eliminated Martin from a title.

Instead, he’ll almost certainly earn his fifth runner-up finish, to go with those he earned in 1990, ’94, ’98 and 2002.


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