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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Martin Has Big Points Day
Mark Martin will head to Dover International Speedway with a 35-point lead over Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted September 20, 2009   Loudon, NH
Mark Martin, after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sylvania 300 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway, is in the lead in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. (Photo: Getty Images)

For a guy who all year long has pretty much refused to talk about racing for a championship all year long, Mark Martin is making it hard for himself to keep quiet on the subject of the Chase for the Sprint Cup and his place in it. Which not coincidentally is at the very top of the points right now.

Martin overcame three caution flags in the final 20 laps at New Hampshire Motor Speedway to claim victory in the Sylvania 300. It was the 50-year-old veteran’s series-high fifth win of 2009, the 40th of his career and his first at the 1.058-mile track in 26 attempts.

And, oh yeah, it extended his points lead to 35 over both three-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson, who finished fourth, and race runner-up Denny Hamlin. Juan Pablo Montoya finished third after leading the most laps. He is now 55 points back.

Behind the top four are Kurt Busch (-65), who finished sixth in the race; Tony Stewart (-74), eighth on the day; Brian Vickers (-90, 11th); and Greg Biffle (-92, ninth).

Hurting his Chase chances at New Hampshire was Kasey Kahne, who finished 38th after his engine broke and fell 161 points back in 12th. Also more than 100 points back after just one race are Jeff Gordon (-102, 15th at NHMS) and Carl Edwards (-113 17th in the race).

But the unquestioned star of the show was Martin, who fought off a rash of late-race, double-wide restarts to win. “All kinds of chances for me to mess up,” said the always self-deprecating Martin. “And I did, I guess just not enough.”

In terms of the Chase, this victory was critical because it came at one of Martin’s worst tracks, a place he doesn’t like and doesn’t especially run well at.

As is normally the case, Martin gave the credit for the victory to his crew chief, Alan Gustafson, and his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports squad.

“Alan has really pulled off something big to figure out how to win a race with me here at Loudon (N.H.),” Martin said. “That's a big deal. I don't get around this place that well. The guys, we came up here with a great attitude with the pressure off of us that we've been carrying around pretty much since the fourth race of the season. They had a great plan for the car, and they got the car in race trim, strong lap times, strong enough that I thought, ‘Gosh, if we could stumble around and get in the front here, I think I might be able to stay.’ And he figured out how to do that, too. So it was an incredible accomplishment, I think.”

But true to form, Martin wasn’t talking about points or the Chase afterwards.

“Gosh, it’s one race,” he said of his New Hampshire adventure. “We won, though. How about that?”

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

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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