It may not be great, but Mark Martin has a chance
Mark Martin has been in this position before – more than once, in fact.
After the race in Texas, which saw Jimmie Johnson crash after three laps and subsequently lose a huge chunk of his points lead over Martin – who finished fourth – Martin has a reasonable chance to win his first career Cup championship.
Johnson came into Texas 184 point ahead of Martin and was on cruise control toward a fourth consecutive title. But after the crash, which forced him into a lengthy stay in the garage area to make repairs (his Chevrolet was practically rebuilt), Johnson limped to a
38th-place finish.
Martin, meanwhile, finished fourth.
That allowed him to make up 111 points on Johnson, and he is now 73 behind going into the final two races of the season.
As said, Martin has got a chance – and he’s been here before.
Martin has finished as a championship runner-up four times in his career – 1990, 1994, 1998 and 2002. Three times he had very little chance to win the title with two races remaining.
But twice, in 1990 and 2002, he did.
He lost the ’90 championship by 26 points to Dale Earnhardt after he had been penalized 46 points for a rules infraction at Richmond in February.
He lost the ’02 title to Tony Stewart by 38 points.
Now, 73 points is still a comfortable lead for Johnson with two races to go. But it’s not insurmountable, and Martin knows it.
He has said that the race is still on and that, at the very least, “It’s not over yet.”
But it won’t be easy. Despite the misfortune at Texas, Johnson, who hadn’t come close to trouble through the first seven races of the Chase For The Sprint Cup, should be expected to rebound nicely.
If he finishes fourth or better in the last two events he wins the championship regardless of what anyone else does.
And Martin has a rival looming close in his rear view mirror. He’s only 39 points ahead of third-place Jeff Gordon, who is 117 points behind Johnson. All three are teammates at Hendrick Motorsports.
Gordon certainly has a chance to overtake Martin, who, incidentally, has finished third in points four times in his career.
Martin has to be enthusiastic about this weekend’s race at Phoenix. He won there in the spring and led the most laps, while Johnson finished fourth.
Martin has said his team’s only strategy is to “race our guts out and see what happens.”
Which is about all he can do, really.
Of course, racing being as unpredictable as it is, Martin could, over the last two races, suffer a similar fate to Johnson’s at Texas.
Or perhaps Johnson will again encounter trouble.
You can bet Martin is not even thinking about that.
He’s probably thinking that he has now got a chance and that he needs to make the most of it.
It has been said that Martin is the greatest NASCAR driver to never have won a title.
Bet he’s tired of hearing that.
He’s got an opportunity to do something about it - an opportunity that begins at Phoenix.
