Nifty at 50: Hendrick Motorsports' Mark Martin nabs milestone Cup win at Phoenix
Hendrick Motorsports' Mark Martin takes the checkered flag in the Subway Fresh Fit 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway. // David Griffin, NASCAR Scene
AVONDALE, Ariz. - Mark Martin has competed in every NASCAR Cup race staged at Phoenix International Raceway, but he'll undoubtedly remember Saturday night's Subway Fresh Fit 500 more than any of those that came before.
Martin, who started from the pole, became the oldest winner (50) of this event after winning for the first time since his victory at Kansas in the fall of 2005. It was his first victory for Hendrick Motorsports, the NASCAR Sprint Cup team he joined this season. Morgan Shepherd was the last driver 50 or older to win a Cup race. Shepherd's victory came in 1993 at Atlanta. He was 51.
"He makes dreams come true," Martin said of team owner Rick Hendrick in victory lane, adding, "I hurried so hard to the white flag, so they couldn't have a green-white-checkered."
It never came to that - not even close. Martin blew by Stewart-Haas Racing's Ryan Newman, who did not pit under the final caution and was beset by faulty radio communications, and pulled away from eventual runnerup Tony Stewart. Stewart, bidding for his first win as team co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, said, "We're gonna get us a win here real soon."
Rounding out the top five were Penske Racing's Kurt Busch, Hendrick's Jimmie Johnson and Roush Fenway Racing's Greg Biffle. Busch said of the winner, his former teammate at the team now known as Roush Fenway Racing: "The guy has been at the top of his game for 30 years in this sport. … He is tough right now."
Martin was tough and just a tad quicker off pit road in nipping Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch at the stripe following the final stop before leading the final six laps. Busch was tagged for speeding off pit road, and he was forced to restart 17th.
That left Stewart to try and track down Martin, but he never threatened the sport's most venerable driver.
"There's nobody who doesn't like Mark. … [He] is somebody that everybody respects," Stewart said.
Points leader Jeff Gordon had an adventurous night. Contact with JGR's Denny Hamlin left Gordon's No. 24 Chevrolet with left-side damage nearly midway through the race. Richard Petty Motorsports' AJ Allmendinger's hard lick in between turns 1 and 2 brought out the fourth caution of the night on lap 152 and Gordon made his way to pit road for repairs. Later, though, on lap 235, Gordon was forced to return to pit road due to a lug-nut issue. He finished 25th.
The night was equally dramatic for Hendrick Motorsports driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., who inherited the lead on lap 168 by staying off pit road. Earnhardt Jr. eventually sailed away to a 4-second lead with the benefit of clean air. He led 52 laps before his tires, 14 laps older than those of the leaders who hit pit road, went away. Earnhardt Jr., still off sequence, retook the lead but could not hold it. His night came to grief on lap 301 when he wrecked in between turns 3 and 4. He finished 31st.
