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Mark Martin closes on points lead and says 'still things can happen'
By Jared Turner - SceneDaily Staff Writer
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Hendrick Motorsports driver Mark Martin finished fourth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Chuck Yadmark
NASCAR Scene
FORT WORTH, Texas – Just when it appeared that Mark Martin’s bid for the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup championship might be over, Martin is back in the hunt.
A fourth-place finish in Sunday’s Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway combined with a 38th-place outing for Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson has revived Martin’s title hopes with two races left.
Martin entered the race trailing Johnson by 184 points but will head to next weekend’s event at Phoenix International Raceway 73 points behind the defending three-time series champion.
“It didn’t feel as good when I knew we didn’t have a chance,” Martin said. “It’s still a long shot because they have great performance. We can’t go outperform them seventy-some points but racing’s not over with yet. Jeff Gordon is breathing down my neck, Tony Stewart. We’ll have to see what happens here.”
Johnson’s finish came on the heels of a lap-three crash triggered when the cars of David Reutimann and Sam Hornish Jr. made contact off Turn 2, sending Hornish up into Johnson and Johnson back down into Hornish before heavy contact with the inside wall.
Martin was just ahead of the wreck and could see it in his rearview mirror, but it didn’t really change his strategy.
“From then on, what does it matter?” crew chief Alan Gustafson said. “What’s done’s done. So he was focused on getting us the best position we could possibly get and did a good job with that.”
Gordon, who started the race just eight points behind Martin, remained third in the standings but now trails Martin by 39 points after finishing 13th. Penske Racing's Kurt Busch is fourth after winning the race and 171 points behind the leader. Fifth-place Tony Stewart is seven more points back and 178 behind Johnson.
“I’ve still got my hands full for the top six positions with all those guys,” Martin said. “Two guys that have knocked me out of championships [Stewart and Gordon] are still breathing down my neck. So the race is still on, man.
“I don’t know why everybody tries to count this thing out and doesn’t just wait and watch. There’s still two races to go and still things can happen.”
Martin struggled with the handling of his car throughout the early portion of Sunday’s race but steadily improved thanks to adjustments and fast pit stops.
“Track position was the big deal,” Gustafson said. “Any time you get track position that helps and [we] got the car better and the pit crew did a great job pitting up a spot or two and then Mark would get a spot and then all of a sudden you’re up there in the top five. Then you’ve got some track position, you can go from there, so just a tough fight.”
Martin credited Gustafson for making the right calls to make his Chevrolet better. After falling as low as 16th following a pit stop under the race’s second caution, Martin had rallied to sixth just past lap 200. And he continued to climb from there.
“We were junk yesterday,” said Martin, who made a late green-flag pit stop for fuel along with most of the leaders. “We were not very good the first half the race and they hit on something and I was like, ‘Maybe we shouldn’t change anything now’ because we were very competitive. We were a solid top-five car at the end.”
Up next for Martin is Phoenix International Raceway, a track where the 50-year-old driver dominated in April en route to his first victory with the No. 5 team.
An equally stout performance there next weekend could boost Martin’s title hopes even more.
“It’s nice to go back to that track,” Gustafson said. “That’s a track that we’ve had a lot of success with the 5 and Mark’s been great at through his career, so Phoenix is kind of a welcome site for us. I think we can go run good and compete to win.”
Mentioned Drivers: Mark Martin
2009 Sprint Cup Race for the Chase Standings
Driver Standings after the Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500
| 1 | Jimmie Johnson | 6492 |
| 2 | Mark Martin | -108 |
| 3 | Jeff Gordon | -169 |
| 4 | Kurt Busch | -211 |
| 5 | Tony Stewart | -285 |
| 6 | Juan Pablo Montoya | -289 |
| 7 | Greg Biffle | -321 |
| 8 | Denny Hamlin | -352 |
| 9 | Ryan Newman | -411 |
| 10 | Kasey Kahne | -476 |
| 11 | Carl Edwards | -520 |
| 12 | Brian Vickers | -666 |
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10 responses to "Mark Martin closes on points lead and says 'still things can happen'". Post a Comment.
b48orr said:
Nov 8, 2009 at 10:13 PMI'm a Hendrick's fan, a chevy fan, heck even a Martin fan. I'm so sick of Martin's spiel. Why does'nt he just say it honestly. He cant beat Jimmy Johnson and nobody else can either without something bad happening to the 48 car like happened at Texas. Just say something different for once Mark. Or just shut up! Better yet why dont all these reporters quit asking this guy questions. His humble and ho hum jibberish is driving me bananas.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportJGRFan4Life said:
Nov 9, 2009 at 2:42 AMI find it funny that you say you're a fan of HMS, and apparently your driver is JIMMIE Johnson, but yet you can't spell his name right. Just thought I'd point that out... Mark is telling it like it is, the Chase isn't over, no more of this wimpy hanging out "racing" from Johnson.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportipopakeg293388 said:
Nov 9, 2009 at 6:40 AMWith J.J. going out in three,and cryle baby bush(spelled on purpose) doing his usual, run and hide like a spoiled brat,OH HAPPY DAY! RCR put 3 in the top 10 because they are smart driver's when it come's to saving fuel! Bushey,not so much! I love the fact that Kurt(which I like) put him in his place, 11th wasn't it? LOL. I thought it would have been "Second" since cryle also hold's a record for that! WHAT A PUNK,WITH NO CLASS! LMFAO!
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» Confirm Abuse ReportGoMark said:
Nov 9, 2009 at 4:46 PMb48orr Mark has said that... a number of times! Also, you must not be much of a Mark fan otherwise you would know that Mark is a huge pesimist and after these 50 years probably never going to change that.... I guess you better learn how to make banana bread if you are going to continue to watch.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportjbbigrod said:
Nov 9, 2009 at 9:22 PMI picked JJ to win again this week. And will for two more. And we will see what happens in the end. I won't pick Mark in my Fantasy top five any more. (did it one week and it was a disaster). NONE of my top five picks the last two weeks have gotten into the top five. - - - SO IF it continues; Mark all YOU have to do is win, and you got it. LOL. = = = GO MARK!
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» Confirm Abuse ReportSheilaLovesNASCAR said:
Nov 9, 2009 at 11:50 PMDid I hear that right that Mark said his car was junk? I haven't heard that since his Roush days. Where's the gushy my car was the best speech? I bet that if Hendrick put Bobby Labonte in that 5 car, he could do what Mark has done.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportjbbigrod said:
Nov 10, 2009 at 2:20 AMI doubt it Sheila.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportjuniegirl said:
Nov 10, 2009 at 8:33 AMWe are now going to see just how bad Martin wants it. He's going to have to race with one person in mind, himself. No more Mr. Nice Guy. He's got to get down and dirty now. You can believe that Johnson's head is in a different place now that he's seen he isn't invincible. He's got that wreck in the back of his mind so Martin has to use that to his advantage.
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» Confirm Abuse Reporttm-mtmeier said:
Nov 10, 2009 at 2:54 PMMark has to feel extremely blessed this year. Where else could you be in second place having scored 450 points fewer than the driver in fifth place and 327 points fewer than the driver in third place? Apparently no place except NASCAR!!
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» Confirm Abuse Reportjbbigrod said:
Nov 11, 2009 at 2:14 AMGo MARK!
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