Darlington, SC (Sports Network) - Fifty-year-old Mark Martin gambled on fuel
and held off several late-race challenges from his Hendrick Motorsports
teammate Jimmie Johnson to win Saturday's Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
Martin, who announced earlier this week he would drive another full season for
Hendrick next year, led the final 46 laps after he opted not to pit during a
round of stops. He went on to score his second victory of the season, making
it the first time since 1999 he has won multiple races in the Sprint Cup
Series.
"I'm overwhelmed, just totally overwhelmed," Martin said. "This is a little
bit more special in some ways than Phoenix, because I was just kind of spun
out. I just couldn't hardly believe it at Phoenix. There was so much going on.
It's soaking in a little bit better."
Martin capitalized on two late cautions to save enough fuel in his No.5
Chevrolet.
"We worked pretty hard to save some gas, but I don't know how close it was,"
he said. "My history I always run out (of fuel), so that's pretty neat to make
it."
Martin won the Southern 500 for the second time and collected his 37th career
Sprint Cup victory as well. His first win at Darlington came in 1993.
Johnson, the three-time defending series champion, finished second, despite
starting from the rear of the field in a backup car after he crashed his
primary one in Friday's qualifying.
"We'll take second after what we went through tonight," Johnson said.
Johnson had to overcome two pit-road mishaps. He got pinned in his stall
during his first stop and fell a lap behind, and then got turned around by
Kevin Harvick on the next stop.
"We had four or five things pop up through the night, from being trapped on
pit road, spun out trying to get my pit stall, just a bunch of stuff," he
said. "It was a chaotic night."
Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman finished third and
fourth, while Jeff Gordon came in fifth, giving Hendrick three of the top-five
finishing positions at Darlington.
Gordon also fell a lap behind early when he experienced a loose wheel and had
to pit unexpectedly for repairs.
"We showed what we had early, and we knew the pit strategy was going to get
crazy, and we just had to hang tough," Gordon said. "Unfortunately, we had a
loose wheel and had to come back from that."
Martin Truex Jr., Brad Keselowski, Greg Biffle, Joey Logano and pole sitter
Matt Kenseth completed the top-10.
Keselowski won in his last Cup start two weeks at Talladega.
Biffle led the most laps with 117, but spun and hit the wall in turn four on
lap 295.
Gordon now holds a 29-point lead over new second-place man Stewart. Kurt Busch
fell to third in points (-55) after finishing 16th. Busch hit the wall on lap
214, but managed not to hit anyone as the field veered to left and right of
his spinning car.
Martin made the biggest gain in points as he jumped up from 15th to 11th.
The 500-mile race featured a track record 17 cautions, mostly for wrecks.
Carl Edwards hit the wall after making contact with Biffle. Edwards could not
get onto pit road after the incident and was penalized for a lap when he
pulled a U-turn into the pit entrance. He finished 32nd.
Clint Bowyer and AJ Allmendinger got together on lap 222, causing Bowyer to
slam into the inside wall. He then slid up the track and bounced off the
outside wall. He appeared to be somewhat woozy after he exited his car.
Bowyer's modern-era record streak of 83 races running at the finish came to an
end with a 37th-place showing.
Michael Waltrip's car caught on fire after he blew an engine and hit the wall
in turn three on lap 75. Waltrip was able to get out of his car quickly and
escaped harm.
"At first it was scary, because it went up in flames pretty big," Waltrip
said. "As the car slid, I noticed it was getting less and less."
Kyle Busch, last year's winner at Darlington, slammed the wall after cutting a
tire on lap 273. Busch sustained brake damage, but returned later with a 34th-
place run.