Fifty-year-old Mark Martin ended a 97 race winless drought Saturday night when he outran Tony Stewart to the finish line to take the checkered flag in the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.
After starting from the pole Martin dominated the race but was still challenged near the end. A late race caution gave Ryan Newman the lead when he stayed out while the leaders pitted for tires, but Martin was able to cruise by with six laps to become the oldest winner at PIR by scoring Hendrick Motorsports’ fifth straight win at the 1-mile track.
"Man, that was, that, was pretty awesome," said Martin, who last won on Oct. 9, 2005, at Kansas Speedway. "Great, great race car. Great pit stops. Great strategy. There was a lot of pressure on both of us, and I really, truly believe that it will be a little bit easier for us going forward. Maybe not for (crew chief) Alan (Gustafson), I don't know, but for me, I've carried a lot of weight, you know, on my shoulders. I really, really, really wanted to do this. I really, really, really wanted to win."
Stewart was second with Kurt Busch third, Jimmie Johnson fourth and Greg Biffle fifth.
"There’s no shame in losing to a guy like Mark Martin,” Stewart said. “I am really happy for Mark. Nobody works harder than Mark to be fit, to stay in shape and be ready to go.”
Martin, who turned 50 years old in January, is the oldest race winner in the Sprint Cup Series since Dale Jarrett won at Talladega, Ala., on Oct. 2, 2005, when he was 48. The last 50-year-old race winner was Morgan Shepherd, who was 51 when he won at Atlanta in March 1993 – 548 races ago.
"The guy has been at the top of his game in the sport for 30 years,” said Kurt Busch. “He’s a tremendous athlete, a tremendous individual and he’s definitely going to put together.”
Along with Martin and Shepherd, only two other 50-year-old drivers have won in NASCAR's top division – Harry Gant and Bobby Allison.
“The guy has been at the top of his game in the sport for 30 years,” said Kurt Busch, who raced with Martin at Roush. “He’s a tremendous athlete, a tremendous individual and he’s definitely going to put together.”
Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., David Reutimann, Sam Hornish,Jr. and Carl Edwards completed the top-10 finishers.
“To finish tenth and considering I didn’t think we were gonna be good at all, that’s not too bad," said Edwards, still winless this season after his series-high nine victories a year ago." It was a good points day for as long of a day it was, so that’s OK. That was all we had.”
Series point leader Jeff Gordon could only muster a 25th-place finish and saw his lead shrink to 85 points over Johnson.
It turned out to be a terrible night for Dale Earnhardt Jr., who at one point was leading the race.
He took the lead on lap 168 when he didn't pit with the rest of the leaders and with clear sailing ahead built a four-second lead.
But his car became looser and looser as the night progressed and as his tires wore out he dropped further back in the pack before finally crashing after contact with Casey Mears on lap 301 to finish 31st.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series now heads to Talladega Superspeedway for next Sunday's Aaron's 499.
