Sprint Cup Series – lifelock.com 400 7/11/09

Another example of how sometimes the fastest car occasionally gets to win! Mark Martin won Saturday night’s lifelock.com 400 at Chicagoland.

Martin led a track record 195 laps on his way to a series-high 4 wins. “That was fun,” Martin said. “That’s what life is all about.” By lap 40, Martin was telling his crew that he loved his car. On lap 44, Martin took the lead and never looked back. There was some sweat. Martin lost the lead with 43 laps remaining, but jumped out in front with 2 to go for his 39th career win. Call it an early birthday present for owner Rick Hendrick. Tomorrow is his 60th birthday.

Photo Credit: John Harrelson/Getty Images

“I feel the heat every day,” Martin said. “Man, I don’t even remember all the things that happened toward the end of the race.  But with 15 to go, I thought we were gonna win the race if nothing else happened, but I knew it was going to be a long way.  And, boy, it was.  It was a lot longer than I thought it was gonna be, and eventful. But, anyway, it was really cool to make a fan a millionaire tonight.  It was really special.  I’m glad Jeff got second.”

Congratulations to sweepstakes winners Richard and Donna Musgrave of Newcastle, CO. They won a 1 million dollar prize for picking Martin and teammate Jeff Gordon to finish first and second @ Michigan and then again @ Chicagoland.

The win moved Martin up from 13th to 11th in the point standings, inside the top 12 that will compete for the championship after 7 more races. Having the most wins is of the utmost importance because when the Chase begins, the driver with the most wins will be seeded first. Martin has never won a championship, but has finished 2nd overall 4 times (1990, 1994, 1998, 2002).

A 1-2 finish for Hendrick Motorsports. Jeff Gordon finished 2nd. “Well, our performance overall was so so. We definitely had a challenging night,” Gordon said as he recalled his night. “Once I got to second, I don’t think I really had anything for Mark until that caution came out.  I thought I had a shot at it.  He got a great jump and I spun the tires.  Then it was trying to fight Kasey again for second.  But a great 1-2 finish for us.”

It was the 22nd time in series history that Hendrick drivers finished 1-2. Here’s another stat: Hendrick drivers led 253 of 267 laps in the race. Their teammate, Jimmie Johnson, still chasing his first win @ Chicagoland, was strong. He led twice for 58 laps, but tangled with Kurt Busch in the closing laps of the race and lost track position. Johnson finished 8th. He accused the elder Busch of “bodyslamming” him. Busch said, “I am starting to lose faith in his ability as a three-time champion.”

Kyle Busch dropped a cylinder and bounced into the wall several times, before blowing the engine.  “I got nothing,” Busch said to his crew chief over the team radio. “I don’t care what you do. It’s junk.” He finished 33rd.

Kasey Kahne finished 3rd. “The car was good from the drop of the green,” said Kahne. “Those restarts at the end were tough.  It was a battle.  There were a lot of good cars battling.  I think we got as far back as sixth on the restarts and worked back to second, then back to third with Jeff. Fought hard against Jeff there at the end.  I wanted to hold him off.  I felt like we were better than him all night.  He had some tires there and was better than us, ended up beating us.  We battled hard.  It was a good night.”

Points Leader Tony Stewart finished 4th after starting 32nd. Denny Hamlin came home 5th followed by Ryan Newman, polesitter Brian Vickers, Johnson, Clint Bowyer and Juan Pablo Montoya -  rounding out the top 10.

For the unofficial race results, click here.

Cautions breed cautions. Only 2 caution flags waved in 210 laps with 5 cautions coming out over the remaining 57 laps.

The Sprint Cup Series will get to enjoy an off weekend. Racing will resume with the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motorspeedway on Sunday, July 26th.