LOUDON, N.H. — Mark Martin held off Denny
Hamlin and Juan Pablo Montoya on a late frantic restart to win the
Chase for the Sprint Cup championship opener at New Hampshire Motor
Speedway.
It was Martin’s series-best fifth victory of
the season and spoiled what could have been a blockbuster day for
Montoya. Making his 100th career start on his 34th birthday, Montoya
won the pole in record-breaking speed and led every practice session
while setting the stage for just his second career Sprint Cup Series
victory.
Instead, Martin used pit strategy to move to
the front and take the lead, forcing Montoya, who led a race-high 104
laps, to chase him down.
“I fought for this race,” Martin said. “Pinch
me. I am sure I’m sleeping. I am sure I am dreaming. This is my hardest
place, a tough place.”
Montoya came up short in a three-lap sprint to
the finish, which ended under caution when AJ Allmendinger wrecked on
the final lap.
NASCAR said Denny Hamlin was ahead of Montoya
when the caution came out, and Hamlin was given second-place in the
finishing order. Montoya was awarded third place.
Three-time defending series champion Jimmie
Johnson was fourth, and Kyle Busch, who missed making the Chase by just
eight points, rounded out the top five. But the left front of his car
was too low in post-race inspection, and he could be penalized this
week.
Kurt Busch was sixth and followed by Ryan Newman, Elliott Sadler, defending race winner Greg Biffle and Clint Bowyer.
It was a decent day for almost all the Chase
drivers, who need a strong race in the 10-race title hunt to set the
pace for the championship battle. Since its 2004 inception, only one
driver, Johnson in 2006, finished lower than sixth at New Hampshire and
still won the title.
That’s bad news for Kasey Kahne, who lost his
motor early and finished 39th. He was posting to his Twitter account
about his crummy day from his airplane as he prepared to head home
before the halfway point of the race.
After just one race, Kahne is last in the 12-driver field and 161 points behind Martin, the leader.
Considered the best driver in NASCAR without a championship, the 50-year-old is poised to finally grab one.
Martin, who announced a contract extension
Friday that keeps him with Hendrick Motorsports through 2011, started
the Chase as the points leader because of his four “regular season”
victories. Now he’s got another win and a 35-point cushion over the
competition.
Hamlin and Johnson are tied for second in the
standings, and Montoya jumped seven spots to fourth in the standings,
55 points back.
Montoya wasn’t pleased with how Martin raced
him in the final three-lap sprint, complaining that the veteran stopped
his car to hold him up at the start of the second lap.
“What he did, not cool at all. I could have wrecked him,” Montoya radioed his crew after the finish.
“He knows we’re here. He knows,” crew chief
Brian Pattie replied. “This will give them something to talk about for
the next week.”
Montoya chalked it up after as a learning experience, and said he won’t make the same mistake again.
“I didn’t expect that,” Montoya said. “I was
expecting him to run pretty hard. He just ran very defensively, and I
just got caught by surprise. I think if I would have would have been
prepared I probably would have jumped to the outside.
“You’ve got to learn from it. I haven’t fought for enough wins.”
Martin has consistently said that Montoya,
the former Formula One driver, is the dark horse of this championship
hunt. But after New Hampshire, Montoya said Martin is the clear
favorite for the title.
“He keeps saying that, but I think he’s the
most dangerous guy,” Montoya said. “He’s the guy with the most
experience. He hasn’t won a championship, and he wants one, pretty bad.”