Notebook: Martin not just settling for second

LONG POND, Pa. -- Mark Martin was resigned to finishing second to defending Winston Cup champion Tony Stewart in Sunday's Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway when a late-race, green-flag pit stop cycle shook out and left Martin's Ford nearly two seconds behind Stewart's Chevrolet.

	Mark Martin finished second Sunday at Pocono. Credit: Autostock

"We couldn't beat Tony unless something happened, but I was sure gonna try every way I could to figure out to make something happen because it's been a while," said Martin, whose last win came just over a year ago at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

But on the final green flag with three laps remaining, Stewart shook off Martin and was .289 seconds ahead when the final caution flew one lap later, after accidents occurred in both the first and second turns.

Martin was beside himself, however, in his post-race media briefing when a reporter asked him if he was frustrated at finishing second five times at Pocono, without ever winning.

"You guys are all mixed up -- you just don't get it," said Martin, who has 17 top-five finishes in 33 Pocono starts. "I mean, it's hard to run second and everybody else out there wanted to run second, except Tony Stewart, versus what they did. Winning is better than second, but that's the only thing that's better than second -- there ain't nothing else out there as good.

"I'm not gonna celebrate tonight, but if I would have won I wouldn't have celebrated tonight, so I'm just gonna go home and get ready for another race."

Martin's finish, his fifth top-five of the season, moved him up four spots in the standings, to 11th.

"I'm happy to run good and happy to be a contender," Martin said. "A lot of race car drivers better than me don't ever get a chance to drive these cars much less run second five times here or whatever."

Skinner shaken, Biffle mad after accident

Mike Skinner was badly shaken in a wreck in the Tunnel Turn on a restart with three laps remaining that also involved Greg Biffle and Bill Elliott.

	Greg Biffle had some harsh reactions to his tangle with Mike Skinner late in Sunday's race. Credit: Autostock

But Biffle, whose Grainger Ford was one of 22 cars on the lead lap for the restart, was irate after he ended the race in 20th, on pit road.

"It was Mike Skinner, wrecking people as usual," Biffle said of his second consecutive DNF, which knocked him back to 23rd in the standings. "About a third of the wrecks in Winston Cup he's in 'em, or he causes 'em.

"It's unfortunate. Bill Elliott had a good run and he run Bill up into the wall off Turn 2 over there, then just came across in front of us and gathered us up.

"It's unfortunate because this car was scheduled to go to the wind tunnel and it didn't have a scratch on it. But it's the white flag lap -- you know how it is."

For his part, Elliott was more diplomatic after he finished 19th, the last car on the lead lap.

"Someone got into us there at the end -- I really don't know exactly what happened," Elliott said. "We were making a run there at the end, but we just didn't get to finish like we should have."

Elliott said nothing about the broken bones in his left foot, which kept four-time ARCA champion Frank Kimmel on stand-by in the Evernham Motorsports pit area, until the end of the race.

Rusty finds silver lining

Rusty Wallace said his poor qualifying run in the Miller Lite Dodge set the stage for a less-than-scintillating run to 16th Sunday. But he saw one bright spot.

	Rusty Wallace finished 16th on Sunday at Pocono. Credit: Autostock

"That wasn't a great run, but we didn't lose anything in the points," Wallace said. "All-in-all it was a sub-par day at best. We loosened it up so much we probably got it too loose.

"I'll change a lot of things when we come back next time (but) I don't know if I'll know where to start or not because it'll probably be a hundred degrees when we come back up here."

Mike Wallace flying high

At least, Wallace will make his first sky dive Thursday in Tecumseh, Mich., when he participates in a tandem jump with members of the U.S. Army's Golden Knights parachute team that is based at Fort Bragg near Fayetteville, N.C.

POCONO 500 The defending Winston Cup champ celebrates his first win of 2003 Play video Martin finished second, his best run of the season Play video A late-race caution allows Stewart to cruise to the win Play video Ken Schrader hits the wall and flips over to bring out the first caution Play video Jarrett hits the wall hard to bring out the second caution Play video  •  Results  •  Standings  •  Photo Gallery

Valvoline Pontiac driver Johnny Benson will join Wallace, who said he has never sky dived, in the event.

Wallace is driving the MB2 Motorsports car in relief of driver Jerry Nadeau, who is recovering from multiple injuries sustained at Richmond International Raceway May 2.

Just trying to cool things down

Mike Wallace was anxious to clarify one thing Sunday morning at Pocono. At Saturday night's Trace Adkins Chrome 300 Busch Series race Saturday night at Nashville Superspeedway, he said he had no issues with Johnny Sauter -- or anyone else.

Wallace, who was inadvertently involved in an accident early in the race when Stanton Barrett got crossed up in front of him and Wallace and Joey Clanton got together while trying to avoid Barrett's slewing car; told why he was on pit road after the race.

"I had no problems with Johnny, but he was out there with his crew trying to get at David Stremme," Wallace said. "I told him to shut up and calm down -- that NASCAR would fine him for that."

Sauter, whose car owner Richard Childress came into the event leading the Busch Series owner standings, was run into by Stremme in the closing stages of the race and wrecked. NASCAR heavily fined Wallace in February after an off-air comment was picked up on a live TV microphone.

Look out for Kenseth

Winston Cup point leader Matt Kenseth finished third at Pocono and continued to build his advantage in the championship standings. Kenseth's 176-point lead is the largest of the season and the largest after 14 races in a season since Dale Earnhardt led Dale Jarrett by 213 points after Race No. 14 in 1993, 10 years ago.

Kenseth's consistency has resulted in an alarming -- for the competition -- margin of 492 points to 10th place Sterling Marlin. And if he has his way it won't get better.

"Our goals were to be more consistent, but our goals were still to win races and run up front," Kenseth said after he posted his 12th top-10 of the season. "We've done a good job of being consistent.

"I feel like we've had really competitive cars -- it's just that a lot of things have happened at the end of races where I feel like we could have had a top-three car but had a sixth or seventh-place finish instead (so) I feel pretty good about where we're at.

"There's a lot of racing to do and a lot of work yet to be done, but I feel pretty good where we're at."

Blaney's son wins in Quarter-Midgets

	Dave Blaney isn't the only racer in his family. Credit: Autostock

Ryan Blaney, Winston Cup driver Dave Blaney's 9-year-old son, won a 15-lap Quarter-Midget race Thursday evening at Pocono Quarter-Midget Raceway on the grounds of Pocono Raceway.

With the Winston Cup Series in town to compete in Sunday's Pocono 500, Blaney was joined in the event by Tyler Labonte, 8, the son of 2000 Winston Cup champion Bobby Labonte, who finished third in his feature event, and Chase Mattioli, 12, the grandson of Pocono owners Drs. Joe and Rose Mattioli.

For his part, dad Dave's Jasper Ford lost a lap midway through the race and ended up finishing 26th.