Engine woes leave Martin waving white flag

LONG POND, Pa. -- A dejected Mark Martin stood next to his hauler Sunday afternoon, a long way removed from a victory celebration at Dover seven days ago.

The engine in Martin's No. 6 Ford expired just past halfway through the Pocono 500, relegating him to his second DNF of the season.

"That's disgusting," Martin said. "We've spent half the races this year -- I'll bet we've spent seven of the 14 in the garage and that's just terrible, but that's how it goes, I guess.

Martin was celebrating one week prior after winning a wild MBNA 400 where several of his competitors ended up in the garage.

After a week of believing his team had turned the corner, Martin was left shaking his head Sunday.

"Something uncharacteristic happened last week and I'm awful happy about that," he said.

Martin says the impact of Sunday's blown engine will reach far beyond this weekend.

"I just wanted to be in the points thing," he said. "We were already too far back but might have had a chance, but that's the last one there. We couldn't afford to have that happen in the last 14 before the cut off.

"What's done is done," he said. "We can't fix it and we can't change it. We're broke here again and we'll just go on to the next one."

Martin's car was fast throughout the weekend. He qualified fourth on Friday, led Saturday's early practice and was in the top five in final practice later Saturday.

On Sunday, before his troubles, Martin led two laps and spent 65 circuits in the top 10.

"We had a really good car," he said. "We were still adjusting on it and stuff. They're getting me really good stuff and we were going to have a good points day, but you've got to finish these things."

Martin said while he believes his team may be out of the hunt for the "Chase for the Nextel Cup," he still has a team that is a threat to win week to week.

"Well, we could still make it into the top 10 if they didn't have the cutoff thing at 26 races," Martin said. "but it's done now."

"Now we can just forget about points and take them as they come," he said. "There are still some more wins in this team this year."