Mark Martin finished 13th on Saturday at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Credit: Autostock

Martin, Newman take big hit on track, in standings

Both led laps Saturday, but late wreck took pair out of top 10

CONCORD, N.C. -- Mark Martin has built a career on staying level-headed and even-tempered. Rarely do his emotions spill over, even in the most trying circumstances.

But Saturday night, after a maddening UAW-GM Quality 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Martin's anger flashed. His damaged No. 6 Ford crawled through the garage area after the race, and Martin looked for his transporter.

UAW-GM Quality 500 •   Results •   Standings Victory Lane Jimmie Johnson completes the season sweep at Lowe's Disappointing Kahne's dominating performance ends up in the wall Nowhere to go J.Gordon spins and gets tagged by Rusty Wallace Spin cycle Vickers' night ends early has he tags the wall Near disaster Busch, Gordon involved in a wreck on Lap 1

But with people milling around, Martin couldn't see his crew members. Besides, the No. 6 crew wasn't exactly making a supreme effort, since they were irritated, too.

Martin finally spotted his crew, gunning the engine in frustration. The engine died, so Martin decided to abandon ship, waving his arms at whoever was watching.

He consented to an interview with NBC, and he could barely contain his anger.

"It would be hard for me to believe that some of these guys could pass a driver's test," Martin said. "I can't believe they've got driver's licenses."

Martin was upset at Jimmy Spencer and Brendan Gaughan, who wrecked off Turn 4 as Martin and Ryan Newman were bearing down on them on Lap 313. Martin and Newman were battling for second behind Jimmie Johnson, but there wasn't enough room for four cars, especially when two were spinning.

Martin ran into Spencer, while Newman was pinched in the outside wall. The damage dropped both Chase for the Nextel Cup contenders to also-rans in Saturday night's race, and both had to limp to the checkered flag. Martin ended up 13th, while Newman was 14th, the last car on the lead lap.

Martin and Newman both had fast cars, each leading the race three times -- Martin for 32 laps, Newman for 31.

Newman was as upset as Martin, but their wrath may have been misdirected. Gaughan had a flat tire in Turn 3 and was trying to slow down. Gaughan wouldn't have made it to pit road, but he was trying to stay out of the way.

Ryan Newman finished 14th Saturday at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Credit: Autostock

"The right-front was going flat, and I called (the pits) as I entered Turn 3 and said, 'Uh, oh, we've got a tire going down,'" Gaughan said. "I slowed down a bunch and got to the very bottom. I knew I wasn't going to be able to make the pits. I was going to have to limp around for a lap.

"Those dog-leg straightaways are tough to limp around on. I don't know where the guys were behind us. I tried on stay on the very bottom of the racetrack, and we got tagged.

"Don't know if it was my fault or not. Seemed like a racing deal, and we just happened to be in the middle of it. Sorry to Jimmy. I'll go down and find him and tell him what happened."

Gaughan said he couldn't wave to anyone behind him because he was in the turn. He said he was about to wave when Spencer drilled him.

That was little consolation to Newman.

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"It knocked the tow out real bad, and I just couldn't turn it," Newman said. "It was just a disappointing day. We had a fast car. We got back on the last pit stop, but we had a car that would have won. We were catching the 48. He was loose, and we were a little bit tight. We were getting better as it went."

"All we can do is try our best in these next five races and see where we end up," Newman said. "We've had a lot of stupid stuff happen to us."

Newman dropped to ninth in the Nextel Cup points standings, 271 out of the lead. His championship hopes were slim anyway, but Martin still had a fighting chance.

But after Saturday's trouble, Martin dropped to 186 points behind teammate Kurt Busch. The 2004 Nextel Cup might now be out of reach.

"I don't know," Martin said. "We did everything we could do here. We gave it a great run for the whole team. I can't help it. I can't help it."