Mark Martin took the lead late with a two-tire pit stop. Credit: Autostock

Two tires don't pay off for Martin, Tryson at PIR

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Mark Martin has one race left with Roush Racing, and crew chief Pat Tryson has only next weekend's Ford 400 left to race with the driver who's his hero.

So at Phoenix International Raceway on Sunday they knew they had to pull a fast one in an effort to win the Checker Auto Parts 500.

Checker Auto Parts 500 Results Pos. Driver Make 1. Kevin Harvick Chevy 2. Jimmie Johnson Chevy 3. Denny Hamlin Chevy 4. Jeff Gordon Chevy 5. Carl Edwards Ford 6. Mark Martin Ford 7. Kasey Kahne Dodge 8. Kurt Busch Dodge 9. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevy 10. Jeff Burton Chevy • Complete results, click here • Driver standings, click here Victory LaneKevin Harvick celebrates his Checker Auto Parts 500 win Top finishersKenseth and Johnson talk about their day at Phoenix Final lapsKevin Harvick holds off Jimmie Johnson for the win at Phoenix Out frontJimmie Johnson charges through the field to take the lead Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

It came in the form of a slick strategic decision on what was the final pit stop of the race for his No. 6 Ford.

Martin, running 15th, was the only lead-lap car to take two tires on a caution flag pit sequence with 58 laps remaining in the penultimate Nextel Cup race of the season.

He nearly made it work before a spate of late-race yellow flags finally led to him getting booted back to a sixth-place finish.

Tryson just shrugged and smiled when a bystander said his call was looking good before yellow fever struck.

"You know how these races are -- cautions breed cautions," Tryson said. "We were better on long runs anyhow [and hoped we'd get one], but we came here to try to win the race so we figured we'd take a chance and try to win it.

"It almost worked out, but we still got a good finish out of it."

"Yeah, we had a pretty good car," Martin said of Tryson's call on a pit stop at Lap 255 of 312. "It wasn't real good on restarts with new tires and stuff, so we made the most of it.

"We could hold our own against those guys once everything settled in and we might have even done a little better with more green flag, but it was a great team effort by a great team."

Martin started his final Phoenix race for Roush Racing in a midfield 21st, but moved into the top 10 before halfway and remained there before a slide in the last 100 laps had him running in the mid-teens.

"It was awesome on long runs and we didn't get none of that in the second half, but in the first half we were mowing 'em down," Martin said. "I'm really proud of this team and proud of our run."

Chase for the Nextel Cup After Phoenix (9th of 10 races) Pos. +/- Driver Behind 1. -- J. Johnson Leader 2. -- M. Kenseth -63 3. +2 K. Harvick -90 4. -- D. Hamlin -90 5. -2 Earnhardt Jr. -115 6. -- J. Gordon -167 7. -- J. Burton -225 8. +1 M. Martin -273 9. +1 K. Kahne -319 10. -2 Ky. Busch -359 • Complete standings, click here SUPERSTORE •   Mark Martin Chase gear!

Martin really proved his mettle after the restart at Lap 258, when he and championship leader Jimmie Johnson raced virtually side-by-side for three laps before Johnson apparently thought better of putting his point lead at risk and fell in behind Martin.

Martin led for the first time with that pit move, at Lap 256. When the race restarted he led the first two laps before Johnson actually had his car's nose in front for one before he dropped back and Martin led the next 22 circuits, until Lap 282.

A flurry of cautions -- actually two from Laps 258 to 281, followed by three more in the final 32 laps, were a blessing in that they enabled Martin to cool his worn tires.

"The cautions helped, obviously, because it helped even it up somewhat," Tryson said. "But we were still hurting a little bit on tires, and it also hurt us a little bit because we were a long-run car and we got a bunch of short runs -- but usually track position is everything."

That proved to be the case, in the end, at Phoenix -- but the many yellows allowed repeated assaults by the cars with newer tires behind Martin.

	Pat Tryson is one of only three crew chiefs to lead his team to the Chase all three years. Credit: Autostock
	SWEET 16 Roush Racing announced that crew chief Pat Tryson will be paired with Greg Biffle and the 16 team for the 2007 season.  •   Complete story, click here

Race winner Kevin Harvick, Johnson and Jeff Gordon got by in quick succession after a restart on Lap 282 and before the next yellow flew, at Lap 292, Roush teammate Carl Edwards had also passed him.

"It wasn't so bad," Martin said. "Our car was actually better than it showed all day [and] we were pretty competitive there on speed at the end."

Before the next yellow waved, at Lap 300, rookie Denny Hamlin had also passed Martin to slot into fifth and knock the veteran back to sixth, and that was where they each finished.

"If we hadn't have gotten some of those last cautions," Martin said, "I think we would have been able to keep Denny behind us."

Tryson said he had no regrets as he looked ahead to Homestead and the finale.

"You can't ever lose with a guy like Mark," Tryson said. "It makes a big difference to be able to do some of that with somebody like him, but those guys [in the pits] did a great job all day and it was nice to get a good finish [Sunday]."