On brink of victory, Martin finds only more heartbreak

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- While Jimmie Johnson was celebrating in Victory Lane, the car that should have won was being rolled through the inspection line, pushed by somber men wearing grim expressions. The crew of Mark Martin's No. 8 car wasn't just disappointed that they had let Saturday night's event at Phoenix International Raceway get away. They were angry.

And with good reason. No other driver could touch Martin as the final laps unfolded. He feathered the throttle down the straightaways, trying to save enough fuel to make it until the end, and his black and gold car still commanded the lead. On this quirky 1-mile track bathed in desert darkness, it was all there before him -- a chance to win while driving a part-time schedule for Dale Earnhardt Inc., a chance to snap a 71-race winless streak dating back to his last victory at Kansas three years ago, a chance to add one more triumph to a career that's been so stellar and so star-crossed all at the same time.

Then they came, over the radio, words that effectively ended his hopes: "We may have to stop," crew chief Tony Gibson told his driver in a pained voice. "We may have to stop. Everybody's going to have to stop, Mark. Everybody."

They haggled back and forth, Martin certain he had saved enough fuel, urging them to check the numbers again. They did. But once the over-the-wall men put on their gloves and camouflaged helmets, it was clear the die had been cast. They stopped. Jimmie Johnson stayed out, and won the race on fumes. Never had a fifth-place finish seemed so bitter.

"I don't know what else I could have done," Martin said on pit road after the race, a towel around his neck. "I could have stayed out on the racetrack until it ran out. But I've got to do my part and they've got to do their part. When I drive it into the wall they've got to stand behind me, and when we drop the ball in the pits them I have to stand behind them. We're a team."

Yet the abject disappointment was carved in Martin's weathered face. His crew chief understood. "It's disappointing for him," Gibson said. "He doesn't run all the time. So when you get a chance to win one of these, it's hard to give it up like that. It's hard. I understand his frustration. My heart just ripped out of my chest. We gave it way, we just gave it away. But there will be other chances, you know. We'll get it."

Martin led 68 laps Saturday night, the third-highest total of the night behind Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. But he was in complete control of the event with 40 laps remaining, when he overtook Earnhardt's loosening No. 88 car for the lead. Martin could feel it, hoping out loud that the race would stay green the rest of the way. He knew it was going to be close on fuel, so he slowed down. The plan, or so he thought, was to save fuel until the end. And then the plan changed.

"OK, think about it," Martin told his team over the radio. "I have saved some, guys. I don't know what kind of mileage we're getting."

Fantastic Finish

Jimmie Johnson decided to take a chance on fuel and it paid off as he coasted to his first win of the season at Phoenix.

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But the numbers just didn't seem right. The computer calculating fuel mileage told Gibson that they'd be two laps short. They ran the numbers again, and the computer said they'd be five laps short. They did the math by hand, but still everything seemed too uncertain. Yes, Martin was saving fuel, but was it enough? He pitted, relinquishing the lead for good, with 10 laps remaining.

"I thought we were trying to go [all the way], so we went real, real, real slow. I was just putting around out there," Martin said afterward. "We had such an incredible car. I planned that run with 80-something to go when I pitted. I said, can we go? We were just sort of saving the gas and trying to be there, and I guess there was some confusion on the figuring and they said we were going to have to come. I'm just really proud of the team, and I want them to keep their chin up, because I want to win some of these races, and they can do it. They can do it on pit road. They gave me a great car tonight, clearly one of the better cars out there on the racetrack if not the best at the end. We kind of spent the whole race getting ready for the end, and we had a good run there at the end."

The view from the pit box: "At the time we had two conflicting stories on fuel mileage, and I'm in the middle," Gibson said. "My engineer is telling me this; my fuel man is telling me this. I thought, if I fill up, I'm going to finish in the top five. I went with the sure bet. If I'd ran out, I would have finished 20th. So I just took the sure bet. The company got two cars in the top 10, we led a lot of laps, so it's a plus for us. It's sad, but the bright side is, DEI is strong and we're getting better."

But in the immediate, emotional aftermath of Saturday's race, those plusses were difficult to find. "I believe we should have stayed out to try to win the race. I saved so much fricking gas, you don't know," Martin said over the radio after taking the checkered flag. But then, he softened. "I probably would have run out with two to go, so I'm sorry. But I want to win, you guys. Thanks for giving me such a great car."

Was Martin angry? "I threw my little fit," he said afterward. "We're all upset. We all were upset. I'm over it. I'm just proud of this team. They gave me the goods to do it with, and we let it slip through out fingers."

Should he have come in? "I thought I saved plenty," he said. "I really thought I saved plenty. But I don't know how much short. They first told me I was one lap short. I saved probably five laps' worth. And then they told me the 29 [car of Kevin Harvick, also powered by an Earnhardt-Childress engine] ran out with eight laps to go. So I don't know. I can't tell you. It's over with. I did my part to the best of my ability, they did their part to the best of their ability. I back them up when they have a bad day, and they back me up when I drive it into the wall."

Long after the race was over, while Martin's No. 8 car was being pushed through the inspection shed, Gibson still wrestled with the decision. "You don't know," he said. "The 29 saved, and he ran out. How slow do you run? If everybody makes it, and you slow down and you still lose, it, you're mad because you didn't [stop]. We didn't do a very good job tonight, figuring that, and we've got to get better at it. We failed him. Good driver, good car, and we just didn't do the strategy right."

And Martin, a driver forced to deal with more than his share of on-track heartbreak, was left to rue another one that got away. "We were really spectacular this weekend," he said. "It's a shame we finished fifth."

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer