BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Mark Martin loves surprises, which is why Sunday's victory in the LifeLock 400 was "really cool."

Just enough fuel

Jimmie Johnson and Greg Biffle ran out of fuel. That left third-place Mark Martin in position to cruise on by and win the LifeLock 400.

• Complete story
• Caraviello: Respect fuel
• Video: Final Laps
• Video: Victory Lane
• Press Pass: Martin

More worried about big-picture "points racing" than short-term success, Martin might have been the most surprised person on the grounds of the Michigan International Speedway when he coasted across the finish line as winner of the race. In his own words, Martin said he's always been snake-bit when it comes to economy runs.

"I always, always come up short on the gas mileage thing," Martin said. "I always have. If you look at the stats, you know, I've lost 25 and won two probably on it. You know, I just don't have the luck for it."

And assuming that he had no chance to chase down leader Greg Biffle or teammate Jimmie Johnson after the final restart with 44 laps to go, Martin then went to Plan B: protecting his position, earning a top-five finish and getting one step closer to cementing a spot in the Chase.

"I saw the pace they were wanting to run, and I started saving [fuel] from the third lap," Martin said. "After I got my track position, I started trying to save. And the car worked perfectly to save fuel [Sunday]. I was in a position that I could.

"It was important to me to finish this race. If we were in the top five in points, I would have run out [Sunday] because I would have gone after it. But, you know, we just weren't. I just had to let them go do their thing. I couldn't save gas and run the pace that they were trying to run."

Martin had the best view in the house of the Biffle-Johnson battle for the lead in the final seven laps, but instead of joining in, he maintained his pace. And ultimately, that may have turned out to be the biggest difference of the day, because Johnson's car hiccupped and died just as he took the white flag. And when Biffle's car suddenly slowed coming out of Turn 2, Martin's mind suddenly switched gears.

"When [Johnson] ran out, I knew [Biffle] was just right up there," he said. "I was just lollygagging. I got past the start-finish line, came on the radio and said, 'I've got fuel pressure right now. I'm going to go for it.' I jumped on the gas and ran hard. I couldn't believe how much I was gaining on [Biffle] through the corner.

“

I always, always come up short on the gas mileage thing. I always have. If you look at the stats, you know, I've lost 25 and won two probably on it. You know, I just don't have the luck for it.

”

-- MARK MARTIN

"Then all of a sudden, I got on the straightaway. I was really gaining on him. It was like, 'Whoa! Oh, he's out.' A lot of stuff was happening then."

How much did Martin conserve? Enough to where the No. 5 Chevrolet's engine went quiet a few hundred yards from the finish line and wouldn't refire to get Martin to Victory Lane after he coasted around the track on a victory lap.

"It ran exactly as far as it was going to run," Martin said. "We had our hands full if we were going to try to go another lap or another mile. That was cool."

Martin was surprised to even be there at the end, after having battery issues earlier in the event.

"When [that] started, I got sick at my stomach. 'Here we go, another day,'" Martin said. "Our battery had been going dead since Lap 75. I had been nursing no fans all throughout the race, [switching] batteries back and forth, all this different stuff."

That meant Martin had no fans for his brakes, or the ability to run his personal air conditioning system. His biggest worry to that point was conserving electricity, not fuel.

"For a long time, it seemed like it charged enough to maintain a low volt, but still OK," Martin said. "It finally got to where it was failing. It was starting to fail at the end with both batteries."

So with that already on his mind, Martin immediately went into fuel-conservation mode when the race restarted on Lap 156.

"Really what I was thinking about was the hole that we are in, in the point standings," he said. "Before we started that final run, [crew chief Alan Gustafson] and I knew what we were going to do. Alan has actually taught me some things about how to do this deal when it comes down to the fuel thing.

"We had the race car to do it [Sunday]. I had to make a choice fairly early in that run that I couldn't race those guys to win and save enough fuel to have the margin that I needed to score points."

And not only did Martin gain ground in the points, he wound up the winner. And that's one heck of a nice surprise.

"We couldn't push those guys for the win on sheer speed because we have to finish, we have to pad our points," Martin said. "Fortunately for us, it was our day, so we got both."