Martin wins Chase opener, extends lead in standings

LOUDON, N.H. -- Top seeding in the Chase for the Sprint Cup must agree with Mark Martin and, on Sunday, he took the first step toward the championship that has eluded him for more than 20 years.

The driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet held off a ferocious charge by Juan Montoya on a restart with three laps left in the Sylvania 300 and won the race under caution when NASCAR threw the yellow flag as the lead pack streaked through Turn 4 on the final lap.

Sylvania 300

Results

Pos.	Driver	Make
1.	Mark Martin	Chevrolet
2.	Denny Hamlin	Toyota
3.	Juan Montoya	Chevrolet
4.	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet
5.	Kyle Busch	Toyota
6.	Kurt Busch	Dodge
7.	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet
8.	Elliott Sadler	Dodge
9.	Greg Biffle	Ford
10.	Clint Bowyer	Chevrolet

Results | Laps | Rewind | Photos

Race Video

• Final Laps: New Hampshire
• Victory Lane: Martin
• Post-Race Reactions
• Axle woes slow Stewart
• Busch hits Ragan in pits
• Kahne blows engine

With the victory, his first in 26 starts at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Martin increased his lead in the Cup standings to 35 points over three-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson, who ran fourth at the Magic Mile in the first race of the Chase, and Denny Hamlin, who finished second.

Hamlin got past Montoya before the final caution to grab the second spot, and Montoya got credit for third. Kyle Busch ran fifth, followed by Chase drivers Kurt Busch and Ryan Newman. Elliott Sadler, Chaser Greg Biffle and Clint Bowyer completed the top 10.

Martin, 50, gave crew chief Alan Gustafson credit for the victory. Under caution on Lap 194 of 300, Gustafson kept Martin on the track with a small group of cars that did not pit. On Lap 204, Martin passed Kurt Busch for the lead and held the top spot until he pitted on Lap 243, earlier than any other top car.

After a cycle of stops that ended when Bobby Labonte pitted on Lap 272, Martin regained the lead and held it for the remainder of the race, despite a spate of late cautions that necessitated three double-file restarts in the final 20 laps.

"Alan won the race," Martin said, after climbing from his car in Victory Lane. "Alan's the man. This is a dream come true. ... We still have the lotto at Talladega [Nov. 1], and [I] think we'll run OK at Martinsville. We finished [seventh] in the spring, but I don't run good there -- but this is my hardest place. It's a tough place.

"But it's just these guys [the No. 5 crew]. It's Alan and the guys that back him up and all the guys that surround him. He is the superstar [Sunday]. I can't believe we won that race. It couldn't be easy. We had to have three caution restarts, and all kinds of chances for me to mess up -- and I did, but just, I guess, not enough to lose."

Montoya, who climbed seven spots to fourth in the standings, said he was unprepared for a move that Martin made in the first set of corners on the next-to-last lap. The maneuver probably cost Montoya second place.

"Martin just screwed me -- he just stopped the car on the apex, right on the bottom, and I had nowhere to go," Montoya said. "I could have pushed him out of the way ... but I respect him a lot. [Next time] I won't wreck him, but I will bump him. ...

"I thought I had him. He cleared me through [Turns] 3 and 4, and when he got to 1 and 2 he just stopped at the bottom."

Montoya chalked it up as a learning experience, and said he won't make the same mistake again.

"I didn't expect that," Montoya said. "I was expecting him to run pretty hard. He just ran very defensively, and I just got caught by surprise. I think if I would have would have been prepared I probably would have jumped to the outside.

"You've got to learn from it. I haven't fought for enough wins."

Martin has consistently said that Montoya is the dark horse of this championship hunt. But after New Hampshire, Montoya said Martin is the clear favorite for the title.

"He keeps saying that, but I think he's the most dangerous guy," Montoya said. "He's the guy with the most experience. He hasn't won a championship, and he wants one, pretty bad."

Tony Stewart, the points leader through the first 26 races, dropped four positions to sixth in the standings after a rare glitch dropped him to 14th at the finish.

Stewart lost track position during a 45-second pit stop under caution on Lap 194, as his crew repaired a loose left rear-axle cap. The driver of the No. 14 Chevy restarted 26th on Lap 198, and though he quickly drove up to 20th in the running order, a tight handling condition prevented him from making further headway.

Brian Vickers likewise had trouble in the pits, as his crew had to push his car backwards to fasten a dropped lug nut under caution on Lap 142. The driver of the No. 83 Toyota, who raced his way into the Chase at Richmond, restarted 30th on Lap 147 and fought back for an 11th-place run, good for eighth in the standings.

"I didn't have reverse," a frustrated Vickers radioed to crew chief Ryan Pemberton after the stop. "I blew it out the first time I tried to back it up. When you're asking me to back it up, and you don't see the car moving, that's your sign to push it."

Kasey Kahne was the first casualty among the Chase drivers. On Lap 67, one circuit short of a green-flag pit stop, Kahne's engine exploded as he rolled through Turn 4.

"I'm having a problem -- I'm blowing up," Kahne radioed to crew chief Kenny Francis, who asked if it might be that the No. 9 Dodge was out of fuel.

"No, it was shaking inside. I could feel it the last lap," Kahne responded, before taking the car to the garage, doomed to a 38th-place finish. Kahne is 12th in the standings, 161 points behind Martin.

Notes: The victory was Martin's fifth of the season, a series-best, and the 40th of his career, good for 16th on the career win list. ... NASCAR waited to throw the caution on the final lap until it became apparent that A.J. Allmendinger -- involved in a multi-car incident as the field approached the white flag -- would not be able to clear the accident scene before the leaders arrived. ... Late handling problems dropped Jeff Gordon to 15th at the finish. He dropped to 10th in the standings, 102 points behind Martin entering next Sunday's race at Dover. ... In post-race inspection, the left front corner of Kyle Busch's No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was too low. NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said possible penalties will be announced early next week.

• Press Pass: Mark Martin | Denny Hamlin | Juan Montoya

The Associated Press contributed to this report.