Martin nearly broke career Pocono jinx in 1996 race

Mark Martin's disappointment at Daytona has been well-documented, but his record at Pocono Raceway may be even more perplexing. He's the all-time leader with 19 top-fives, including six runner-up finishes, but has never had the opportunity to visit Victory Lane there in 44 attempts.

1996 Miller 500

Results

Pos.	Driver	Make
1.	Rusty Wallace	Ford
2.	Ricky Rudd	Ford
3.	Dale Jarrett	Ford
4.	Ernie Irvan	Ford
5.	Johnny Benson	Pontiac
6.	Sterling Marlin	Chevrolet
7.	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet
8.	Lake Speed	Ford
9.	Mark Martin	Ford
10.	Derrike Cope	Ford

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In 1991, Martin started third and was able to avoid a huge multi-car accident touched off between Ernie Irvan and Hut Stricklin that heavily damaged the cars of Dale Earnhardt, Darrell Waltrip and Richard Petty, whose Pontiac was briefly launched into the air. Martin led 23 laps during the event, but when the rains came on Lap 179, it was Rusty Wallace who was the beneficiary.

One year later, Martin led 51 laps but was unable to chase down eventual winner Alan Kulwicki in the closing stages of the race. In 1998, a late-race caution bunched the field behind Jeff Gordon, but he pulled away from Martin on the final restart, winning by more than a second.

With a new decade came more second-place Pocono finishes for Martin. He wound up crossing the finish line behind Dale Jarrett in 2002, Tony Stewart in 2003 and Jimmie Johnson in 2004.

But Martin's best chance to win at Pocono might have come in the 1996 Miller 500. A four-car accident two laps in slowed the pace temporarily, but once racing resumed on Lap 6, the green stayed out for the next 400 miles. Martin, who had won the pole, showed that he had a dominant car right from the get-go.

He led the first 36 laps before giving up the top spot during a series of green-flag pit stops. He then took command for another 20 laps before having to pit again. Another round of pit stops shuffled the running order at the halfway mark, but once again Martin led the way when the pit cycle was complete. Dale Jarrett took over control of the lead briefly until Lap 120, handing it back to Martin. And when Martin pitted, it was Johnny Benson's turn in front for four laps, but by Lap 147, Martin was back in control and seemingly on his way to snapping his Pocono jinx.

Then things went askew. With 40 laps to go, NASCAR officials spotted debris in Turn 2 and threw the yellow. That bunched up the field behind Martin as the leaders headed for service. And a pit crew that had been flawless all afternoon had the most inopportune hiccup. A lug nut hung up in the air wrench of the rear tire changer, forcing Martin to make a costly second stop to complete the service.

"Obviously, I hated to see that caution," Martin said. "We were all set and things were looking good. During the stop we stuck a lug nut in the socket and I had to pit a second time to get the right-rear tire changed."

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But bad luck for Martin turned into a huge break for Wallace, who came out of the pits directly behind Ricky Rudd.

''My problem was we kept going green all day,'' Wallace said. ''I qualified bad again and I worked my way up. But there were no caution flags, and the leaders were way out there. When the caution flag finally came, it bunched us all up and put a race back into it.''

In addition, Wallace's crew made some key adjustments that freed the car up for the final sprint.

"That caution period gave my crew the opportunity we needed to make the adjustments necessary for us to have a chance to win the race," Wallace said. "We lessened the air pressure in the right-side tires to loosen the car up. That made it turn a lot better."

Nine laps later, Wallace ducked under Rudd in the tunnel turn for what turned out to be the winning pass. Two more cautions, one for Kenny Wallace's blown engine and another for a two-car accident involving Brett Bodine and Joe Nemechek, gave Rudd a couple of chances to return the favor, but he was never able to get close enough to get his Ford alongside Wallace's car.

"As the race wound down Ricky's car handled a little bit better than mine in Turn 1 and he'd close up on me," Wallace said. "But we were better in Turns 2 and 3 and I could stretch the lead out on him."

Rudd admitted that he was more worried about finishing than trying to catch Wallace in the closing laps.

"We had some alternator smoke showing from the car," Rudd said. "The alternator was overcharging and boiled all the fluid out of the battery. We didn't know if we'd have enough juice to finish the race."

For Martin, the bungled pit stop was costly. Mired in 10th place on the restart, Martin wasn't a factor the rest of the way, finishing a disappointing ninth despite leading a race-high 121 laps.

If there's a postscript to the story, a silver lining to Martin's dark cloud if you will, consider this. Martin finished eighth in the series' last visit to Pennsylvania and led 55 laps, the most he's led at Pocono since that 1996 race.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.