Martin takes 16-year break between wins at Phoenix

It's never too late to make a triumphant return. Just ask Mark Martin, who returned to Phoenix's Victory Lane last spring, 16 years after his first win there in the 1993 Slick 50 500.

Martin was dominant that day, leading 212 of the 312 laps for his fifth victory of the season, although the margin of victory was only a couple of car-lengths over hard-charging Ernie Irvan.

Despite missing most of the final practice with engine problems, Mark Martin had the best car at Phoenix.

Results

Slick 50 500
Oct. 31, 1993

Pos.	Driver	Car	Make
1.	Mark Martin	6	Ford
2.	Ernie Irvan	28	Ford
3.	Kyle Petty	42	Pontiac
4.	Dale Earnhardt	3	Chevrolet
5.	Bill Elliott	11	Ford

• Complete Results

Dale Earnhardt finished fourth at Phoenix to all but seal his sixth Cup Series championship.

Standings

1993 Final Points

Pos.	Driver	Behind
1.	Dale Earnhardt	--
2.	Rusty Wallace	-80
3.	Mark Martin	-376
4.	Dale Jarrett	-526
5.	Kyle Petty	-666

• Complete Standings

Despite winning the season finale two weeks later, Rusty Wallace came up short in the final standings.

In fact, Martin led all but one of the final 100 laps -- that coming immediately after the final restart of the day -- as Irvan bobbled coming out of Turn 2 on Lap 290, and then was left to follow the rest of the way in Martin's tire tracks.

"The key was our last stop," Martin said. "I came in first and went out first and it was a 17-second stop. That gave us track position for the run to the end. It would have been a lot harder to win without that."

Had Irvan been able to take a different line than Martin at the end, he might have had a shot. But his car refused to stay glued to the bottom of the track, and Martin never left Irvan the slightest of openings.

"Mark got his car to where it was better and better on a long run and he drove the wheels off of it," Irvan said. "Neither one of us could run on the bottom, but we could run good on the top, and that's where he was."

Martin, who started third, was surprised at how good his car ran, especially after missing most of the final practice session when his No. 6 Ford had engine problems.

"We had no idea how we were going to run," Martin said. "We burned a piston early in the last practice on Saturday and didn't get to run but a few laps. We took a guess on the setup based on the experience we've had this year and [crew chief] Steve Hmiel's notes.

"I'm not sure I could have done a better job if I'd practiced for three days."

While Martin celebrated, Rusty Wallace's championship dreams were deflated, literally and figuratively. With four victories in the six races leading up to Phoenix, Wallace had shaved more than 250 points off Dale Earnhardt's lead and was only 72 points behind with two races remaining.

And at the race's midway point, Wallace had the advantage over Earnhardt. But a flat tire on Lap 191 led to more serious mechanical issues and Wallace lost two laps to the leader. That, coupled with a fourth-place finish by Earnhardt, virtually assured the Intimidator of his sixth Cup title.

"I got that flat tire and it ground the sway bar right off of it," Wallace said. "I don't know what I'm going to have to do to catch up now. I'm a little disappointed because I had him beat again today.

"At one time, we had him there in 14th and I led a lap early and ran second, and third and fourth all day long. We had a great car and we were messing with air pressures and we dropped the air pressure down one time, made a long run and the right-front tire let go because the pressure was too low.

"It cut the right front and Kenny Schrader was right on my rear end when that happened and I couldn't get in the pits. So I had to run an extra lap, and when I did that, it ground the bottom of the [sway bar] joint off."

Wallace finished 19th and gave Earnhardt some much-needed breathing room in the championship battle.

"We feel pretty good about going to Atlanta now," Earnhardt said. "It's still not in the bag, but hopefully we'll be able to pull it out. I'd really like to go down there and win. It's been a while since we've won."

Wallace wound up winning the season finale at Atlanta, but Earnhardt finished 10th.

Of the drivers who raced that day, only three are entered for Sunday's Subway Fresh Fit 600 at Phoenix: Martin and two drivers who were rookies in 1993. Bobby Labonte scored one of his six top-10 finishes, while Jeff Gordon wound up 35th with handling issues.

And Martin's winning payday was worth $67,035 in 1993. Contrast that to last year's race, when Tony Raines earned $65,496 for finishing last.

Hall of Fame:
• Inaugural class special coverage | Story archive