Full Throttle

Mark Martin outran Jeff Gordon to the checkered flag to win Saturday night’s LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway, his series-leading fourth win of the season and the 39th of his career.

Martin took the checkered flag .415 seconds ahead of Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon. Kasey Kahne ran third, followed by series points leader Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin. Ryan Newman, pole sitter Brian Vickers, Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer and Juan Pablo Montoya completed the top 10.

“That was fun,” Martin exulted after climbing from his car. “That’s what life’s all about right there. These guys (Martin’s No. 5 Chevrolet crew) deserved to win. We could have parked the car (Friday) with an hour left in practice. I knew it was awesome.

“But the best car doesn’t usually win. The double-file restarts are to mess the best car up so he doesn’t win, to make it good for the fans - and it did - but luckily we pulled it off anyway.”

“We got ourselves inside the top 10, which is still a great effort,” said second place Jeff Gordon. “Then, you know, the caution came out at the right time for Steve Letarte to make an excellent call to come and get four tires. The pit crew did its job getting us off basically first. At that point it was just trying to maneuver through the traffic. I was impressed, and I love the fact that we have a tire that you can make that decision on.”

“The new tires were just unbelievable how I could shoot through those guys. Kasey and I raced real hard together. That stalled me out a little bit. But, hey, you’re racing for positions there at the end, so you got to race hard, and we did.”

Johnson, the three-time defending Cup champion, led the field to the restart on Lap 251 only to see his No. 48 Chevrolet roughed up in traffic on the restart. Johnson, Hamlin and Vickers all sustained damage as the cars were dicing for position during the next two laps.

“… There was a lot of body-slamming out there, and guys were bump-drafting down the straightaways,” Johnson said. “I didn’t think we could do that at a mile-and-a-half track.”

Notes: Martin is within one victory of Harry Gant’s 1991 record of five wins in a season by a driver 50 or older.

By picking Martin and Jeff Gordon to finish first and second in the LifeLock 400 at Michigan in June and seeing them finish in the same order at Chicagoland, sweepstakes winners Donna and Richard Musgrave of Newcastle, Colo., won a $1-million prize.

Gordon passed Kahne for second place on the final lap.

Greg Biffle finished 31st Saturday and fell to 13th in the standings, 10 points behind Matt Kenseth in 12th.

UPDATE: Well, isn’t this a “fine” send-off by EGR after Truex announces he’s leaving the team?

The No. 1 Chevrolet driven by Martin Truex Jr. did not pass a post-race inspection when NASCAR officials discovered the right rear quarter panel was too high on the car.

The car will be taken back to the NASCAR Research and Development Center in Concord, N.C., for further evaluations. NASCAR officials will determine if the height problem is a violation that requires a penalty.

Expect championship point reductions and fines on Tuesday or Wednesday.