Full Throttle

Mark Martin continued to defy his age, becoming the first 50-year-old driver to win a Sprint Cup race in 16 years with a victory Saturday night at Phoenix International Raceway.

And we should all feel much younger as a result. Come on all you old geezers, admit it, don’t you feel just as good as Mark Martin does about now?

Q. As you’re driving around there on the post victory lap and the fans are right there and they are lining the fence and flash bulbs are popping and they are cheering, what was that like looking out at them, what kind of things did you see and hear and feel at that moment?

MARK MARTIN: It was you know, it was pretty, I wasn’t going to do a burnout, but it was pretty incredible. It came to me, usually I’m all preoccupied with all kind of stuff, but it came to me immediately. I actually had quite a bit of thoughts about Alan [Kulwicki], you know, and where he might have been in front of me if he would have still been around tonight; what an incredible competitor he was.

Mark Martin, driver of the #5 CARQUEST/Kellogg's Chevrolet, receives the checkered flag from NASCAR Official Rodney Wise. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images for NASCAR)

So I thought about that. Obviously enjoyed seeing the enthusiasm from the race fans. But you know, the response from the competitors means much more than the trophy, and that was an incredible really, really incredible, from all of the crew guys to all of the guys, including Jack Roush, who seemed genuinely happy. And Jack and I are at tight as we have ever been and have been through all of this.

I’m still a huge fan of Jack Roush’s and he’s still a huge fan of mine. So that was good to see. And then all of the drivers, you know, and the crew. It’s just, like I said, I hoped it would happen, but you know, it’s asking a lot, man. These things are hard to win. Alan told you, you know, it’s hard just to make a car good enough to win, and then it’s like ten times harder to win one on top of that.

So it’s cool. It’s a cool night.

That’s one happy man!

On the other hand, and at the other end of the grid, is Dale Jr. His #88 lead the second most number of laps but after a number of crew changes still had a botched pitstop early, a bad set of tires and then saw the day go from bad to worse after giving the SAFECO a love tap and ended the day in 31st.

In eight events Jr. has finished 20th or worse in four of them.

Let me be the first to climb out on a limb. Dale Jr. is not going to make the Chase.

More later…