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AUTO RACING | MARTIN WINS NASCAR CHASE FOR THE SPRINT CUP OPENER
Mark Martin outsmarted the competition and won NASCAR's 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup championship opener Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
By The Associated Press
MARK MARTIN
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LOUDON, N.H. — Mark Martin outsmarted the competition and won NASCAR's 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup championship opener Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
The 50-year-old Martin held off Juan Pablo Montoya on a three-lap sprint to the finish in the Sylvania 300. Afterward, Montoya accused Martin of holding him up at the start of the second lap.
"What he did, not cool at all," Montoya radioed to his crew. "I could have wrecked him."
But Martin insisted the maneuver, which surprised Montoya, was within bounds.
"I fought for that race," Martin said.
Whether Martin did anything wrong will be debated, but it won't change the record books: Martin won his Sprint Cup Series-best fifth race of the season and extended his lead in the standings to 35 points over runner-up Denny Hamlin and three-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson.
"Pinch me. I am sure I'm sleeping," Martin said. "I am sure I am dreaming."
Greg Biffle of Vancouver, Wash., finished ninth and moved from 12th to ninth in the 12-driver Chase standings.
Kasey Kahne of Enumclaw had engine failure, finished 38th of 43 and dropped from fifth to 12th in the Chase standings.
Kahne was out of the race after 66 laps. He said he felt the car get a little rough as he drove down the backstretch. Moments later, smoke billowed from under the hood of the Dodge and through his dashboard.
"Blown up," Kahne said over the radio as the car virtually crawled back to pit lane.
Kahne tried to stay positive
"We just have to work extra hard now," he said. "You never know how this is going to work in the Chase. You never know if you can have a mulligan or not. We'll be 12th when we leave here. Hopefully we can make gains in this final nine [races]."
Meanwhile, Montoya — making his 100th career start on his 34th birthday — won the pole with record-setting speed and led every practice session.
Although Montoya said Martin "stopped" in front of him on the second lap of the three-lap sprint to the finish, Martin didn't think he had done anything wrong.
"My first instinct to answer that question would be, 'Yeah, I stopped — compared to how fast his car was going,' " Martin said. "I don't think I stopped, stopped. Maybe it looked to him like I stopped based on how fast he had been."
The race ended under caution when A.J. Allmendinger spun on the frontstretch as the leaders began their final lap.
Kyle Busch was fifth, but NASCAR officials said the left front of his car was too low in postrace inspection.
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