Qualifying
Mark Martin picked up his third pole of the year hoping to improve upon his best 2009 finish of sixth. The Busch brothers qualified second and third with younger brother Kyle edging Kurt for second by five thousandths of a second.
Jeff Gordon and Brian Vickers rounded out the top five.
Drop Of The Green
The 2009 Subway Fresh Fit 500 started with a long green flag run. There wasn't much action on the track as Mark Martin lead the first 54 laps until Sterling Marlin cut a tire, got into the wall, brought out the first caution and sent the entire field to pit road.
Mark Martin won the battle on pit road and continued to lead the early portion of the 2009 Phoenix race over Kurt Busch.
Storylines
Two weeks ago Jeff Gordon broke a 47 race losing streak by winning in Texas. Tonight Mark Martin broke a 97 race losing streak and returned to Victory Lane for the first time since October 5th, 2005.
Mark Martin becomes only the fourth driver in NASCAR history to win a race after age 50. It was great to see someone in Victory Lane who was truly excited to be there. That was not a cookie-cutter post-race winner's interview.
It was also nice to see the long parade of drivers who made the walk down to Victory Lane to congratulate Mark on his win. Clearly Mark is one of the genuinely nice guys in NASCAR.
Chasing The Checkers
Mark Martin raced past Dale Earnhardt Jr. under green with 56 laps to go. Earnhardt was on a different pit strategy and his car was fading on older tires.
A late caution then sent all the leaders back to pit road with ten laps to go. Mark Martin's Hendrick Motorsports team was able to get him back out first.
Ryan Newman stayed out and took over the lead on old tires ahead of Martin. When the green flag flew with six laps to go Mark jumped to the outside in turn one, took the lead easily and cruised to the 2009 Phoenix win.
Top Ten
- Mark Martin
- Tony Stewart
- Kurt Busch
- Jimmie Johnson
- Greg Biffle
- Denny Hamlin
- Martin Truex Jr.
- David Reutimann
- Sam Hornish
- Carl Edwards
The Points
Jeff Gordon's finished way back in 25th but was able to hang on to his point lead ahead of his teammate Jimmie Johnson.
No new drivers cracked the top twelve but Mark Martin moved up to thirteenth just nice points out of a Chase qualifying spot.
The top twelve are now:
- Jeff Gordon
- Jimmie Johnson -85
- Kurt Busch -98
- Tony Stewart -104
- Denny Hamlin -154
- Clint Bowyer -190
- Kyle Busch -216
- Carl Edwards -219
- David Reutimann -250
- Kasey Kahne -267
- Jeff Burton -289
- Matt Kenseth -296
