Johnson, who has been the man to beat in his past four championship seasons, called to crew chief Chad Knaus with a little over 15 to go and said, “I’ve got nothing left for him.” Mark Martin left the unbeatable Jimmie Johnson crying “uncle.”
Martin, an Arkansas native, relished the win last year. This week he reflected back on that night. “The Southern 500 is a pretty big deal, and it had been so long since I won the first one that it was like I hadn’t ever won it at all,” he said. “So to get that win, and to do it with these guys on the (No.) 5 team, that was really special to me.”
Mark Martin won his second NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race last year at Darlington (Motorsports.com photo)
It was just as special for crew chief Alan Gustafson, who remarked that it was a very tough race weekend for the No. 5 team. “It was a race that took us all weekend to win,” Gustafson said. “Mark never gave up on the track and kept fighting all night. It was really just an incredible night for us.” Gustafson said the team made four or five times the adjustments they normally do on a typical race morning.
The crew chief is in charge of setting up the car to the driver’s liking, and even with the chemistry between Martin and Gustafson, Darlington is just a track that is tough to figure out. “Darlington’s a demanding racetrack, though,” Gustafson said. “The driver is always on the edge. If you go about one inch past where you’re supposed to be, you’ll end up in the wall. It’s a crazy race.”
For as much experience as Martin has, Darlington is still as its catchphrase suggests: “Too tough to tame.” He said, “Darlington is tough because I like sliding my race car around the track, and you just can’t do that there. If you slip, you’re going to be in the wall.” The “Lady in Black” will rub paint off of numerous cars this weekend, and many drivers will earn the famed “Darlington stripe” from bouncing their cars off the wall.
Martin, carrying the Cheez-It logo on his car, held off Jimmie Johnson to win the Southern 500 (NASCAR.com photo)
Gustafson and Martin worked together last year to figure out the best set up to get their team into victory lane. “Last year, Alan was just brilliant. He set me up where I could race how I wanted to in one end and defend my position in the other,” Martin said. “It was a perfect strategy, and that’s the stuff you have to figure out for Darlington.”
Gustafson added, “That’s definitely the toughest race I’ve ever won; one of the toughest races I can remember ever running.” The race had 17 cautions, a new track record for cautions.
But maybe the storyline that was most coveted after this race had nothing to do with Mark Martin’s resurgence or Jimmie Johnson finally giving up on his 50-year old teammate, but with NASCAR’s suspension of Jeremy Mayfield before the race for failing a random drug test.
This year if Martin successfully defends his win, maybe he’ll get the sports headlines all to himself.
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