LOUDON, N.H. — With a championship on the line, Mark Martin fooled the competition and won.
Martin, 50, held off Juan Pablo Montoya on a three-lap sprint to the finish Sunday to win the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship opener at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Afterward, Montoya accused Martin of holding him up on the second lap.
“What he did, not cool at all,” Montoya radioed his crew. “I could have wrecked him.”
But Martin insisted the move was within bounds. “I fought for that race,” he said.
Whether Martin did anything wrong will be debated by many, 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. I am sure I am dreaming,” Martin said.
Martin’s crew chief Alan Gustafson didn’t bring Martin in for a pit stop under yellow knowing they would get a chance to stop later in the race. It put Martin out front at the end, in position to spoil what was shaping up to be a blockbuster day for Montoya.
Making his 100th career start on his 34th birthday, Montoya led every practice session while setting the stage for just his second career Sprint Cup Series victory. Instead, he found himself slicing through the field at the end of the race. He went from fifth to second on a restart with 13 laps to go, and was on the inside of Martin on the restart with three laps to go.
They ran bumper-to-bumper on the second lap, and Martin appeared to slow a bit as they headed for Turn 2. It caused Montoya to roll out of the gas — and lose considerable momentum — as Martin pulled away.
“I didn’t expect that,” Montoya said. “I was expecting him to run pretty hard.”
