NASCAR’s 50-year-old wonder kid looked as if his dog ran away. His face washed with gloom, his eyes going to and from a nearby television, his ears unable to escape Tony Stewart’s joy from winning Sunday at Kansas Speedway.
Mark Martin slumped in his chair, a seventh-place finish his worst in six weeks.
“I’m proud of this race team.”
The words kept coming like this, as Martin extended his points lead over Jimmie Johnson from 10 to 18.
There is an important distinction in Martin’s evaluation. He’s not necessarily proud of a seventh-place finish, but he will take it considering he was driving what he considered a car that was off by more than it’s been in a while. Kansas City Star
RANK DRIVER POINTS WINS 1 Mark Martin 5551 5 2 Jimmie Johnson 5533 4 3 Juan Montoya 5500 0 4 Tony Stewart 5484 4 5 Kurt Busch 5460 1 6 Denny Hamlin 5452 2 7 Jeff Gordon 5448 1 8 Greg Biffle 5437 0 9 Ryan Newman 5387 0 10 Carl Edwards 5386 0 11 Kasey Kahne 5361 2 12 Brian Vickers 5301 1 13 Kyle Busch 3522 4 14 Matt Kenseth 3475 2 15 David Reutimann 3417 1 16 Clint Bowyer 3411 0 17 Marcos Ambrose 3180 0 18 Jeff Burton 3062 0 19 Casey Mears 2993 0 20 Joey Logano* 2921 1 21 Kevin Harvick 2898 0 22 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 2849 0 23 Jamie McMurray 2822 0 24 A.J. Allmendinger 2801 0 25 Martin Truex Jr. 2745 0 26 Elliott Sadler 2739 0 27 Sam Hornish Jr. 2680 0 28 Reed Sorenson 2588 0 29 David Stremme 2532 0 30 Bobby Labonte 2529 0 31 David Ragan 2527 0 32 Paul Menard 2447 0 33 Robby Gordon 2228 0 34 Michael Waltrip 2204 0 35 Scott Speed* 2104 0 36 John Andretti 2026 0
| 
|