Sprint Cup: Mark Martin achieves his Third Win of the Season

The Veteran Mark Martin earned his third victory of the season in the Michigan International Speedway, at the LifeLock 400, fifteenth event of the year of the Sprint Cup Series of NASCAR. With this accomplishment, Martin was placed next to Kyle Busch, who also has three victories, as the drivers with the most wins in the current season. Although Martin departed from the 32nd position on the grid, with a great mastery of his car he was able to move quickly through the rest of the competitors until placing himself in the leaders group. Leading the competition there was the three-time champion Jimmie Johnson, followed by Greg Biffle who was immediately struck by Martin. From the moment that the driver of the Chevrolet No. 5 got in the third place, the race became a strong challenge among the three drivers, who were unwilling to yield to the strong pressure exerted on one another, this was one aspect that gave a twist to an emotionally charged race that with every lap that past by was being held with greater intensity. To reach this position, Mark Martin responded in detail to the instructions he was given by his team from the pits area, this was a very important factor for the driver of the Hendrick Motorsports team to successfully achieve his goal of moving forward and it was crucial as well in his strategy of saving fuel. Martin was aware that his car was not the fastest, so he followed a strategy of not going out to refuel while listening carefully to the directions of Alan Gustafson, the team leader, who aptly assisted Mark in the complicated task of saving gasoline without staying behind. Totally focused with the idea of surpassing anyone in front of him, Martin took his car to the fullest in spite of knowing that it could stop at any moment and that would be it. But it was not so; fortunately for him, his car responded in the best way. During the final laps, there was a strong fight between Johnson and Biffle, who disputed the top position, while Martin was following them closely, just waiting for the opportunity to pass them. Amid the clash between the leaders, they switched positions in several occasions and when there were just six laps remaining to complete 200 laps scheduled, Johnson, who had led for the most laps during the race, took the leading position once again. Johnson’s joy for being so close to winning the race didn’t last long, as only four laps later he ran out of fuel, also ending with his hopes for the victory. Biffle then took the lead, but then suffered the same misfortune; his car was turned off and stopped at the beginning of the final lap. This meant a great opportunity for Mark Martin, who with the last drops of fuel on his car, accelerated just prior to running with the same fate as the others, achieving to cross the finish line as first in an amazing way, followed by his teammate, Jeff Gordon, while Denny Hamlin came in third.