One race neither wins nor loses NASCAR's Chase for the Sprint Cup, though the outcome can determine atmosphere of the next week.
Mark Martin, shown in his car during practice Friday for the AAA 400, leads the Chase and is coming off his first victory in 26 attempts at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
That's not saying drivers in the upper half of the 12-man playoff rest easier than those on the lower tier, not with nine more races in which a driver's fortunes can shift quickly. But as practice began Friday at Dover International Speedway for Sunday's AAA 400, it was clear which ones wanted to keep up the good work, which ones had work to do and which were happy to be standing.
"We obviously wanted to do better last Sunday, but I think we were still pleased with the effort we had," said Brian Vickers, who remained eighth in points and 90 behind leader Mark Martin after salvaging an 11th-place run at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. "I think we kind of said to ourselves in Loudon (that) if we come out of there with a top-10 or better then that's probably a decent day for us.
"We ended up 11th, but considering all the problems we had through the weekend ... even though most of it was our fault, we still had a decent weekend and good start. Now, we've got a little ground to make (up)."
In Martin's case, the approach around Hendrick Motorsports' No. 5 Chevrolet team was keeping last week's victory in perspective. Long considered NASCAR's resident pessimist, there was no mistaking his joy after his series-high fifth victory that has him 35 points ahead of Denny Hamlin and defending three-time champion Jimmie Johnson, Martin's teammate.
It was Martin's first victory in 26 attempts on the one-mile oval, leading to questions immediately afterward about whether he could add to his storybook season by breaking through next month at Talladega Superspeedway, like Daytona a restrictor-plate track where he is winless. He skipped last fall's race on a limited race schedule.
On Friday he was back in form and putting his triumph in the past and downplaying Talladega as just another Chase race.
"It's the same 10% as any other race in the Chase," said Martin, who qualified 14th at 155.045 mph. "I said before we got up there (in Victory Lane), don't get excited and calling (that) it's going to be this and it's going to be that after one race. There's a lot of stuff left to happen and a lot of racing left to happen.
"Everybody in the Chase right now is performing on a level that could pull it off depending on how things work out for them. I brought up (Talladega) because that is a place where you don't really have as much control over your destiny as you do at some of the other places."
Richard Petty Motorsports retained a hopeful mood, if only because it had no choice. A blown engine on lap 66 of 300 not only ended Kasey Kahne's first Chase start since 2006 quickly, it dropped him seven spots to 12th and needing a miracle just to get back into contention.
Chase history doesn't favor Kahne. Jeremy Mayfield never recovered after wrecking in the inaugural Chase race at Loudon in 2004, finishing 10th. Last fall, mechanical problems in his first two Chase starts quickly sacked Kyle Busch, who finished 12th after starting as the leader following an eight-win regular season.
Kahne was smiling and upbeat despite the dual challenge of seeking a rebound while hoping that others encounter problems that allow him to gain ground. Last week? Case closed.
"I forgot about it pretty quickly," said Kahne, adding that RPM was still searching for a cause to the R6 engine's blowup. "My sprint car teams got back in town and we were doing some of that stuff. I had some friends around and we went out and had a good time. I just tried to put it out of my mind."
There's something to be said for momentum, which Chase rookie Juan Pablo Montoya seems to have plenty of right now. Last week's debut featured the Loudon pole and close second-place finish behind Martin that has him within 55 points of the leader.
On Sunday the former Formula One driver will start second beside Johnson, the latest in an upswing of fortunes for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates which Montoya said is the result of a positive attitude.
"The morale of the team is really good right now," he said. "It's been good all year to be honest. It hasn't really changed because we run good. So, everybody is happy. We're having fun. We're pushing ourselves and we're trying to do the best we can. It seems to be working so far so I can't complain about that."
SOURCE: USA Today
Gary Graves
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