Martin Beats the Odds in Vegas

After Mark Martin brought out a record-setting 13th caution in the Sam’s Town 300 this Saturday in Las Vegas by tapping his former Roush Racing teammate Carl Edwards to take the lead, he then cruised on to his 48th victory in the Nationwide Series, which is also a record. The win marks the first time that Martin has visited victory lane in the Nationwide Series since his Vegas win back in 2005. The caution extended the regularly scheduled 200 lap race an extra two laps in green-white-checkered fashion. Martin and Greg Biffle battled for the checkers in those final 2 laps, but in the end it was Mark by about half a second.

The dominant cars in the race were undoubtedly the Joe Gibbs Racing duo of Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch who came into this weekend’s race 1st and 2nd in points. After claiming the top two spots in the first two races of the season, however, it appears that their luck finally ran out in Sin City. After Busch wrecked on his second qualifying lap, he was forced to start from the back of the field. That wouldn’t stop him from charging his way up to the front, though. He led 18 laps throughout the course of the race and was running second behind Stewart on lap 103 when he fell victim to a blown right front tire and smacked the wall to end his day. On lap 138 Stewart and David Reutimann made contact, and consequentially the two of them wound up in the turn 3 wall, effectively ending their days as well.

Complete Results (courtesy of nascar.com):

 Nationwide Series Standings (courtesy of nascar.com):