Martin, Gordon finish 1-2 at Chicagoland

Saturday, Jul. 11, 2009

JOLIET, Ill. -- Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon gave Hendrick Motorsports a 1-2 finish at Saturday’s LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway.

Martin won for the fourth time this season, leading 195 of the race’s 267 laps.

Gordon, who benefited from a late four-tire change and a late-race scramble that saw another Hendrick Driver, Jimmie Johnson, fall from the lead, was second, ahead of third-place Kasey Kahne. Points-leader Tony Stewart was fourth.

“That was fun,” said Martin. “That’s what life is all about. We could have parked this car (Friday) after practice, it was that good.”

The race had been accident free until the late stages. After two cautions, Johnson appeared to have the strongest car. But when Denny Hamlin tried to push through on a restart, Johnson got cut up in it and fell back.

Johnson had taken the lead after Sam Hornish wrecked, passing leader Martin from the outside spot of the front row. A few laps later, after a multi-car accident had brought out another caution, Johnson elected to take the outside position on the restart. He pulled away from Martin again.

Finally, after debris on the track caused a final caution on Lap 247, Johnson again had the fastest car and looked like he would stay in front for the final 19 laps. The race’s only multicar wrecked happened when Paul Menard cut a tire after making contact with Dale Earnhardt Jr., sending Menard into the wall. Jeff Burton and Scott Speed collided in the aftermath.

Martin and Johnson ran 1-2 for most of the race. But Johnson didn’t appear have much for Martin.

When the race started at 7:17 p.m. (Central time), the front stretch was in the shade while the sun continued to shine on the backstretch.

Johnson, who started third, quickly took the lead from pole-winner Brian Vickers on Lap 10. But Martin, who started 14th, had the fastest car in the early portions of the race and took over.

Martin’s Chevy took the lead on Lap 42 and stayed in front for much of the next 200 laps.

It was a disastrous night for Kyle Busch, who started the race eighth in the points standings. But Busch finished 33rd and fell to 10th in the standings.

The Cup series takes next week off before returning July 26 for the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Jimmie Johnson is the defending champ.

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