Mark Martin among those involved in early race crash

TALLADEGA, Ala. - Mark Martin went from the Sprint Cup Series' most recent winner to one of the first to exit Sunday's Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Martin, who ended his 97-race winless streak with a victory last weekend at Phoenix, was one of the drivers caught up in a Lap 7 accident that started with contact with Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon.

Martin's No. 5 Chevrolet was so badly damaged it could not be repaired. He was credited with a 43rd-place finish. He fell from 13th to 18th in the Sprint Cup driver standings.

"I didn't have a chance to say I'm going to go high or low, or slow up or what. I didn't have a chance. I got hit in the right rear and that was it," Martin said. "I was on the bottom of the race track. I was running the bottom line and it was over before it started."

Martin, never a big fan of restrictor-plate racing, said the wreck was inevitable.

"There were a lot of cars between me and where that wreck happened. I don't know. I mean, how could that not happen? That's what I say. How could it not happen?" he said.

"It's not that guys are losing control of their cars. It's that there are so many in such a wad that you can't help but move up or down on one another and it starts a wreck. I'd forgot how cool racing at Daytona was because handling really does separate the cars more than it does here.

"Here, having a great car doesn't do you any good because you can't separate yourself from the other cars."