Mark Martin celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill. It was Martin’s fourth win of the season, one shy of matching Harry Gant’s 1991 season record for a driver age 50 or older. (Photo: Getty Images)

The only driver with four victories this year is Mark Martin, and it’s because he’s got more sense than all the drivers he’s racing.

Martin had a dominant car, but this was the second time (Michigan being the other) he’s won because he kept a cooler head than those in front of him. Oddly enough, both races had the world "LifeLock" in the title.

In the LifeLock 400 at Michigan, Martin resisted the temptation to speed up while two others, Jimmie Johnson and Greg Biffle, couldn’t. They ran out of gas.

In the LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway, Martin watched Denny Hamlin and Brian Vickers tangle in front of him. He seized the advantage and never looked back.

By every possible measure, this victory was richly deserved. Jeff Gordon finished second, but his gains were minimal as Sprint Cup point leader Tony Stewart, finished fourth behind Kasey Kahne.

The plot of races on intermediate tracks is unerring. After a flurry of early activiity, everything settles down for the next two hours, with most passes made in pit sequences.
Then, near the end, caution flags start flying. All the calm of two hours evaporates, and everyone starts beating and banging.

Martin and Gordon, by the way, also finished 1-2 in the earlier LifeLock 400, and as a result, the encore was good for a million-dollar bonus put up by the race sponsor.

So there’s that.

The guy who won was the fastest (duh!), but a level head and cool hands set Martin apart from the rest.
 

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5 Total TweetBacks: (Tweet this post)
  • en: And now she's baking me chocolate chip cookies. Either I'm a lucky man or she's leading up to telling me she killed my mom. 07/14/09 12:22am
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  • en: @leonspencer Leon, is that a good or a bad thing? How does that affect things for you?? :) 07/14/09 12:22am
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  • en: @maclovesyu AHA so do i. but i dont think i babbled just think of it as 5 totally normal guys you ran in to.or try to think of it like that. 07/14/09 12:22am

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