NSCS - Southern 500 5/9

There's no slowing Mark Martin down! He jumped out in front with 46 to go and cruised to victory lane! He calls it his "second childhood". We can call it momentum. It's his 2nd win in just 4 races. Career win #37 and his 2nd cup win @ Darlington - 16 years apart.

Martin broke a 97-race winless streak last month @ Phoenix. He finished last @ Talladega, but didn't lose momentum as he comes off a 5th place finish last weekend @ Richmond. Martin announced earlier this week that he would return to run another full-time season next year for Hendrick Motorsports. A decision he obviously can't have any doubts he made now.

"I'm just very, very happy right now," declared Martin once the victory lane celebration was over and he was able to grab a seat. "I don't need to say, you know, we're gonna win a whole bunch more races this year. We're going to race just like we raced this race and all the other ones, and the ones we cross the line first, we'll take the trophy. It could happen. But if not, at least we got two instead of one. That's the way I look at it (smiling). Don't take those kind of answers from me as pessimistic or a lack of confidence. All I want to do is be happy and have fun doing this. If you don't set yourself up for disappointment, then it's much easier." And he adds, "It's okay to have the passion. It's okay to have the drive. But you can't let it tear you apart, you know."

Although Hendrick drivers did not dominate the race, they led for a combined total of just 54 laps. 4 of the 5 Hendrick drivers did finish in the top 10. Great turnarounds for both Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon. At one point, each of them were running one lap down. Johnson lead early on, but was trapped by a caution on lap 75 while making a green flag pit stop. He earned a free pass on lap 118. Gordon reported a vibration and backed up through the field. Gordon took the free pass on lap 214. By the conclusion, Johnson was runner up to teammate Martin and Gordon finished 5th. In his first race back in the series since winning @ Talladega, Brad Keselowski came home with a top-10 finish, 7th. Dale Earnhardt Jr's luck still hasn't turned around. He started 26th was as high as 2nd but had bad luck a couple of different occasions in the pits before finally hitting the wall with 25 laps to go. Dale Jr ended his night 27th.

2 more top-5 finishes for the Stewart-Hass Racing drivers. Tony Stewart finished 3rd followed by Ryan Newman. Newman led 48 laps.

Greg Biffle led a race-high 117 laps. Biffle was caught up in one of those racing incidents and hit the wall hard with 70 laps to go. He was still able to come back and pull off an 8th place finish.

Martin Truex Jr led the second highest amount of laps with 61. He finished 6th.

And what about Kyle Busch? He slammed the wall on lap 274 taking him out of contention and ended the night 34th.

For unofficial results, click here.

Perhaps call it the effects of the full moon, but a new record was set for most cautions for this Darlington race. There were 17 cautions for 73 laps. We saw 23 lead changes among 13 drivers:

M. Kenseth 1-16; J. Gordon 17-22; J. Johnson 23-24; R. Newman 25-71; K. Kahne 72-82; E. Sadler 83-84; K. Kahne 85-115; M. Truex Jr. 116-119; K. Kahne 120; B. Labonte 121-122; G. Biffle 123-161; K. Kahne 162; G. Biffle 163-185; K. Kahne 186; G. Biffle 187-215; Kyle Busch 216; M. Truex Jr. 217-249; Kyle Busch 250; G. Biffle 251-276; R. Newman 277; J. Logano 278-296; M. Truex Jr. 297-320; T. Stewart 321; M. Martin 322-367.

Jeff Gordon extends his points lead by 29 over new 2nd place challenger Tony Stewart.