Mark Martin reaped the benefits of Jimmie Johnson and Greg Biffle’s misfortune Sunday at Michigan International Speedway, winning the LifeLock 400 after the first- and second-place cars ran out of fuel on the last lap.

“When the 48 [Johnson] ran out, I knew the 16 [Biffle] was just right up there,” Martin said. “I was just lolligaging along and I saw I had fuel pressure. I said, ‘I’m gonna go for it.’ So I jumped in the gas, and ran hard, and I couldn’t believe how much I was gaining on him [Biffle] in the corner. Then I got to the straightaway, and I was really gaining on him. And then I was like, ‘Woah! He’s out!’

“After the race was over, I shut it off at the start/finish line, coasted all the way around,” he continued. “I was going to try to fire it up just to get it in Victory Lane [and] it wouldn’t even spin over. So it ran exactly as far as it was going to run.   We had our hands full if we were going to try to go another lap or another mile.”

The unexpected win was the third of the season for 50-year-old Martin and 38th of his career, which ranks 17th all-time.

They say in racing however, expect the unexpected.

Martin seemed to be the only contender in the closing laps with his eyes on the big picture. Knowing that he was far from locked into the top 12 in Chase points, and with just 12 races remaining before the cutoff, Martin plotted nothing more than a solid top-5 finish to pad his points position.

“It was important to me to finish this race,” he explained. “If we were in the top 5 in points, I would have run out today because I would have went after it. But we just weren’t. I just had to let them go do their thing. I couldn’t save gas and run that pace that they were trying to run.”

The win helped, rocketing him up to eighth in the standings.

Johnson led a race-high 146 laps but it was Biffle who got the lead following a pit stop on lap 154 after David Stremme spun off of Turn 4, bringing out the third and final caution flag of the day. All of the lead lap cars pitted, with Biffle’s No.16 Ford pulling off of pit road with the race lead.

Johnson lined up fifth on the restart on lap 157 but quickly maneuvered his way into the second spot. Unrelenting on his draining fuel tank, Johnson pressured Biffle for the lead, moving by him on lap 195 after the two dueled for multiple laps.

Johnson’s Chevrolet slowed just two miles from the finish as he took the white flag with Biffle’s giving way soon after on the backstretch. Martin drove by, finishing nearly three-seconds ahead of teammate Jeff Gordon, who started at the rear of the 43-car field after an engine change during the final practice on Saturday to finish second.

Denny Hamlin was third, Carl Edwards fourth and Biffle managed to limp around on fumes to finish fifth.

“We had to save that whole round,” Biffle said. “We were a couple of laps short. We would’ve made it, but the 48 [Johnson] came up there and put pressure on us. I felt like I had a faster car than the 48, but I knew running that pace we weren’t going to make it.”

After sputtering to pit road, Johnson’s team refueled his Chevrolet, allowing him to cross the start/finish line. He was scored as the last car on the lead lap in the 22nd spot.

Juan Pablo Montoya, points leader Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch, pole-sitter Brian Vickers and Clint Bowyer closed out the top 10.

Martin’s win in a Chevrolet comes on the heels of General Motors announcing cutbacks throughout its motorsports division, including the NASCAR Camping World Truck and Nationwide Series. GM’s support level in Cup however, has not yet been announced.

“It’s always good to win in Michigan because all the manufacturers are here,” car owner Rick Hendrick, who also owns Chevrolet dealerships, said. “It’s one I’ve always wanted to win and run well here.

“Everybody in the world, in the economy, has had to tighten their belt — everybody,” he continued. “I don’t care what kind of business you’re in. NASCAR, the teams. We cut out testing. We’ve done everything we can to cut expenses. Until they tell me they’re not going to race anymore, which I don’t expect to hear at all, then you’ll see a bowtie on the front of our cars.”

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