Mark Martin took home his fourth trophy of the season on Saturday night at Chicagoland Speedway, dominating the LifeLock.com 400 and leaving his fellow Sprint Cup Series competitors wishing he would have retired instead of returning to full-time competition.

Martin survived a double-file restart after Kyle Busch’s Toyota blew an engine, dropping oil on the racing surface. The restart fell with just two laps remaining.

“With Jeff Gordon, new tires, put him on my outside, it was a risky move,” Martin said. “Restarting and putting me on the outside of him was also a risky move because it wasn't my favorite place to be. But I thought I'd rather put him in that vulnerable position rather than me be in it.”

In his first full season since 2005, Martin started the year off slow with a string of blown engines and accidents souring his return, but since breaking through at Phoenix, he has been on a tear, picking up three more race wins along the way and aligning himself within the top 12 in points by sitting 11th, a clear contender for the Chase.

“Rick Hendrick (car owner), he wouldn't quit,” Martin said of returning to a full-time role. “Between the confidence that I gained driving the 8 car (for Dale Earnhardt, Inc. part-time) and Rick, I was persuaded to do it. I can't believe what an idiot I would have been had I not. I had no idea it could be like that, had no idea it could be this much fun. The whole thing has been beyond my dreams.”

At 50, Martin is now just one race win away from tying Harry Gant’s 1991 record of most wins in a single season by someone over the age of 50.

Jeff Gordon finished second for the fifth time this season, enabling him to remain second in the series point standings. Gordon, who won in Texas this season, also finished second to Martin in Michigan earlier this summer. After the Hendrick duo finished one-two again on Saturday, a Colorado couple was awarded a one million dollar payout on behalf of a contest held by race sponsor LifeLock.

The finish was a small victory for Gordon after starting deep in the field from the 32nd spot.

“That last restart Mark went a little early and I just spun the tires when I tried to get it going,” Gordon explained. “It's still a great finish — one-two for Hendrick. We could certainly use a night like this and that's important in the Chase. We're running really strong and showing them what we're made of on these tracks.”

Kasey Kahne, point-leader Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin closed out the top-5 finishers.

Ryan Newman, pole-sitter Brian Vickers, Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer and
Juan Pablo Montoya rounded out the top 10.

Montoya currently sits ninth in the point standings. If he is able to maintain the position, this would be the former IndyCar champion’s first appearance in the Chase since making the move from open wheeled machines to NASCAR in 2006. Matt Kenseth currently holds down the 12th and final Chase slot, bumping out Roush Fenway Racing teammate Greg Biffle, after the No. 16 team finished 31st on Saturday.

There were seven caution flags spanning 30 laps that fell throughout the race. Five were for debris. On lap 228 the caution flag waved for a multi-car crash in Turn 1 involving the cars of Jeff Burton, Jamie McMurray, outside pole-sitter Scott Speed and Paul Menard. The wreck ignited after Dale Earnhardt Jr. got into the Menard machine, cutting a left rear tire on Menard’s Ford.

Burton, Speed and Menard all failed to finish the event. Earnhardt drove on and finished 15th.

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