It was the kind of race Mark Martin used to lose. Even the driver himself will admit, fuel mileage gambles haven't historically played to his strengths. He's won maybe two events that way, lost maybe 10 times as many. One of those defeats came at Michigan International Speedway, where he led 141 laps in 1993 but ran out of gas and finished sixth.

“

I'm not going to lay in bed at night and think about what it will be like to lift that trophy. It just doesn't exist, you know, in my brain. We've won some races this year. I don't expect them. I just hope that they come. Same thing with the Chase. I just want to make the Chase. We'll worry about how we do in it after we find out we're in it.

”

-- MARK MARTIN

So how strange was it to see Martin, an unfortunate connoisseur of all the crushing disappointments NASCAR can offer, playing the fuel-mileage game Sunday on that same Michigan race track and winning. When Jimmie Johnson and then Greg Biffle ran out of fuel on the final lap, there was Martin, nursing the No. 5 car home, for once in the perfect position -- a description that not only applies to his place on the big 2-mile speedway last weekend, but also a relationship with Hendrick Motorsports that has the 50-year-old enjoying the ride of his life.

This is not the pessimistic, problem-plagued Mark Martin we used to know. Oh sure, it seemed that way at the beginning of this season, when consecutive blown engines at California and Las Vegas and a tire problem at Atlanta buried him in the point standings.

Oh well, we thought, that's how it goes for the guy. He lands a ride with the sport's preeminent organization, an eight-time championship team with unparalleled equipment, and gets off to the worst start of his 20-year NASCAR career. Typical Martin luck.

Eleven races later, look what's happened. The two drivers tied for the Sprint Cup lead in victories are 24-year-old Kyle Busch and another driver more than twice his age. Martin has made up 16 positions in the standings and is now in position for a Chase berth.

Since his early-season misfortune, no driver on the circuit has been better than a dude who actually announced his impending retirement five years ago. And then there was Michigan, where a guy who's had circumstances cheat him out of championships and Daytona 500 victories had a rare little bit of good luck fall his way.

It's all enough to make you wonder: Is this somewhat unexpected season the one where Martin at last finally reaps the benefit of all that heartache? Have all the things that have gone wrong for Martin -- painful, character-building things -- set him up for one magical campaign where everything goes right?

Now, that's not to say Martin is going to be celebrating that long-sought-after championship in Homestead, Fla., on the night of Nov. 22. Three-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson, one errant fuel-mileage calculation aside, is still out there. Tony Stewart continues to build momentum. Jeff Gordon is clearly a threat again. Busch has the potential to win races in bunches. (Continued)