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Closer Look Stuck catch can cost Martin chance at victory
Posted: Saturday May 27, 2000 06:16 PM
By Steve Almasy, CNNSI.com CONCORD, N.C. -- Mark Martin’s crew chief Tony Lambert had a bright red face after Saturday's Carquest Auto Parts 300. It was hard to tell if it was caused by days of sunshine or a day at the office that was downright embarrassing. "Everything went wrong," he said, trudging back to the team's hauler after leaving Martin's second-place car in the inspection area. While the most blatant mistake to happen during the Busch race was Martin leaving the pit with the catch can still in the car, Lambert said that it wasn't the only thing to go wrong. "I keep telling the guys to pay attention," Lambert said. "We're on a another level from the other Busch teams. We should be up there [in quality] with the Cup cars. "Today, we weren't up to that." Martin was duking it out with eventual winner Jeff Burton when he went in for a green-flag stop on Lap 163. He only took on two right-side tires and gas. The tires went on without a hitch. "There was just some miscommunication between myself and the gas man," Lambert said. "He said … well, I don't want to point any fingers." Martin came out on the track, drove a lap with the can hanging from the car and lost valuable time when he ducked back into pits. "I don't know [what happened]," Martin said. "I can't tell you about it. I was in the car." By the time he got back up to speed, he had been assessed a stop-and-go penalty and had fallen back to 10th. He tried to rally. But despite all the flaws, Martin still had one last shot, coming out off a caution with five laps to go he was a few cars back of the leader. He had to pass Gordon before it was the two strongest cars dashing to the finish. Martin never had a shot. He finished .935 seconds behind. "Jeff Burton out-drove me today," Martin said. "We had a great run, but I just couldn't beat him. "We had a great effort all weekend, and my car worked extremely well. Some days you win; some days you run second."
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