Martin Drives To Bud Victory

Mark Martin powered to victory Sunday in the Bud Shootout, earning his first stock car triumph at Daytona International Speedway in 73 tries.

"I just wish that was the last lap of the Daytona 500," Martin said wistfully. "All that says is look at what this team has done from where we were a year ago."

Last year's Winston Cup runner-up, who has come up short on horsepower in recent years at Daytona, gave a sign of things to come Saturday when he was fifth in pole qualifying for next Sunday's Daytona 500.

He backed that up Sunday by coming from 13th in the 15-car Shootout field to take the lead on lap 10, following the mandatory pit stop and two-tire change by all the entries. He never trailed the rest of the 25-lap race for last year's Winston Cup pole-winners.

Several contenders tried to mount a challenge to Martin's Roush Racing Ford Taurus, but nobody came close as the winner crossed the finish line on the 2½-mile, high-banked oval about four car-lengths ahead of the second-place Chevrolet of Ken Schrader.

"The pit stop did it," Martin said. "It got me in front, and we had a fast enough car to stay there. It's tough to get a car to run that well in restrictor plates races. Of course, this isn't the major one. But this is Speed Weeks. It feels good to win. I can't think of a better way to start the season."

The cars are required to use restrictors on their carburetors in races at Daytona and Talladega, NASCAR's fastest tracks. It's a rule which makes it difficult and expensive for teams to find enough power to be competitive.

"It was about horsepower," Martin said. "We've got a little more work to do if we want to win these things. But that's a lot more race car than we had a year ago. It came through the pack real well. Now we know that if we're in position Sunday we've got a shot at winning the Daytona 500."

Schrader, who was third in the Daytona qualifying, said, "When we got to Mark, we were done. We could run with him, but that's all."

Martin, who won $108,000, averaged 181.745 mph. His best previous finish in 11 Bud Shootouts was second in 1991.

Bobby Labonte was third in a Pontiac, followed by the Chevy of Mike Skinner, the Ford of Jeremy Mayfield, the Pontiac of Ward Burton and the Fords of Rusty Wallace, Dale Jarrett and Rick Mast, who led twice in the first eight laps before falling behind on the pit stop.

Jeff Gordon, the two-time defending series champion and the pole winner for the Daytona 500, appeared to have the strongest car in the field. He started eighth and moved past Mast into the lead on lap nine. But, on the pit stop on lap 10, Gordon overshot his pit, and his crew went to work on the car without pushing it back into the pit box.

Had they pushed it back, it would have been only a 15-second penalty that would have allowed him to get back out on the lead lap. Instead, it wa a one-lap penalty. Gordon went back onto the track, but never got up to speed before choosing to go to the garage.

"You've got to go for it in this race," Gordon said. "I just carried a little too much speed to pit road, then I overheated the brakes trying to get it slowed down. We could have gotten it backed up, but that's just the way it goes. Even if we had gotten back out there, I don't know if we could have gotten to the front, but we had an awful strong car and I was having fun out there for a little while."

Wallace also was expected to be a strong contender in the Shootout and got the pole in a random draw for starting positions Thursday. But he missed the driver introductions Sunday, had to start from the rear of the field and never got back to the front.

"It was my fault, so I can't be mad," Wallace said. "I'm glad it happened during a non-points event."

Skinner earned his starting spot in the Shootout by winning a 25-lap qualifying race for the 15 drivers who led second-round qualifying during the 1998 season.

Skinner, the teammate of defending Daytona 500 winner Dale Earnhardt, started seventh in the opening race, but quickly showed his power. He moved to third on lap seven, took over the runner-up spot on lap nine and beat early leader Robert Pressley out of the pits when the top cars made their mandatory pit stops on lap 10.

He led the rest of the way, easily holding off Pressley on a restart on lap 19 after debris on the track brought out the only caution.

Jimmy Spencer, who won the qualifying race a year ago, was in the hunt until he was black-flagged for speeding on pit lane during his stop. He then blew his motor and drove to the garage instead of taking the stop-and-go penalty from NASCAR.

With the first races of the season over, the Winston Cup drivers return to preparations for the Daytona 500.

Time trials, which began Saturday, continue Monday and Tuesday to determine the starting lineups for Thursday's twin 125-mile qualifying races. Those events will fill positions 3 through 30 in the 43-car field.

More from CBS News