BRISTOL, Tenn. — Alan Gustafson gambled at Michigan and it cost driver Mark Martin of Batesville dearly in his chances to make the Chase for the championship.
There was no chance, though, they'd change their strategy at Bristol Motor Speedway, even though Martin is clinging to a berth in the 12-driver field.
Gustafson went with an aggressive setup Friday that won Martin the pole, his fifth of the season.
"It feels like I'm carrying a 200-pound gorilla on my shoulders," Martin said after turning a lap at 124.484 mph.
"I didn't need to choke today and we got a great lap.
It'sa real big battle, mostly because I want to make the [Chase] for my team. For me, I've had lots of brutal disappointments. I care for this team, that's why I want it so bad. They want it so bad, and they dig so hard."
Martin and the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team head into tonight's race with a precarious 12-point lead over Brian Vickers, the 13th driver in the standings. Despite a series-high four victories this season, they're in this position because of early season bad luck and a disastrous pit call last week.
Gustafson gambled and didn't bring Martin in for fuel, a gaffethat turned a certain top-10 finish into a 31st when the tank ran dry in the closing laps.
Gustafson said Friday he immediately regretted the decision, but learned a valuable lesson.
"I wasn't gambling to stretch the gas, I was gambling that there would be one more caution," he said. "At the moment, I was thinking about racing for a win. I wasn't thinking about making the Chase. It was a poor job of considering the big picture, and, knock on wood, I'll be better about that in the Chase."
Martin has been overwhelmingly supportive of Gustafson and the team in the days since the fuel mistake because he wants to make the Chase for his crew.
Although he's considered the best driver to never win a championship - he finished second four times - he's insisted winning a title was not his goal this year.
But now that the team has shown such muscle, he wants to reward his guys with a chance at a championship. He said earlier Friday his team would be "devastated" if they miss the Chase.
"All these guys on this team mean so much to me and they dig so hard," he said. "They give me such great race cars and we're just trying to let our performance do our work for us. We can't worry a whole lot about the racing gods, but if we put our performance out there on the racetrack, we hope that takes care of us."
Martin also won the pole here in March and finished sixth, the first step in climbing from 34th in the standings to Chase contention.
Gustafson believes that barring bad luck - and they had plenty at the start of the year, a rain-shortened race, two blown motors and a blown tire in the first four races - Martin will be in the Chase.
"I have faith in this team, and I have faith in Mark," he said. "We're as good as anybody out there. And as long as we've still got hope, and we do, I'll continue to have faith."
Greg Biffle qualified second with a lap of 124.307, and rookie Scott Speed was third.
Biffle, who is 10th in the standings, is rooting for his former teammate to make the Chase even if it puts another title-worthy team into the field.
"I'd like to see Mark Martin in the Chase, personally," Biffle said. "We know that they're good and we know that they've won three or four races, and he's running well and they'll be a threat for the title."
Dave Blaney qualified fourth for Prism Motorsports, a start-and-park team, and was followed by Matt Kenseth and Clint Bowyer. Casey Mears was seventh,and Joey Logano, Ryan Newman and Reed Sorenson rounded out the top 10.
Meanwhile, feuding drivers Brian Vickers and Kyle Busch qualified 14th and 15th - meaning they'll start one row apart in tonight's race. More interesting, they'll likely have to share the back of a pickup as they make their pre-race ride during driver introductions.
It could get interesting considering the former teammates are at odds over last weekend's Nationwide Series race at Michigan. Vickers was running first and Busch was second on the last lap, when Vickers became so preoccupied with Busch that he was unaware that Brad Keselowski was coming fast behind them.
Busch couldn't get around Vickers, and Keselowski passed them both for the surprise victory.
Busch was angry at how Vickers finished the race, and Vickers continued to defend his position Friday.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Sharpie 500 lineup At Bristol Motor Speedway Bristol, Tenn.
Lap length: .533 miles (Car number in parentheses) 1. (5) Mark Martin, Chevrolet, 124.484.
2. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 124.307.
3. (82) Scott Speed, Toyota, 124.146.
4. (66) Dave Blaney, Toyota, 123.97.
5. (17) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 123.897.
6. (33) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 123.889.
7. (07) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 123.754.
8. (20) Joey Logano, Toyota, 123.706.
9. (39) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 123.642.
10. (43) Reed Sorenson, Dodge, 123.61.
11. (42) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 123.586.
12. (71) David Gilliland, Chevrolet, 123.586.
13. (2) Kurt Busch, Dodge, 123.539.
14. (83) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 123.451.
15. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 123.435.
16. (29) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 123.34.
17. (26) Jamie McMurray, Ford, 123.245.
18. (00) David Reutimann, Toyota, 123.126.
19. (44) AJ Allmendinger, Dodge, 123.103.
20. (96) Bobby Labonte, Ford, 123.047.
21. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 122.984.
22. (08) Terry Labonte, Toyota, 122.843.
23. (6) David Ragan, Ford, 122.787.
24. (1) Martin Truex Jr., Chevrolet, 122.756.
25. (47) Marcos Ambrose, Toyota, 122.67.
26. (4) Scott Wimmer, Chevrolet, 122.646.
27. (88) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 122.584.
28. (78) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 122.576.
29. (9) Kasey Kahne, Dodge, 122.537.
30. (14) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 122.521.
31. (7) Robby Gordon, Toyota, 122.482.
32. (99) Carl Edwards, Ford, 122.419.
33. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 122.411.
34. (12) David Stremme, Dodge, 122.31.
35. (37) Tony Raines, Chevrolet, 122.217.
36. (55) Michael Waltrip, Toyota, 122.115.
37. (31) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 122.108.
38. (77) Sam Hornish Jr., Dodge, 122.053.
39. (98) Paul Menard, Ford, 121.389.
40. (34) John Andretti, Chevrolet, 121.244.
41. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, Owner Points.
42. (19) Elliott Sadler, Dodge, Owner Points.
43. (87) Joe Nemechek, Toyota, 121.566.
FAILED TO QUALIFY 44. (36) Mike Skinner, Toyota, 121.497.
45. (13) Max Papis, Toyota, 120.392.
46. (64) Mike Wallace, Toyota, 119.432.
47. (09) Aric Almirola, Dodge, 118.694.
Sports, Pages 21, 23 on 08/22/2009