Times wires
Saturday, March 5, 2011
LAS VEGAS — Mark Martin won Saturday's NASCAR Nationwide series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway when a flat tire sent leader Brad Keselowski into the wall on the final lap.
The race, however, will be remembered for Danica Patrick's history-making run.
Patrick placed fourth, the best finish for a woman in a national NASCAR race. The previous best was Sara Christian's fifth at Pittsburgh in 1949.
"I don't know. I don't think about trying to achieve the highest finish of a female," said Patrick, a regular in IndyCar driving a part-time NASCAR schedule. "I think about trying to win the race."
As for Martin, he knew he had to save gas to have any chance of winning the Sam's Town 300.
Even then, he was going to need some help. He got it when Keselowski's tire failed.
"I can't gloat. If Brad hadn't had a tire problem, he looked like he would win," Martin said. "All I could do is make sure we didn't run out of gas."
Patrick struggled all weekend and fell a lap down. But she got back on the lead lap, then steadily worked her way to the top 10.
Fuel strategy did the rest, as many cars in front of her had to make late stops for gas and Patrick slid all the way up to fourth.
"We just had a good car, that's all I can say. That's what makes a difference in these things," she said. "I know I haven't had the best results, especially in NASCAR, but we're getting them now."
Martin earned his record 49th victory in NASCAR's second-tier series. Justin Allgaier finished second to give Turner Motorsports, a Nationwide series team competing against Sprint Cup teams every week, a 1-2 finish.
NASCAR PUTS ROBBY GORDON ON PROBATION: NASCAR placed Robby Gordon on probation for an incident involving Kevin Conway in the garage at Las Vegas. NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton said the period of Gordon's probation has yet to be determined.
Conway declined to discuss it but said he filed a police report Friday. Gordon was unavailable for comment. Las Vegas police said Conway filed a misdemeanor battery complaint after a quarrel occurred about 5 p.m. No arrest was made, and no summons was issued.
Conway briefly drove for Gordon's team in Sprint Cup last year, but the drivers are now suing each other over financial aspects of that deal.
GRAND-AM: Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas won the Grand Prix of Miami for the second straight year to extend their series winning streak to a record five races. Pruett and Rojas won by 4.307 seconds in a BMW/Riley at Homestead-Miami Speedway.