Mark Martin a popular winner

All you had to see Saturday night was the parade.

After Mark Martin's victory in the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway, victory lane was a very crowded place. Martin's fellow drivers and others in the sport lined up for an opportunity to congratulate the race winner, demonstrating both their respect for Martin and their happiness upon his return to victory lane.

Martin started first and led much of the evening. He and crew chief Alan Gustafson ran their own race and didn't panic when it seemed that strategies employed by some others might work against them.

Martin might have got a big break when Kyle Busch was hit with a penalty for speeding as he left pit road on the final caution. Then again, the reason Busch appeared to put himself in position to make a late challenge to win was that he exceeded the allowed speed. It seemed that Busch decided the only way he could win would be to take a shot hoping NASCAR wouldn't make the call in that situation. But it did.

Ryan Newman stayed out -- it was good to see that somebody at least tried that -- but Martin made quick work of him and went on to win for the 36th time in his career. Martin hadn't won since 2005 and had run 97 races since then. Only 14 times in NASCAR history has a driver won a race after running more than 100 races since a previous victory.

As you've probably heard by now, Martin is just the fourth driver to win a Cup race after reaching his 50th birthday. At 50 years, three months and nine days, he's the third oldest to win. Only Harry Gant and Morgan Shepherd have won at an older age. The remarkable Gant won eight times after he turned 50. Shepherd and Bobby Allison each won once after that milestone and those 10 races are the only time that's happened until Saturday night.

After beginning the season with a string of bad luck, Martin is now just nine points out of the top 12 in the Cup standings. Only 110 points separates Jeff Burton in 11th from Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 19th after eight races, so this year's race to the Chase is shaping up to be a good one.

Martin is right in the middle of it, and that makes things very interesting. If you think his peers were happy to see him win Saturday night's race, imagine the outpouring of support and respect Martin would get if he could finally win is first championship this year.

We're a long way from that, of course, and the fact that Martin's victory at Phoenix made as much history as it did only emphasizes how great the odds are against him. But whenever I tell people about what the statistics show, I also try to remind them that the numbers only tell you what has and hasn't been done. They don't tell you what can or can't be done.