Martin has experienced a ton of misfortune to start this season. He was running fourth in the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway when he ran over a piece of debris, cutting a tire and severly damaging his No. 5 Kelloggs/Carquest Chevy. He finished 31st.

During the previous two races, the Shelby 427 from Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the Auto Club 500 from Auto Club Speedway (Fontana), he experienced engine failures that gave him a pair of 40th place finishes. 

His 16th-place finish in the Daytona 500 looks pretty good right now, compared to his finishes in the last three races.

Crew cheif Alan Gustafson was expected to meet with Martin to discuss how the team can save its season. The problem is, it hasn’t been mistakes as much as it has been bad luck.

The Daytona 500 was called early due to rain. If it hadn’t been, Martin may have finished better than 16th. He won the pole at Atlanta and was running in the top 5 when his tire blew.

He didn’t have winning cars at Las Vegas or Fontana, but he certainly could have finished better than 40th.

As a result of the misfortune, Martin is changing his focus from the Chase and championship to winning races. He is mathematically still in contention, but he knows that making up points on one person is easier than making up points on 34 people.

So, for now, Martin is concentrating on winning his first race since 2005.

In the last two weeks, TRD had to replace six engines due to lifter or camshaft issues. Lee White, TRD president, believes the issue has to do with oil pressure when the cars are in low-RPM situations.

It is also believed that the better tire at LVMS increased lap speeds by three-quarters of a second, which may have led to more strain on the engines.

TRD has switched to a more aggressive camshaft that uses a lighter weight oil.

Roush Fenway Racing lost three engines during the race, including points-leader Matt Kenseth’s. In addition, five Toyota teams had to go to the rear of the field after changing their engines.

Doug Yates, who oversees the Roush-Yates engine program indicated that a more conservative gear ratio could have prevented the problems.

Kenseth and teammates David Ragan, and Carl Edwards all experience engine problems, but their issues were all different. “Matt Kenseth had a piston problem in the first five laps, David Ragan lost a valve spring before the 100-lap mark and Carl Edwards lost a rod bearing on the last lap.”

Those problems were different from the ones Toyota experience.

But three laps into the Shelby 427, Kenseth was on pit road with engine trouble, his team trying desparately to diagnose and fix the problem. By lap 6, his potentially historical day ended in a plume of white smoke from the rear of his USG Sheetrock Ford Fusion. He finished dead last, and dropped from first to third in points.

Kenseth’s Sunday performance just goes to show that no matter how invincible a driver seems at a given time, he can be knocked right back into mortality by factors beyond his control.

No one knows this better, perhaps, than Kyle Busch. Last season, Busch was the hottest driver in the sport, winning more than 20 races in NASCAR’s top three series. But, in the Chase, he stumbled, bumbled, and fumbled his way to an 10th place finish. 

In a sport where talent and ability can take a back seat to quality of equipment and a little bit of luck, we’ve all learned that no one is invincible.

The Monday after the race, the media sounded the alarms, perhaps rightfully so. After all, NASCAR’s prodigal son, and most popular driver, would be in danger of missing a race.

Throughout the week, story after story, and column after column, highlighted Jr’s plight. Many stressed the need for a good finish, which Jr earned quietly in last weekend’s Shelby 427 from Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

One day after the Shelby 427, in which we saw Mark Martin lose an engine and finish 40th, I wonder if we’ll see the same amount of coverage that Jr received. My guess is no.

One could argue that Martin is just as talented as Jr. One could even argue that Martin is statistically better than Jr (career-wise.) But why won’t Martin receive as much media coverage? He’s on a high-profile team. He’s considered a Chase and championship contender.

Perhaps Matt Kenseth’s lost engine will be the bigger story, he was the points leader, after all. He also finished dead last. Still, you would think Martin would warrant the same coverage, at least, as Jr. Right? I mean, he lost two engines in as many weeks. He shares a shop with Jr at Hendrick Motorsports. There’s got to be some media value there.

But, at the end of the day, Martin’s blown engine will not receive as much coverage as Jr’s. Why? Because Jr is like the Dallas Cowboys of NASCAR. Every thing that happens to him and his team receives big coverage because it will generate clicks on a website.

Love him or hate him, most every NASCAR fan will read stories about him. Some hope the story will give them hope, while others hope the story will call him overrated and provide substance to their arguments that he is overrated.

In his Inside Line column, David Caraviello may have described the situation best. He wrote:

Any other driver misses his pit board in the Daytona 500, and it’s a non-story; Junior does it, and it’s a crisis. Any other driver crashes with Brian Vickers trying to get a lap back, and it’s a controversy; Junior does it, and it provokes debates over the most overrated athlete in history.

Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton, David Reutimann, and Bobby Labonte rounded out the top 5.

Finishing sixth through 10th were Jeff Gordon, Greg Biffle, Brian Vickers, Jamie McMurray, and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Notables: Kasey Kahne (11th), Kevin Harvick (12th), Joey Logano (13th), Carl Edwards (17th), Denny Hamlin (22nd), Kurt Busch (23rd), Jimmie Johnson (24th), Tony Stewart (26th), Mark Martin (40th), and Matt Kenseth (43rd).

Give a call to Joey Logano and David Gilliland. Both had strong runs and good finishes. Robby Gordon also posted a good finish (15th).

Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards, and Paul Menard all had good runs going before late trouble. Johnson got loose in the closing laps, and spun, hitting the wall hard. Carl Edwards lost his motor with less than three laps to go. And, Menard got loose and hit the wall hard late in the race.  

Kenseth and Martin both lost engines and finished 43rd and 40th, respectively.

Fellow Toyota drivers David Reutimann and Marcos Ambrose, who qualified fourth and fifth respectively, had to replace their engines and will start at the rear of the field. While Reutimann and Ambrose drive for different teams (Michael Waltrip Racing and JTG Daugherty Racing, respectively), both teams have a technical alliance.

Red Bull Racing teammates Brian Vickers and Scott Speed also replaced their engines, and will start from the rear of the field.

Overall, five Toyota teams replaced engines. While Joe Gibbs Racing builds its own engines, the other teams all use Toyota Racing Development engines.

TRD President Lee White  said:

It’s a wear issue between the camshaft and lifter – it’s either a coating, lubrication, lack of lubrication, too much lubrication, not enough coating or a material situation or just the simple fact that we haven’t been testing.

TRD replaced some of the lubricants and hopes that might fix the problem. They plan to look at the engines after today’s practices.

Jimmie Johnson, David Reutimann, and Marcos Ambrose will start third through fifth, respectively.

Rounding out the top 10 are Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne, Mark Martin, Kevin Harvick, and Tony Stewart.

Notables: Jeff Burton (14th), Carl Edwards (16th), Greg Biffle (24th), Jeff Gordon (28th), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (31st), Denny Hamlin (34th), and Matt Kenseth (40th).

Go-Or-Go-Homers That Will Start: Stewart, Max Papis, Brad Keselowski, Regan Smith, AJ Allmendinger, Joe Nemechek, David Gilliland, and Todd Bodine.

Did Not Qualify: Travis Kvapil, Dave Blaney, Mike Garvey, Jeremy Mayfield, Sterlin Marlin, Scott Riggs, Tony Raines, and Dexter Bean.