AN UGLY DAY; A record number of yellow-flag laps, and a tragedy in the NASCAR family lowlight Jimmie Johnson's Martinsville win.(Motorsports)

Byline: AL PEARCE

Most of NASCAR's 10 Chase for the Championship drivers dread 500 laps at Martinsville as much as 500 miles at Talladega. This is even though Martinsville Speedway is a mile shorter and 100 mph slower than the Talladega Superspeedway.

"At Talladega, you worry about the big one [accident] that takes out 17 cars,'' Jeff Gordon said before the Subway 500. "Here, you worry about the 17 little ones that take out several cars. You're always racing with people around you so you don't have anywhere to go when things go wrong. And believe me, a lot of things go wrong.''

Things went very wrong for almost half the 43-car field in this season's 32nd race, and the sixth of the 10 playoff races. Twenty drivers were involved in 17 caution periods that ate fully a quarter of the 500 laps. Robby Gordon (quickly wearing out his welcome with owner Richard Childress) was involved in three incidents, and Ricky Rudd, Carl Edwards, Kyle Petty, Joe Nemechek, Dale Jarrett and Elliott Sadler were in two apiece. Nobody's car returned to its hauler without evidence of short-track racing's full-contact nature.

Even winner Jimmie Johnson was roughed. But he survived to lead twice for 67 laps (including the final 61) for his first Martinsville win, his sixth victory of '04 and the 12th of his career. But despite two consecutive wins and a move from eighth in points to fourth, Johnson is down by 207 points and time is running out.

"Our sponsors are getting excited and the team is feeling a bit closer to things,'' Busch said after his sixth straight top-six playoff finish. "It's a matter of taking one day at a time and not getting too far ahead of ourselves.''

Johnson beat Jamie McMurray and pole-winner Ryan Newman. Moments after the race, Hendrick Motorsports teammates Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Terry Labonte and Brian Vickers all learned 10 people on a Hendrick Motorsports plane had died in a crash near the track (see Competition, page 47). None of the drivers or crew chiefs issued any statements.