Juan Pablo Montoya may have dominated the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pre-race activities at New Hampshire Motor Speedway but he was unable to take the top honors in today’s Sylvania 300.

Montoya led the most laps in the event, earning him 10 crucial bonus points but Mark Martin took the lead on lap 272 and held on through three cautions to take the checkered flag over Denny Hamlin.

Both drivers are eligible for the Chase for the Sprint Cup that officially started this weekend.

Fellow Chasers Juan Pablo Montoya and Jimmie Johnson finished 3rd and 4th, respectively.

Kyle Busch finished 5th but is not in contention for the Sprint Cup title.

Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman and Greg Biffle, who hold Chase berths, ended the race 6th, 7th and 9th while non-chaser Elliott Sadler got sandwiched between Busch and Newman in 8th and Clint Bowyer rounded out the top-10.

Busch had a minor pit road altercation with David Ragan but was still able to finish in the top-10.

Three other Chasers got top-15 finishes; Brian Vickers in 11th, Tony Stewart in 14th despite a long pit stop that cost him a lap during the race and Jeff Gordon in 15th.

Carl Edwards took a solid 16th place finish while Kasey Kahne was the lowest finishing Chaser after blowing his engine early in the event; he finished a dismal 38th.

On top of getting into Victory Lane, Martin also retained the top spot in the point standings and is now 35 points ahead of second place Johnson.

Montoya gained the most point spots, seven to be exact and is now in 4th behind Hamlin.

Kahne lost the most ground and is bringing up the rear in 12th, 161 points behind 1st place.

                   SYLVANIA 300 RESULTS

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