Early success won’t alter Martin’s plan

Mark Martin is only supposed to race the first four races of the season -- and only 22 overall -- for his new team, Bobby Ginn Racing, formerly MB2 Motorsports.

With his fifth-place finish Sunday at California Speedway, the Daytona 500 runner-up is now leading the standings.

That’s not significant two races into the season, especially for a part-time driver, but it’s the first time in the team’s 11-year history that it has led.

Martin, 48, who joined Ginn Racing after 19 years with Roush Racing, was asked if he would continue to race the full Nextel Cup schedule if he were still leading after four races.

“No,” Martin said, emphatically.

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The worst crash of the day was David Reutimann’s in one of Michael Waltrip’s Toyotas. He was bumped from behind by Greg Biffle on Lap 240 and spun into the outside wall.

He didn’t respond immediately when asked if he was OK, and told his car was on fire. He eventually got out on his own.

He spent more than half an hour in the infield medical center, then was released.

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NASCAR used unleaded fuel for the first time in Sunday’s race. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kasey Kahne said the switch might have caused them problems.

The engines in Earnhardt’s Chevrolet and Kahne’s Dodge lost power almost simultaneously, sending them to the garage less than 70 laps into the race.

Both made repairs and returned, but Earnhardt’s car soon failed again and he finished 40th. Kahne finished 38th.

“The unleaded fuel threw us a curveball,” Earnhardt said. “We just have to figure out what we need to do to the motors.”

Kahne said his car was “definitely different ... the way it runs, the way it takes off on restarts and how it shifts. We’ve just got to learn how to make it work.”

Jack Roush, owner of Matt Kenseth’s winning car, had a differing opinion. “From what I can see, the people that had trouble, it didn’t relate to the fuel,” Roush said. “The fuel gave us good fuel mileage and it performed admirably.”

martin.henderson@latimes.com

james.peltz@latimes.com