Martin gives Earnhardt first victory as an owner

LAS VEGAS -- Mark Martin took Dale Earnhardt Jr. to Victory Lane by winning the NASCAR Nationwide Series Sam’s Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, then immediately apologized for an accident he started in the closing laps.

Martin, the winningest driver in NASCAR’s No. 2 series, raced to the 48th victory of his career Saturday in a car owned by Earnhardt’s JR Motorsports. But the win came at the expense of Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski, who drives full-time for Earnhardt.

Martin was sixth following a final round of pit stops when the race restarted with 10 laps to go. With four fresh tires on his Chevrolet, he sliced his way toward the front while chasing cars that had taken only two tires.

Edwards and Keselowski were racing side-by-side when Martin quickly closed in on Edwards’ bumper. Slight contact sent Edwards’ car wiggling across the track, and he slid high directly into Keselowski to wreck both cars.

Martin slipped past into the lead, then held on in a two-lap shootout to the finish.

“I’ve got to apologize before we do anything else,” Martin said as soon as he climbed from his car. “I ran into the back of Carl. I hate it. I just hate it, really, because we could have had a 1-2 finish with JR Motorsports.

“I hate that it happened, but I sure didn’t intend for it to happen.”

Edwards, the defending series champion, finished 14th.

“I’d like to be really mad at Mark, but he’s a heck of a guy and has a lot of respect,” Edwards said. “I’m sure he just made a mistake.”

Keselowski finished 23rd.

“I felt like I had a chance to win or finish in the top five,” he said. “I feel great about our effort. I knew we had something there for them at the end.”

Martin was met in Victory Lane by Earnhardt, who tabbed him to run a handful of races for his expanding race team. Earnhardt aligned it with Hendrick Motorsports this season to form a hybrid two-car effort, and the win was the first for JR Motorsports.