Martin defies his age (50) to win Sprint Cup race

Mark Martin continued to defy his age, becoming the first 50-year-old driver to win a Sprint Cup race in 16 years with a victory Saturday night at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Ariz.

Martin, who has waffled on retirement several times in the last four years, started from the pole and led 157 of 312 laps. He was out front when teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s accident brought out a caution with 11 laps to go, erasing a four-second lead over Tony Stewart.

Crew chief Alan Gustafson debated with Martin on strategy before the Hendrick Motorsports team called Martin in. He won a close race with Kyle Busch off pit road, then Busch was flagged for speeding.

Martin settled into second place behind Ryan Newman, who didn’t pit. Martin then shot past Newman on the restart with six laps to go, then cruised to his first win since Kansas at 2005.

The last 50-year-old to win a Cup race was Morgan Shepherd in 1993 at Atlanta. Harry Gant holds the record as the oldest driver to win a Cup race. He was 52 when he won at Michigan in 1992.

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Formula One

Sebastian Vettel qualified first for the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix at Shanghai, delivering the first pole position for the Red Bull team and the second of the young German’s career.

Vettel set a best time of 1 minute 36.184 seconds at the Shanghai International Circuit to start from the front for today’s race.

Renault’s Fernando Alonso will start second on the grid, ahead of Red Bull’s Mark Webber and Brawn’s Rubens Barrichello.

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Irwindale

Nick Joanides of Woodland Hills won his third NASCAR Super Late Model race of the season at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale.