Event: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sylvania 300, Race No. 27 of 36

Location: New Hampshire Motor Speedway; Loudon, N.H.

Top-five finishers: Mark Martin, Denny Hamlin, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch

Race recap: Mark Martin won his series-leading fifth race of the season on Sunday, helping him to extend his championship lead after the first race of the 10-race NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs.

Martin ran near the front all day, but his car really seemed to come to life late in the event. The 50-year-old veteran led all of his laps over the final 100 laps, after first taking the top spot on lap 204 of 300.

The race began with polesitter Juan Pablo Montoya and regular season winner Tony Stewart combining to lead the first 124 laps around the flat, one-mile oval. The middle stages of the event found Montoya and Stewart share the lead with several other championship contenders -- Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson.

From there it was mostly Martin's show. He led laps 204-243 before starting a series of green flag pit stops. He finally cycled back into the lead on lap 272 when the final lead lap car pitted. Martin held on to the top spot over the race's final three caution periods, including a lap 294 accident that set up a three-lap sprint to the finish.

Martin used the victory to open up a 35-point cushion over Johnson and Hamlin in the overall standings, with nine events to go. The next of those is a visit to Dover Motor Speedway next Sunday.

Companion event: Kyle Busch used a late-race splash-and-go pit stop to make it to the finsih line in front in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at New Hampshire on Saturday afternoon. Busch held off championship leader Ron Hornaday Jr. for the win. Hornaday now leads Matt Crafton by 217 points overall.

Goodyear quote -- Rick Heinrich, product manager, racing: "We had a great weekend at Loudon, and this tyre set-up worked very well here this season. The tyres performed very well, and the outstanding durability allowed teams to formulate various pit strategies to try to gain track position."