It was like watching two wounded warriors slugging it out at the very end of a long, exhausting duel.

Dale Jarrett, who was nursing a bum clutch and Mark Martin, whose engine was going sour, scrambled and scrapped in the closing laps of the Pennsylvania 500 to secure second-and-third-place finishes.

But all things considered, Mark seemed content to exit the hard-fought, 200 lap event clutching a coveted top-five finish.

"It was take what you could get" said Mark, who looked like an emergency room escapee with his left wrist in a cast and left knee in a brace, the aftereffects of a practice crash in Daytona on July 2.

Mark, who drives one of the five Roush Racing Fords, said he went into survival mode with about 10 laps remaining when one of his cylinders started to sound funny.

Only a few laps earlier, he saw his teammate, Jeff Burton, headed to the garage with smoke pouring from the rear of his car. Mark heeded the warning.

"I decided to try to limp it home in third" Mark said, who has 15 top-10 appearances this season. "I don't think there was anything real wrong, maybe a busted exhaust pipe or something like that, so I slowed it up and started short shifting and kind of just rode it out."

"The difference between second and third isn't a big deal," he added. "The difference between third and 30th would be a big deal."

This race took its toll on Mark, who was in extreme pain after being lifted out of his car by crew members. He blamed the nine caution periods for causing his leg misery.

"We did so much warming up the tires, weaving back and forth, I actually injured or excited my knee injury and it's hurting real bad," said Mark, who had an appointment with his orthopedic surgeon on July 26.

Adding insult to injury, his car seat was so hot, it scorched his buttocks. "I thought my butt was going to catch on fire," he said.

"Aw, it was a good weekend," he concluded. "It was a good solid run. I passed more cars from the back of the pack than I ever had done here. I'm very proud of the effort of the whole team."

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