Mark Martin has never been a dirty racer.

With trophies on the line, or points, or a spot in the season-defining Chase for the championship, he has prided himself on being a clean driver though 1,000 NASCAR races. So as a sold-out crowd watched to see if Martin would lay a bumper to Kyle Busch in the closing laps at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee, it never even crossed his mind.

"We're racing, going for it, you know?" Martin said. "I expect Kyle to race me hard. I expect him to race me clean. And he has. He can expect the same from me. I didn't need to use the bumper. Kyle gave me all the room in the world to make that pass, and I didn't make it."

There were no last-lap fireworks Saturday night as Busch and Martin staged a side-by-side charge to the checkered flag.

Racing that hard could have been disastrous for both: Martin is clinging to a spot in the 12-driver Chase field, while Busch is fighting hard to get back into contention. Both drivers were in desperate need of a solid finish, and one small slip could have sunk their seasons.

Instead, they raced clean and Busch emerged the winner. It snapped his 13-race Sprint Cup Series winless streak -- an eternity by his standards -- while Martin settled for second. The two are tied with a series-best four wins apiece.

"Man, what an honorable race car driver Mark Martin is," Busch said. "Such an honor to race with him. To give him the room that he needed, for him to give me the room I needed, was awesome. I can't thank him enough. He didn't let me win the race, but he certainly didn't take it from us."

Just like that, two of the biggest stories of 2009 prevented their seasons from slipping away.

Martin, who was clinging to a 12-point hold on the final Chase position, left Bristol up two spots to 10th. Busch also moved up two spots, to 13th, and is 34 points away from the final qualifying position with two races remaining to determine the field.

• Sonoma Grand Prix: Dario Franchitti finally won at Infineon Raceway in California, leading from start to finish to capture his first Sonoma GP in the final road course race of the year. Franchitti took the pole and led all 75 laps, topping runner-up and new points leader Ryan Briscoe on the way to his fourth win of the year. Franchitti and Briscoe avoided a multiple-car crash early in Lap 1 on the tough, 12-turn, 2.303-mile course. Scott Dixon, the points leader coming in and Franchitti's Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, finished a disappointing 14th after stalling in the wreck. He fell to third place in points.

• European Grand Prix: Brawn GP's Rubens Barrichello won in Valencia, Spain, to claim his first Formula One victory in five years. Barrichello took advantage of a costly pit-stop error by Lewis Hamilton's McLaren team to record his 10th career win -- his first since the 2004 Chinese GP -- and boost his championship hopes. Hamilton finished second ahead of Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.

Only the top 12 drivers in the Sprint Cup standings qualify for the Chase for the Championship. A look at the battle for the 12th spot after Saturday night's race at Bristol.