It was 50-year-old Mark Martin who again swept past the field in the Windy City on Saturday night en route to win number four of the 2009 season.

Martin had the dominant car all night, but had to fight for the win in the closing laps as the double-file "shootout-style" restarts once again provided NASCAR fans with an exciting finish.

Looking back at Saturday night's race, here are a few things Surprising and Not Surprising.

Surprising: Kyle Busch struggled | Drops in the point standings

What a difference a year makes. Last year in Chicagoland, Busch dominated the field, leading 165 laps in his seventh win of the 2008 season.

On Saturday night, however, Busch struggled from the drop of the green flag and limped home to a 33rd-place finish.

Fortunately for the No. 18 team, Roushkateers Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth didn't fare so well either, and Busch dropped only two spots in the point standings to 10th. At one point in the race, Busch had fallen out of the top-13.

Now he sits only 13 points inside the Chase cut-off.

Not Surprising: Mark Martin is having a blast

Martin pulled away after a double-file restart as the laps ticked away on Saturday night to take home his fourth checkered flag of the season. He now leads all other drivers in the Sprint Cup Series with four wins and is only one win away from tying Harry Gant's record of five wins in a season by a driver 50 or older. Gant did so in 1991.

Martin, who is always known for his patience and smiles, was thrilled in Victory Lane.

"That was fun," Martin said after climbing from his car. "That's what life's all about right there. These guys deserved to win. We could have parked the car [Friday] with an hour left in practice. I knew it was awesome."

Martin's win moved him up two spots in the championship standings. He now sits 11th, 11 points ahead of 13th-place Biffle.

Surprising: Richard Childress Racing's struggles continue

Many people had circled Saturday night's race as a weekend that could turn around RCR's season -- in particular, Kevin Harvick's.

Harvick won the first two races at the 1.5-mile track near Chicago but has struggled mightily in 2009.

Harvick finished a respectable 19th on Saturday night, but it was Clint Bowyer who led the RCR parade with a ninth-place finish. Teammate Jeff Burton got caught up in a wreck and made it well known that he was not in favor of the double-file restarts afterwards.

With seven races left until the cut-off, RCR is in danger of having all four teams miss the 12-team playoff. Bowyer has the best chance, as his No. 33 team moved up one spot to 15th, 126 points behind 12th-place Kenseth.

Not Surprising : Scott Speed's "speed" doesn't translate on race day

Speed surprised everyone Thursday afternoon when he put up the second-fastest qualifying time.

Along with teammate Brian Vickers' pole, Team Red Bull had two drivers start a race in the top-five for the first time in its three-year history in the Sprint Cup Series.

Although Speed looked to be competitive early on, after the first round of pit stops, he quickly dropped through the field and brought home a 36th-place finish after being caught up in a wreck late in the race.

The wreck may not have been his fault, but Speed wasn't exactly running strong before the mess either.

Speed finished six spots behind the No. 34 team, and 172 points behind the team in owners' points.

Surprising: Chase field is changing every week

Usually, by this point in the season, the field is just about set for NASCAR's playoffs.

This year, however, teams are shifting up and down and in and out on a weekly basis.

This week, Biffle and the No. 16 team were the biggest losers, dropping four spots to find themselves on the outside looking in heading into the off weekend.

The good news for Biffle is that only 100 points separate seventh-place Ryan Newman and himself.

Even more exciting is that only 167 points separate eighth-place Kasey Kahne and 15th-place Bowyer (a maximum of 161 points could be made up in one weekend between the winner and last-place finisher).

So in other words, the race to the Chase has only begun!

Not Surprising: Tony Stewart collects another top-five

Stewart has been remarkable in his first year as an owner-driver. With his fourth-place finish in Chicago on Saturday night, Stewart leads all drivers with 11 top-five finishes in 19 starts (58 percent).

He also leads all drivers with 15 top-10 finishes (79 percent) and sits atop the point standings as well.

Stewart (as he always was at Joe Gibbs Racing), has become a threat to win each and every weekend, and could likely collect another win or two before the Chase starts in September.