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JOLIET, Ill. -- Mark Martin was headed to a victory, lost it and then regained it when the two leaders drifted out of his line with 16 laps to go Saturday night at Chicagoland Speedway.

Martin took the lead for good when Brian Vickers and Denny Hamlin moved up the track racing for the lead. Vickers, on the inside, got loose and scooted up.

That forced Hamlin toward the wall. Martin, who had been strong on the bottom all night, shot past on the inside.

Martin held off the field on a final restart to earn his series-high fourth win of the season and climb back into the top 12 in points. He is 11th in the season standings but is one point ahead of 12th-place Matt Kenseth and 11 points ahead of 13th-place Greg Biffle.

"I can't believe it,'' Martin shouted on the radio. "Tell me we won."

It didn't take long for a response. It came from car owner Rick Hendrick, the subject of a discussion between Martin and crew chief Alan Gustafson earlier in the race about what they could do for Hendrick's birthday. Hendrick turns 60 today.

"Happy birthday to me," Hendrick sang on the radio. "Happy birthday to me, Happy birthday to me."

Hendrick celebrated as his cars went first and second, with Jeff Gordon finishing behind Martin.

Kasey Kahne placed third with Tony Stewart rallying from a lugnut problem on pit road and then a flat tire, to finish fourth. Denny Hamlin was fifth.

Ryan Newman finished sixth with Brian Vickers, Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer and Juan Pablo Montoya completing the top 10.

Martin dominated the race until teammate Jimmie Johnson passed him on a restart 44 laps from the finish. About 10 laps later, Martin fell to third behind Johnson and Brian Vickers.

A caution for debris bunched the field again and gave Martin his chance.

Johnson got muscled out of the lead and Vickers led a lap as Hamlin challenged. With Vickers and Hamlin racing side-by-side a slight slip by Vickers' car gave Martin the opening he needed.

Until those final laps, this was an easy night for Martin, who led 195 of the 267 laps.

Early in the race, Martin was toying with the field.

"This baby feels so good on the bottom &ellipses; it's unbelievable," Martin radioed his team on lap 50.

Three laps later, Martin radioed his team: "You tell me if you want me to run faster."

"Just whatever is comfortable to you Mark," crew chief Alan Gustafson said. "We need to lead as many (laps) as we can but take care of it."

Said Martin: "Oh, this is easy bud. I'd like to know what you're thinking if you ever decide if you want me to put the hammer down, I'll pull on out."

When Johnson moved into second place and started to close, Martin did just that.

"I just wanted to show what I could do," Martin radioed.

Later, after pitting during a caution on lap 132 for debris, Martin and Gustafson continued their conversation about how well things were going.

"I'm sure having a good time," Martin said.

"Yeah, 10-4," Gustafson said.

Shortly after that, another voice came over the radio.

"Yeah, Alan and Mark, I'm kind of having a good time tonight, too," car owner Rick Hendrick said.

"That's good, boss," Martin said.

Others didn't have it as good.

Busch struggled with his handling and fell a lap down. He finished 33rd. Juan Pablo Montoya, who had climbed into the top 12 in points three weeks ago, also fought his car's handling, telling his crew early in the race: "Something is wrong with this freaking thing."

He recovered to score his fifth top-10 in the last six races.

Paul Menard was headed toward his first top-10 finish since Phoenix in April until contact with Dale Earnhardt Jr. caused Menard's left rear tire to go flat and put him into a spin.

Scott Speed got hit behind the incident and was turned into Jeff Burton's car.

Contact Dustin Long at 373-7062 or dustin.long@news-record.com