CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – Three things were evident when the dust settled at Martinsville Speedway: Jamie McMurray is capable of rising to the occasion; there’s been a shift in power among NASCAR’s elite teams; and owner Jack Roush really, really dislikes Toyota.

First up was McMurray, who went into Martinsville under more scrutiny than any other driver.

Knocked out of the top 35 and not ensured a spot in Sunday’s field, McMurray had to qualify on speed to make the race.

Typically, that might not have been an issue for McMurray, who is pretty decent at Martinsville. However, the pressure was intense – an errant move, blown tire or broken part would have sent a Roush Fenway Racing car home for the first time since Greg Biffle missed Las Vegas in 2003.

Sitting out on Sunday would have been disastrous for McMurray, and forced him to climb from a deep hole to salvage his season. Instead, he left nothing to chance with a flawless qualifying run that earned him the fifth starting spot.

“It was really a hard two weeks, and I told my girlfriend … “I wish we could just go right now and qualify, and get it out of the way,”‘ he said after qualifying. “I went out and played with my go-kart and did everything I could not to think about it.”

Admitting he was as excited about Sunday’s race as he had been in a very long time, he backed it up by running with the leaders from start to finish and driving one of his smartest races in recent memory. The effort was rewarded with his best finish since Dover of last September, a span of 14 races.

Rocket man

McMurray’s season-best eighth place finish rocketed him six spots in the standings, to 30th, and locks him into this weekend’s race at Texas. The hard part, for now, is over. If McMurray can string together a batch of strong runs like Sunday’s, he’ll quickly lift himself off the hot seat.

Buoyed by the decent weekend and his ardently loyal fans, McMurray is not ruling out making a run at the Chase.

“I learned a lot about myself and fans. Having the weeks that I had … to support a guy that doesn’t win very often, that’s a really loyal fan and that kind of makes you feel good,” he said after the race. “I don’t think that the Chase is out of the question.”

Making the Chase will be difficult for McMurray, and even if he gets there, it’s looking like he and his Roush teammates will be chasing a new set of leaders.

Gibbs racing rolls

Through six races this season, Hendrick Motorsports has, at least temporarily, given up its spot as the industry leader.

That title now belongs to either Joe Gibbs Racing or Richard Childress Racing, as both teams have shown early dominance. With three wins between them – and a handful of missed opportunities in the other three races – the teams rank all six of their drivers inside the top 12.

Currently, the edge goes to RCR, which has Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick holding down the top two spots in the standings. Kyle Busch is the highest-ranked Gibbs driver at fifth, but a broken gear in Martinsville dropped him there after three weeks as the Cup Series points leader.

The two teams have a combined 21 top-10 finishes, and have shown early that Hendrick is now chasing them.

At this point last season, Hendrick had four victories. This year, the team is winless.

And Martinsville is where many expected them to have their first Victory Lane celebration. Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson had owned the track of late, and again, ran up front most of the race.

But with the win on the line, Gibbs driver Denny Hamlin broke through with his first victory of the year and the second for Toyota.

Roush and roll

Watching a Camry drive into Victory Lane had to infuriate Roush, who continued to voice his displeasure with the automaker and its teams during the three-day Martinsville weekend.

This time the issue surrounds a stolen swaybar, which Michael Waltrip has admitted his team inadvertently grabbed following the Dover race last fall. But Roush leveled charges of “intellectual espionage” and said he had considered taking legal action against the team.

Most of the garage found this latest drama wildly entertaining, with Gordon mockingly suggesting the FBI should be brought in to investigate. But it again pulled Toyota Racing Development back into the ring with an opponent it has been sparring since before it entered NASCAR.

Roush has been fervent in his stance that only American automakers should be permitted to compete in NASCAR, and even though Toyota has been doing business in the U.S. for 50 years and has 150,000 employees here, he still resents the inclusion of a Japanese automaker. Roush even referenced Pearl Harbor several years ago when discussing Toyota’s arrival in NASCAR.

After years of public silence, Toyota is finally pushing back a bit, both on and off the track.

High-ranking TRD official Lee White got things rolling when he intimated the Roush team intentionally cheated during Carl Edwards’ win in Las Vegas. White, by the way, is a former Roush employee and the two didn’t exactly part best of friends.

Naturally, Roush went ballistic when he learned of White’s accusations, and responded with several new rants that voiced his Toyota displeasure. During one of those talks he let it let slip that a Toyota team had stolen a Roush part and maybe even tried to glean trade secrets during the time it was in its possession.

Waltrip copped to the caper, but insisted the swaybar accidentally landed in his possession. TRD said it knew nothing of the thievery, and backed out of the dispute by referring all questions to the parties involved.

TRD isn’t totally off the hook.

While investigating the Waltrip incident, it found it also had a Roush part in its possession following the race at California but said they it was promptly returned upon discovery. That was likely little consolation to Roush, who is proving Toyota is his No. 1 nemesis and can’t stand to watch the automaker’s sudden success with the shining stars at Joe Gibbs Racing.

This feud won’t likely end anytime soon, not with Gibbs cars running out front and not with Toyota battling for wins against Roush’s Fords.

Still, it’s just one of the many problems Roush will have this season. But, hey, at least McMurray is no longer one of them.

AP-ES-03-31-08 1717EDT