The 2005 Allstate 400

Mark and the Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) Racing team turned in one of their most solid performances of the season Retro Look to 1990 Thunderbird

with a seventh-place finish in Sunday's Allstate 400 at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The finish advanced Mark to sixth in the Nextel Cup point standings and put the veteran 149 points ahead of 10th with only four races remaining before the Chase cutoff. Running a special Retro-90 scheme, the team was strong all weekend, qualifying 10th on Saturday and running inside the field's top 10 for virtually the entire race in route to the team's 11th top-10 finish of the season.

"It was an awesome team effort by the Viagra Team," said Mark. "The guys are just giving me championship stuff right now. If we just keep honing on our deal here, we'll be championship contenders come the chase."

Mark started 10th based on the qualifying effort and was up to eighth by Allstate 400 2005 Finish

lap 23 when the first of 10 cautions on the day was issued on lap 23. A lightning fast stop of 13.75 sent Mark back out in sixth place when green flag racing resumed on lap 26. Mark was back in 10th when caution number two was called on lap 38 and the team again opted to come into the pits for four tires and fuel. Several cars took two tires only and Mark restarted in 17th place when green flag racing resumed.

The No. 6 got the track position back by taking two tires only after the fourth caution on lap 58 and Mark was back in sixth place when the field took the green again on lap 62. Mark pitted for the fifth time of the day on lap 93 and a 13.46-second stop to take on four tires and fuel put Mark out in 14th place when the field went green. Just two laps into the run Mark had moved up two positions to 12th and on lap 101 he broke back inside the top 10, where he would run the remainder of the race.

The Viagra® Team pitted for the sixth and final time of the day on lap 117, with Mark returning to the field in ninth place when green flag racing resumed on lap 120 with just 40 laps remaining. By lap 229 he was running in eighth place. He moved to sixth on lap 150 with only 10 laps to go, but was unable to hold on to the position and was forced to settle for the seventh-place finish. Indiana native Tony Stewart went on to win the race.

"We had a better car than that, but the problem was is we were set up for long runs in the beginning and it just killed us," said Mark. "So then we made the adjustments we could for short runs. We knew we'd be in good shape. We got it where it would take off and run short runs and, boy, we were looking good for all of those cautions that they always have at the end of the races, and then we got long runs.

"So we didn't get to show the potential of our car because we never had it right for the kind of racing conditions that we needed," added Mark. "The car was a little better than that, but it was still a very good day for us."

The team returns to action next week at Watkins Glen for the second and final road course race of the season. Mark boasts three wins and 15 top 10 finishes in just 17 races at Watkins Glen. Mark has now finished inside the top 15 in nine of the last 11 races, while posting top 10's three of the last four. Mark is currently 10 points out of fifth place and 69 out of fourth. He trails first place by 149 points.