The 2006 AMD At The Glen

Mark and the No. 6 AAA race team went into Sunday’s race at Watkins Glen watkins glen 2006

knowing they faced an uphill battle. Mark qualified 20th on Friday, but lost his engine during Saturday’s Happy Hour session and was forced to start at the back of the season’s second and final road course race. In addition, the team lost valuable practice time on Saturday as they continued to struggle with the car’s setup and handling. All those factors would combine for a tough day of racing at Watkins Glen International, but in the end the team was able to fight to a 20th place finish and pick up valuable points in the race for the Chase.

“We didn’t have a whole lot to work with, but the team really hung in there and fought hard today,” said Mark after the race. “We just weren’t fast enough, but we did everything we could and used pit road strategy to get the best finish we could. In the end, it obviously wasn’t the finish that we came in here looking for, but we were able to survive and finish with a good points day.”

Mark started 40th and moved up inside the top 30 by the ninth lap of the race. He was running 27th when the majority of the field started to pit on lap 27. The team stayed out until lap 23 before pitting under green for four tires and fuel. Mark had climbed to 24th by lap 43 of the race when the day’s fifth caution was called. The team used the caution to again come down pit road for four tires and fuel. Mark had moved inside the top 20 when caution number six was issued on lap 54. This time the team came down pit road for fuel only and returned in 17th position when the field went green on lap 56.

Eventually Mark began to struggle with the cars behind him on fresher tires, falling all the way back to 28th by lap 78, just moments before the final caution of the day was issued. This time the team opted to come down pit road for four fresh tires. The move would pay off, with Mark returning in 29th position and picking up seven positions in the race’s final five laps.

Mark remains in sixth position in the Nextel Cup point standings, but the finish moved Mark to 143 points ahead of 11th position, with only four races remaining before the 26-race cut off for the Nextel Cup Chase.

The team will return to action next weekend at Michigan International Speedway, where Mark has earned four wins, 15 top-five finishes and 26 top 10’s in 40 starts.