The 2006 Bass Pro Shops 500

For the third consecutive week Mark and the AAA Race Team found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time and Mark & Matt Atlanta October 2006

they could do little more than watch as yet another top-10 finish went up in smoke around them. Running inside the top 10 with only 16 laps to go, Mark had nowhere to go when a group of lapped cars got together in front of him. In an effort to dodge the happenings in front of them, the No. 14 car of Sterling Marlin came up the track, forcing Mark into the outside wall. The wreck caused severe damage to the No. 6 Ford Fusion and Mark was unable to continue in the race, forcing the team to retire to the garage with a 36th- place finish.

"I don't know what happened,” said Mark outside the infield care center. “I haven't seen it yet, but the 14 car just veered up in front of me, so I don't know. I'm just happy that we're running good. I'm proud of the AAA team and I want to thank all the fans for cheering so loud. We're fighting and scrapping for it. We've got three more races and we'll keep doing what we're doing."

Mark battled for much of the day with the car’s handling, but he was able to run in and around the top 10 for the entire race, until getting caught up in the accident. The car’s handling was ‘loose’ early and for most of the race, before getting ‘too tight’ as the sun dropped over the speedway around lap 250. Mark struggled on restarts, but exhibited one of, if not the, fastest cars on the track over the long run.

The veteran had restarted in ninth position and stood to gain position, when the field went green after the day’s eighth caution on lap 304. However, seconds later Mark would see his race come to a premature ending, as he was knocked into the outside wall just after the restart on lap 309.

The finish marked the third time in as many weeks that Mark saw a solid run halted by damage from an accident. Three weeks ago at Charlotte, Mark saw a top-five run come to an end after he crashed into the wall after getting hit by the No. 18 car. Last weekend, Mark’s No. 6 Ford sustained damage to the radiator after cars checked up in front of him on a restart. With three races remaining in the ‘Chase’ Mark is now in eighth position, 201 points out of first.

The team returns to action this weekend at Texas, where Mark finished ninth in the spring. He has one win, four top fives and six top-10 finishes in 11 starts at the TMS. He finished second there last year in the inaugural Fall Cup race there.