The 2005 Batman Begins 400 at Michigan

Mark and the Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) Racing team opted to come into the pits and take four tires after the day’s fourth Matt and Mark With Batman

and final caution with 30 laps remaining in the Batman Begins 400 at Michigan International Raceway. Currently running in fifth, Mark dropped back to ninth as four of the top-six opted to stay out. The gamble would e ventually pay off, with Mark using the race’s final 30 laps to tear through the field’s top 10, before eventually powering his special themed “Batmobile” to a third-place finish.

“This was a great effort by Pat Tryson and the Viagra® team today,” said Mark. “The car was the very best it had been all day on that last run and the last adjustment just when you needed it. I couldn't be more pleased. It was another great day for the salute tour and my fans who have supported me all through the years. I just want to support them all.”

Mark found himself running in fifth place when caution was called on lap Matt and Mark With Batman

168 for the fourth and final time of the day after the No. 40 car went spinning into turn four. Mark and crew chief Pat Tryson opted to come down pit road and take on four fresh tires, as did race leader Tony Stewart. The remainder of the top six stayed out and Mark returned to the field in ninth place when green flag racing resumed on lap 173 with 27 laps to go. Initially Mark struggled on the restart, dropping back to 14th place before regrouping and mounting a march up the field.

Mark broke back inside the top 10 on lap 178. By lap 182 he had moved his Batman Begins/Pfizer Ford to eighth place. Five laps later he had powered his way back inside the top five. He overtook Roush teammates Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth with under five laps to go and was moving in on second place Stewart when the checkered flag fell on the 200-lap event. Mark was one of four Roush cars to finish the race in the field’s top-five.

“It was just a great run by the team today,” added Mark. “We had “Batman Begins” on the car today and maybe that is lucky for us here at Michigan. I just want to thank the people at Warner Bros., we had a great time with them all weekend. We had a chance to see the movie on Thursday and it’s a great movie and we just had a lot of fun. This is the second time we’ve ran a Batman car here and we’ve gotten a second and a third out of it.”

Running a special “Batman Begins” paint scheme, Mark started the day 15th, The Bat Mobile

based on Friday’s qualifying session. He fell back to as low as 17th before the car’s handling eventually fell into place and the veteran began to pick up positions on the track. By lap 13 he was back at 15th, before eventually breaking into the top 10 on lap 26. Mark was running third after the field started to green-flag pit on lap 39. The team caught its first break of the day when the race’s first caution fell on lap 41 just prior to Mark pitting. The team came down pit road the next lap and Mark restarted in second place when the field went green on lap 47. Three laps later Mark was able to overtake fellow Roush teammate Kurt Busch for first place, earning five bonus points. Caution was called on the next lap and Mark restarted in first on lap 59.

The car was not able to run with the race’s leaders and Mark eventually settled into fifth place by lap 69 where he ran for the next several laps. The No. 6 Ford had dropped to sixth, where it was running when the team came down pit road for its second pit stop of the day. A 13.90-second green flag stop helped Mark stay on pace with the leaders and the Batman Begins Ford was back in fifth place once the field had cycled through its stops on lap 99, just one lap shy of the halfway point.

Fast, but not quite fast enough, Mark radioed that the car simply was not as fast as the race leaders, but he consistently ran amongst the field’s top five. He was running in sixth when the team came down pit road under green for its third stop of the day on lap 133 to take four fresh tires and fuel. The team lost a little ground in the pits and Mark settled back into seventh once the field had cycled through. However, by lap 166 Mark had again moved back inside the top five where he was running when the caution was called on lap 168, setting up the team’s strategy to take four and move to the front. Roush driver Greg Biffle went on to win the race.

The finish was the team’s third straight top-10 and its second top-three in the last three races. The strong run solidified Mark’s fifth place standing in the Nextel Cup Chase for the top 10. He is currently only 10 points out of fourth and 19 points behind third. After 15 races Mark is 269 points out of first.

The team returns to action next week at Infineon Raceway for the season’s first road course race of the year. Mark has finished inside the top 10 in 81 percent of his races at Infineon.