in the end, it was just sad. Sad for everyone but Ginn Racing."Our hearts are broke. Who would have ever thought?" Mark said after announcing that he would leave Roush Racing and end his career with the team formerly known as MB2 Motorsports.
Mark will run a limited Cup schedule in Ginn's No. 01 Chevrolet next season, while also running select Busch Series and, possibly, Craftsman Truck Series races with different organizations. That he would make such a move after 19 years with team owner Jack Roush and Ford stunned the racing community.
Mark had originally planned to retire after the 2005 season, but Roush talked him into returning for one more season. The new plan after 2006 was for him to retire from full-time Cup competition and run the full truck series schedule for Roush next year.
But Roush couldn't put together a truck series program that suited Mark. And, somewhere along the way, Mark decided he still wanted to run a limited Cup schedule, something Roush could not provide due to prior commitments and NASCAR's new team cap rule.
As a result, Mark had to look elsewhere. He found the part-time schedule he was looking for at Ginn Racing, where he will share a ride with and mentor young driver Regan Smith.
"I feel like that, at this point in time, I need to do whatever I want to and not be tied to any one thing right now," Mark said.
As a result, he bid a sad and surprising farewell to Roush Racing at the end of the season.
