The MBNA/Cal Ripken Jr. 400

Mark and the Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) team had another tough Mark and Litte E

weekend at Dover, but the team never gave up and worked to gain positions until the final lap of the race.

Mark was the last car to qualify on Friday and as the track heated up, the car was very loose when he took his two laps. The team was forced to take a provisional and start the race in 38th place. Mark was pleased with the car during practice on Saturday, and the team was ready to fight their way up to the front.

Once the race started, Mark did just that. Despite a tight condition, he worked his way forward and was 26th when the second caution came out on lap 56. Mark pitted for track bar and air pressure adjustments and returned to the track in 26th place. He continued to improve his track position and was up to 24th by lap 100. The car was still too tight, so the crew made more air pressure adjustments and took wedge out of the car under caution on lap 117. A strong pit stop helped Mark gain three positions in the pits and return to the race in 19th place.

He was still in 19th place when several cars began to spin on the frontstretch on lap 128. Mark was able to slow down, but some of the cars behind him could not. He was hit from behind, which sent him into the cars ahead of him. The team took the car behind the wall to repair the oil cooler and radiator. The crew worked feverishly to repair the car and return to the race.

Mark did return to the race on lap 213 in 39th place and 82 laps down. The team never gave up and while he continued to make laps, he was able to move ahead of some of the drivers who had fallen out of the race. With 100 laps to go, Mark was in 35th place and his laps times were comparable with the eighth place car.

The car was still too tight and did not turn well enough, but Mark kept going and was able to gain seven positions from the time he returned to the race to finish in 32nd place, 86 laps down from the leader. Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the race.

"We had another tough day, but I am very proud of this team," Mark said. "They did a great job of repairing the car so we could get back out there. Those seven positions were worth 21 points, which may not seem like much now, but you never know when they will make a big difference at the end of the season. Our car was decent and I really wish we could have avoided that accident and maybe we would have had a shot at another top-10 finish."

Next weekend the Winston Cup Series makes their inaugural trip to Kansas Speedway.