The 2004 Carolina Dodge Dealers 400

Darlington Raceway has been long noted as the track ‘too tough to tame,’ but Sunday belonged to the No. 6 Viagra pit Mark and the 6

crew, as the over-the-wall crew gained the team a net of 17 positions en route to a 7th-place finish in the Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 at Darlington Raceway. The finish was Mark’s second top-10 in the past three races and helped move Mark to 12th place in the Nextel Cup point standings - capping off a 31-place climb in the past four races.

Mark qualified 20th on Friday, partly due to an early draw that saw track temperatures cool down considerably during the session. However, the team continued to work with the car and by happy hour on Saturday, Mark was the fastest car on the track. Still, the car was never quite right during Sunday’s race, but the considerable effort turned in by the No. 6 over-the-wall team over-shadowed any imperfection in the car’s setup.

The team posted five stops under 14-seconds on Sunday and helped gain the No. 6 Viagra® Ford 25 positions over the course of Sunday’s race. The team’s next to the last stop on lap 233, (13.67-seconds), put Mark up to fourth – his highest position of the day.

"I've got the best race team in the business right now,” said Mark after the race. “We've just got to get our cars a little bit faster and we'll do that. I love Pat Tryson and my guys. I want to keep them charged up and keep them together. We're fighting right now, so I'm real proud of that finish.

“We struggled at times today with the car, but the guys made up for that with an awesome effort in the pits,” added Mark. “We have a great team and a great bunch of guys and I couldn’t be more excited. We weren't as good with the race car as we hoped, but I'm really proud of Pat Tryson and the Viagra® team.”

The car started the day loose and Mark had fallen back to 21st place when the day’s first caution was called on lap eight. The Viagra® Team went to work taking four tires and fuel in a 13.54-second stop that moved Mark back inside the top 20 to 17th place.

The car had become ‘really loose’ by lap 27 when the day’s second caution was issued. The team came into the pits to take on four tires, fuel and make a massive wedge adjustment in hopes of tightening the car’s handling. Another lightning fast stop of 13.26-seconds gained Mark five positions on the track and moved the Viagra® Ford into the top 10 for the first time of the day.

The team’s only miscue came on their third stop of the day under caution on lap 56. With the car ‘pushing’ Mark had dropped back to 15th place when the team came in for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. A problem with the right-rear tire resulted in the team’s slowest stop of the day and Mark lost eight positions back to 23rd when the field returned to green on lap 59.

Not to be slowed, Mark went to work moving his way back inside the top 20 by lap 75. Running 17th on lap 116, crew chief Pat Tryson made the decision to short pit, gambling that Mark would be able to gain on the field with fresh tires. Once again the team came through with a 13.88-second stop. In the end the move proved brilliant and Mark had advance all the way to ninth place when the remainder of the field had cycled through their stops.

The team reeled off a pair of solid stops under caution on laps 146 and 165 (14.27 and 14.06 seconds) that moved Mark inside the top five for the first time of the day when the field sent green on lap 169. However, the car’s handling once again became too loose and Mark dropped back to eighth place when caution was called for the seventh time on lap 230. That’s when the team’s 13.67 stop on lap 233 moved Mark into fourth place as the field went green on lap 238.

Again, Mark struggled on the start and dropped back to eighth place when caution was called for the eighth and final time on lap 274. The team would have to come into the pits one final time to secure the solid finish. Once again the ‘blue crew’ came through with a 13.91-second stop that moved Mark into seventh place when the field went green with a single-file restart with only four laps remaining. Mark was able to hold off all charges from behind to seal up the seventh-place finish, his 22nd top-10 finish in 37 races at Darlington.

“We'll keep working on it and try to get faster,” said Mark. "We wrestled the chassis setup today. We weren't really right. We got the car pretty good, but it just never was quite right. But it was a top 10 car and we stayed there once we got there."

"I'm happy with the finish,” added Mark. “This is the best team - in my opinion - in the business right now and I'm really lucky to have these guys. We've got to get our cars going a little bit faster, but we've got the team. I love these guys and I love working with them. I'm proud to run seventh here today and we’ll go to Bristol and try to improve on it.”

Mark moved up five places to 12th in the Nextel Cup Point standings, just 53 points outside of the top 10 and only 160 points behind the leader. Jimmie Johnson went on to win the race, as Mark joined four other Roush cars in the field’s top 12.

The team will return to action next week at Bristol as the Nextel Cup Series goes short track racing for the first time of the season.