Mark wrote the record book on Busch racing at
Lowe’s Motor Speedway, including a record six career wins, but his return
to Busch racing at the track went anything but smoothly on Saturday night.
Mark ran over a spring after Tony Stewart crashed into the wall on just the
10th lap of the race, causing severe damage to the front end of Mark’s car.
The team was able to repair the car under caution and it appeared they would
stay on the lead lap, until Mark had a tire go down on the left rear just
before the field was about to go green on lap 22. Mark had to come into the
pits and change the tire, resulting in Mark going a lap down. That,
combined with a severe problem with the car’s steering and mechanical failure
with just 12 laps to go, resulted in a long night for Mark and his No. 6
Ameriqest Racing Team.
“This was a pretty tough night for the team,” said Mark. “We had a really
good car and were able to qualify the Ameriquest Ford up front, but we ran
over a spring or something after the 33 car hit the wall and we had a flat
under caution and went a lap down. Still everyone hung in there and we tried
to fight it out to the end, but we had a problem there late and finally
had to retire. I do think we were able to try a lot of stuff and it makes
me feel better about our setup for the Cup car in the 600 tomorrow night.”
Mark will return to Busch action in July at Chicago. He will return to
action in the Craftsman Truck Series next week at Dover. On the season Mark
has two top-five finishes in four starts in the Busch series.
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