Despite a Saturday morning practice mishap with Robby Gordon,
Mark is looking to regain momentum in the NASCAR
Winston Cup Series championship race in Sunday's Save
Mart/Kragen 350 at Sears Point Raceway. Mark hit Gordon
from behind during the final stages of practice and suffered
minor damage to the nose of his car."We'll fix it back and it'll be fine," Mark said. "I just ran in the back of him. I was running not to far behind him and he abruptly got on the brakes and I couldn't do it quick enough."
Sears Point may provide the road to recovery for Mark. He's been on a downhill slide since his last win at Marksville Speedway, but things look to be turning around after finishing seventh overall in Friday's Bud Pole Qualifying.
"My car was a little loose," Mark said. "Jimmy (Fennig, crew chief) was right, we back tracked on some of our set-up stuff there toward the end of practice we had slowed the car down. We got some of the speed back. If it would have been where I could have really hammered it and drove the fool out of it, we could have run a little faster. It was a situation where it was a pretty quick lap but there was more in the car that I couldn't get for slipping off the track."
Last week at Pocono Raceway, Mark notched his first top-5 since winning the Goody's Body Pain 500 at Marksville. This Sunday's race will be another excellent opportunity for Mark to advance in the points race. He has finished no lower than sixth in the last five series events at the Sonoma, Calif., road course,, highlighted by a victory in 1997.
Most drivers agree track position is extremely important when competing on a road course. The many tricky twists and turns make even a slower car difficult to pass. Therefore, the closer a driver can start to the front of the pack the better.
"Track position is definitely key to winning here," Mark said. "The braking, shifting and and many turns don't leave many places to pass somebody. Restarts can help when coming out of the pits. You want to be up front though because it's tough to get there."
Now, if Mark can notch his second top-5 finish in two weeks this Sunday, he will be well on his way down the comeback trail.
