The 2005 Coca-Cola 600

Mark and the Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) Racing team were one of the favorites Mark at Lowes Speedway

or Mark and the Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) Racing Team, the 2005 Coca-Cola 600 simply provided more obstacles than they could overcome. Mark fought his way to the front of the pack on two different occasions, but in a race plagued by a NASCAR record 22 cautions, Mark could not manage to dodge enough bullets. The 21st waving of the yellow flag would see Mark’s chances of a strong finish come crashing down.

On lap 378 of the 400 lap event, the No. 25 car of Brian Vickers made contact with the No. 91 of Bill Elliot, causing a chain reaction that would see Vickers’ car fly back up the track and into Mark’s No. 6 Ford. Mark went high to escape the accident, but came up just short of clearing the carnage and was sandwiched between Vickers and the wall. The damage put an end to Mark’s chances of a fifth win at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. The team was able to make a few more laps and gain two positions, but Mark’s car eventually broke on lap 391 and the team retired to the garage, nine laps short of the finish.

“It was just that kind of night,” said Mark. “We ran up front early and then got behind and were forced to catch up. We got back up there, the caution caught us just off of pit road and put us in the back again. We were trying to get back up front again and we got caught up in a wreck, which isn’t surprising. When you have that many wrecks it’s pretty hard to dodge all of them.

“There were so many cautions that it really didn’t feel like we got to race much at all tonight. It was just a few laps and then a caution, a few more laps and then a caution. It was a tough night, but I’m proud of the way this Viagra® Team kept fighting. We’ll just have to put it behind us, move on and go try and win Dover again.”

The race was an up and down affair all night for Mark and the No. 6 Team, with Mark starting 13th and dropping back to 17th on the first lap with a ‘tight’ handling car. The car started to ‘come in’ around lap 35 and Mark would use the next 12 laps to move all the way to 11th place before green-flag pitting started on lap 57. The team came in for four tires and fuel. Several cars were on different cycles, but by the time everything had cycled through, Mark had moved into the top 10 by lap 71.

Mark was running ninth when the day’s third caution was called on lap 92. The team used the caution to come into the pits for four tires and fuel and Mark returned in ninth after a 13.62-second stop. Mark had moved up to eighth place by the time caution number five was called on lap 114. The team opted for two tires only and the move upped Mark to fourth place when the field went green on lap 121. By lap 231 Mark had moved to third, but he quickly dropped back to fifth where he was running when caution was again called on lap 140. The team came down pit road and delivered its best performance of the season, a 12.95-second stop that moved Mark back up to third when green-flag racing resumed on lap 146. Mark looked poised to take the lead after another quick caution, but he reported on the radio that it felt like he might have a tire going down on lap 161. Caution number eight came out just seconds later and the team was forced to come down pit road and change tires.

The unexpected stop halted Mark’s momentum, moved the No. 6 Team off its Mark at Lowes Speedway CC600 2005

pit cycle and dropped Mark to 20th position when green-flag racing resumed on lap 166. By lap 185 Mark had climbed back to 13th position and he had moved all the way up to 11th place when the ninth caution of the race was issued on lap 201. The team pitted for the sixth time of the race and Mark restarted in 15th place, as a few teams took two tires or stayed out. Mark pitted again after the race’s 12th caution on lap 226, taking two tires and fuel. The majority of the leaders stayed out and Mark once again dropped back to 23rd place for the restart.

Struggling in traffic, Mark would not break back into the top 20 until lap 260. He started to mount a run after pitting under the day’s 18th caution on lap 289. The team used a 14.67-second stop to put on four tires, take fuel and make a wedge adjustment. The quick work moved Mark up three spots to 13th when the field went green on lap 292. Mark had moved his white Viagra® Ford into 12th place by the time caution number 19 was issued on lap 306. The team stayed out and Mark restarted the race inside the top-10 with just 89 laps remaining.

The veteran driver had advanced all the way to sixth place and was one of the fastest cars on the track by the time the team came in for a green-flag stop on lap 353. The over-the-wall crew reeled off another solid stop, but the team caught its second dose of bad luck just moments later when caution was called for the 19th time. Several of the cars in the back of the field had yet to pit, putting Mark and the rest of the race’s leaders behind them. Mark would restart in 23rd place, on the tail end of the lead lap.

The day’s 20th caution just a few laps later would put Mark and the leaders back solidly on the lead lap, but set up a scenario where the race’s fastest cars were in the back of the field. The scenario was a ready made recipe for disaster, as the faster cars would have little time to make their way back to the front of the field. Just six laps after the race went green, Vickers, who had been one of the field’s fastest cars all race, made the contact with Elliot, causing a chain reaction that would effectively put an end to Mark’s night. The team managed to make 13 more laps and secure two more positions, before the car finally gave way for good on lap 391.

The finish dropped Mark to 12th in the Nextel Cup point standing, but only 18 points out of 10th place. The team returns to action next week at Dover International Speedway for the MBNA 400, where Mark won last June.