The 2006 Coca-Cola 600

Sound strategy, patience, complete focus and a fast race car were the ingredients used by Mark and the No. 6 AAA Race Mark at Lowes Speedway 2006

team for Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600. The result was a rock solid fourth-place finish in the longest race of the NASCAR Nextel Cup season. Mark joined all five of his Roush Racing teammates inside the top-10 and his second top-five finish of the season moved him up one spot to third in the Nextel Cup point standings. Mark passed Roush teammate Matt Kenseth in a daring pass on the final lap of the 400-lap race for the fourth position after moving into the top five for the remainder of the race on lap 367.

“It was a good, solid run by the AAA Fusion,” said Mark. “The team was the best we’ve been on pit road all year. I think we can take this and build on it going down the road. If we can take this and put her in the chase and keep getting better as we go, then we’ll have a solid shot at going for this championship.”

“We were off at the beginning and off at the two-third mark, and then we got a lot better again late. It’s a 600-mile race and we didn’t forget it. Pat Tryson and the team did a great job with the car and the strategy. The pit stops were just awesome tonight and the strategy was great. It was a good solid effort by the team and we’ll take this and build on it going into Dover next week.”

Mark started the race 21st after an early draw limited his qualifying effort on Thursday afternoon. Working with a new surface and a new tire, Mark struggled with a loose car early on, dropping back to 29th place by lap 11. Mark reported that the car’s handling had come around by lap 17, and Mark began to move back through the field. By lap 32 when the race’s first caution was issued after Tony Stewart blew a tire and crashed into the wall, Mark was back up to 23rd position. The team came down pit road for four tires and fuel and returned in 19th position after a stop of 14.083-seconds.

Mark had dropped back to 21st position when the No. 12 car spun out causing caution number two and the team came into the pits four fuel only and a chassis adjustment. The move took Mark up to 17th position when the field returned to green on lap 52. With strategy at a premium, the team took four tires under caution on lap 67 and two tires under caution on lap 92. The two tire strategy on the fourth stop moved Mark to third position when the field went green on lap 96. By this time Mark radioed the team that the car ‘would be great.’ Mark moved to second on lap 99 and briefly took the lead on lap 110, before settling back into second place where he was running when caution was called for the fifth time on lap 112. The team once again opted for fuel only and a quick chassis adjustment resumed the lead out of the pits on lap 113.

Mark would hold the lead until coming down pit road after caution number six on lap 130. This time the team took four tires and fuel in a fast stop of 13.5-seconds. As other teams were on different cycles, Mark went back out in 13th position as green flag racing resumed on lap 134. Mark moved back to 11th place before the car’s handling tightened up. Carl Edwards spun out soon after causing the yellow flag to be waved for the seventh-time of the evening. This time the team again took fuel only and loosened up the car’s handling with a wedge adjustment. The strategy again paid off, and Mark restarted in fourth position when the field went green on lap 145.

Mark was able to maintain his top-five position. The team opted for two tires under caution on lap 160, and Mark moved up to second when the field went green on lap 162. The car’s reaction to the two fresh tires was to become loose, as Mark had a difficult time ‘holding on’, dropping back to fifth by lap 181 before the handling began to ‘come around.’ Mark passed teammate Greg Biffle for fourth on lap 187 and Kenseth for third on lap 197. However the team ran into a stroke of bad luck when they came into pit under green on lap 198, just seconds before caution was issued. Mark was able to keep going down pit road and maintain position on the lead lap, but he would drop back to 12th, before coming into the pits on lap 203.

The No. 6 AAA Ford Fusion was still running in 12th position when caution Mark at Lowes Speedway 2006

number 10 was called on lap 234. This time the team again went with a two-tire strategy, taking right sides. Mark moved back up to fourth place when green flag racing resumed. The car again reacted ‘loose’ to the two fresh tires and Mark fell back to as far a seventh position. He was running in sixth when the team came in for a green-flag stop on lap 289 and he held onto sixth by the time the field had cycled through its stops. With the car a ‘touch tight’, Mark was running in seventh when the team came into pit under caution on lap 305 to again take fuel only. He returned in third when the field went green on lap 309. The team took fuel only again under caution on lap 317, regaining the lead out of the pits. The Ford Fusion was tight on the older tires and Mark eventually settled back into fourth place on lap 322. The handling got even tighter, as Mark fell back to sixth on lap 341, where he was running when the team came in for its last stop under green on lap 360.

Caution was called for the 14th and final time of the race two laps later on lap 362, and Mark stayed out and moved up to fifth place when green flag racing resumed for the final time with 33 laps remaining. Mark spent the remainder of the race closing in on Kenseth’s No. 17 Ford Fusion, finally over taking his teammate with a bold high-pass on the final lap that saw Mark use every bit of his driving ability to hang onto the car and the top-five finish.

The start on Sunday was Mark’s 650th career Cup start, and the finish was his 229th career top-five. It was Mark’s seventh top-10 of the season and his 11th top-15 in 12 starts. It also marked his 17th top-five finish at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Mark is now 209 points behind first place and 100 points out of second, as the team moved into Dover International Speedway where he has four wins, 19 top-fives and 24 top-10’s. Mark has scored four straight top-five finishes at Dover, including a win in the spring race in 2004.