The 2006 Crown Royal 400

Mark and the No. 6 AAA Racing Team were able to survive an untimely caution early and a late miscommunication on Mark At Richmond

pit road to run to their ninth top-15 finish in 10 races this season. The 11 th-place finish might not have been indicative to the type of car Mark had for the 400-mile event, but it was good enough to move Mark up one spot to fourth in the Nextel Cup points race. Mark, who qualified second and led early, gained eight points on leader Jimmie Johnson and 86 points on third-place Matt Kenseth.

“It was a tough night,” said Mark. “We ended up with a solid finish, but we had a car that was good enough to win this race, so it’s really hard to be in a real good mood about tonight. I guess when the smoke clears and the dust settles, we ended up with a good points night and we almost got a top-10 out of it. It would have been nice to contend for the win – like I think we could have – but we’ll take this and move forward to Darlington.”

Mark started the race second based on Friday night’s strong qualifying effort. He led lap two, before settling back into second for the next 20 laps. Mark continued to run in the field’s top three for the next 46 laps until caution was called on lap 66 bringing the race leaders down pit road for four tires and adjustments. Mark lost two positions in a heated battle on pit road, restarting in fifth when the field returned to green.

Mark had driven all the way back to third, before coming into the pits under green on lap 185. In a stroke of bad luck, teammate Carl Edwards spun out attempting to enter pit road behind Mark. The spin brought out the caution just as Mark had entered the pits. The veteran was able to wisely drive on through the pits and stay on the lead lap, but he lost position back to 14th as the field returned to green on lap 191.

Mark began patiently working his way back through the field. By lap 251 Mark had maneuvered his No. 6 AAA Ford Fusion back inside the field’s top 10. He moved into ninth place on lap 315, where he was running when caution was issued after Robbie Gordon cut a tire and spun into the turn one wall on lap 346. In a crucial error of miscommunication, Mark – along with Jeff Burton – entered pit road while the pits were closed. The result was that Mark had to go to the tail end of the longest line, in 15th position, when green-flag racing resumed on lap 352 with only 48 laps to go. Mark was able to battle back to 11th position, fighting for 10th down to the final lap of the race.

The team returns to action next weekend at Darlington International Raceway, where Mark has one win, 16 top-fives and 24 top-10 finishes in 39 starts at the historic 1.366-mile track.