last season as a full-time competitor in NASCAR Nextel Cup racing, but his
fierce loyalty to his team and his car owner might prevent that from
happening.Car owner Jack Roush signed Jamie McMurray earlier this year to drive his No. 6 Ford, replacing Mark as he entered semiretirement. But McMurray is contractually bound through 2006 to Chip Ganassi, his current car owner. Ganassi has indicated he will not release McMurray from his contract, prompting Roush to ask Mark for one more year of service.
Mark reluctantly agreed. But, he said, his mind-set likely will be different for that year. "I’ve only found energy and the passion and everything that it takes for 2005," he said. "I knew that was going to be it. There’s nothing that could possibly motivate me to find more for 2006."
On Friday and Saturday, Mark was at Batesville Speedway for the final two nights of The $100 Grand, the world’s richest dirt modified race that was completed late Saturday night.
Mark watched the racing from a suite overlooking the track with great interest, asking questions about certain drivers and commenting to his wife, Arlene, on changing track conditions and strategies. He cackled on several occasions as drivers nudged each other and cheered other times for daring passes on the track.
Mark began his racing career as a 12-year-old at the same site, when the track was smaller and was called Independence County Speedway. "It’s been 30 years, so nothing is really the same, just that there’s dirt on the track," he said. "I’m a fan first. So nothing changes that. It doesn’t matter what I’ve done, there’s nothing that can change that fact."
During a break in the action, Mark talked about next season and his career beyond it. "I’ve had all kinds of promises if I’d [return next season]," he said. "[Cutting back] testing or personal appearances and everything else. I’ve had a lot of sales pitches put on me."
Mark remains hopeful that Ganassi and Roush can reach a compromise through negotiations. If they can’t, he will return. "It’s the best thing for Roush Racing and for the team that has given me everything that they can give," Mark said. "I feel an enormous amount of loyalty. The 6 car brand in Cup racing means something, and it means something because of the success that I had in that car with Jack Roush standing next to me. They want me to drive it if Jamie doesn’t, and I will."
Mark announced after the 2004 season that this would be his final year in Nextel Cup racing. Earlier this year, he said he would race for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series title in 2006. The truck team remains his chief priority. "My focus is still getting my truck team together and getting those things situated," he said. "That’s what I can count on and what I plan to be doing. I will race the truck some even I do the Cup car.
" I want to get it established and I need to have it in place, because I don’t know when the switch gets flipped either way on the Cup thing. If Jamie comes available prior to the Daytona 500, then I’m out of the way. "
Racing with the truck series should be less demanding, physically and mentally, than Nextel Cup. The truck series schedule is 25 races, compared with 36 and two all-star events for Nextel Cup. The truck races are about half as long as the Cup events, and there is generally considerably less testing for the truck teams.
But Mark is not slinking away from his Cup career. He won the Nextel All-Star Challenge at Charlotte, N. C., in May. He is seventh in series points and is in line to qualify for the Chase for the Nextel Cup for the second consecutive year.
But he said the constant grind of the series is draining.
" It’s really, really, really hard, "Mark said of a Cup career." No one can comprehend how hard it is. If it was just driving, it would be easy. In order to have a car and a team that can contend, the driver has to participate in all kinds of things. "It’s a tough business. If you sit down once and rest, you’re buried."
Moving to the truck series would seem likely to add at least a few years to Mark’s career, although he would not speculate how long he planned to continue racing. "I’m going to do it if I love it. If I don’t, I won’t," he said. "I don’t put any timetable on it. I love to race. [It is] too much of a good thing, certainly, for a guy who is 46 years old."
Mark has raced with Roush in Cup competition since 1988. They have combined for 34 victories in the series and have finished second in series points four times.
But finding the energy and desire needed to be competitive at the top level of the sport is not something Mark wants or is even considering. "I don’t want to keep working as hard as I’ve had to work for the past 10 years, especially the past five," he said. "I’ve had to work harder and harder and harder every year. I have to step it up every year.
"But I’m not going to work as hard at it in 2006, if I have to do it. I’m telling myself I’m not. I don’t want to. "
