The 2004 Daytona 500

"Well it sure wasn’t the finish we were looking for,” said Mark just moments after climbing out of his No. 6 Mark blows up on lap 7 at Daytona

Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) Ford Taurus after running only seven laps in the 46th running of the Daytona 500. “I’m disappointed, but I’m not going to say that all is lost. The Viagra® Team did an outstanding job and we had a pretty strong Speedweeks leading up to today. We were going to be really fast today. It felt like those other cars were just in our way there at the first of the race.”

“Somehow or another I feel cheated,” added Martin. “We had a car that I believed all week could contend - one of the few times in my 20 times down here - and I didn't even get a chance. I feel bad for my team. They worked for this so hard and they deserved to have a chance."

“We had more power than we’ve ever had and the car was great all week. We’ve made a lot of gains and we’ll take that and move forward. I know that the finish right now won’t show it, but we are just going to keep moving forward. We’ll fight our way back from this and we’ll do it starting next week at Rockingham. Right now that’s what we have to worry about. We’ll take it one race at a time and we are going to keep moving in the right direction.”

“I’m very pleased with this team and I’m extremely happy with the effort we have made. The Twin 125 on Thursday was probably the most fun that I’ve ever had at Daytona and I’ve been coming here for a long time. I’m just sorry that it could not carry over into today’s finish, but we aren’t looking back because there is too much to look forward to.”

The day started off with a much-anticipated visit by President George Bush. Unfortunately for the No. 6 team the pre-race festivities would prove to be the highlight of the day. Martin started the race in eighth place, his fifth best starting position in 20 races at Daytona and his best since 1997, based on his strong finish in Thursday’s Twin-125. However, Martin’s day would come to an end just seven laps into the race.

"It went pretty fast. It started to go and then I had cars behind me and Mark on the track at Daytona

I couldn't just stop or get down because I was on the outside. I was stuck, so before I could get the engine to stop turning it was making all kinds of smoke and I couldn't see a thing."

“The spotter (Eddie Pardue) kept telling me to stay up, but I didn't know what up was. I thought I was going to hit the wall any minute. It's like having a blindfold on. I don't really know what happened. We broke something in the engine. I just feel bad for this Viagra team.”

“Still, we were stronger here this week then we’ve ever been. We just have to keep moving forward. We’ll come back. It’s a long season and we aren’t about to give up. We’re going on to Rockingham next week with every intention of winning that race.”

The team returns to action next Sunday at North Carolina Speedway, traditionally one of Mark’s strongest tracks on the circuit.