The 2006 Dickies 500

The struggles and horrendous luck continued for Mark and the No. 6 Mark in Texas November 2006

AAA team at Texas Motor Speedway. Mark was caught up in an accident late in Saturday’s final practice session, after Tony Raines lost control of his car. Raines’ car came sliding down the track, giving Mark no where to go before colliding with the car. The accident caused significant damage to the No. 6 AAA Ford Fusion – which was running 10th in the practice session – and Mark and crew chief Pat Tryson were forced to start Sunday’s race with a backup car and no practice. In addition to starting the race with a car that had no practice, going to the backup also forced Mark to give up his 28th-place starting spot and start Sunday’s race at the back of the 43-car field. The team would face an uphill battle for the entire race, but they would be able to forge on to a 22nd-place finish.

"We were behind from the start,” said Mark. “The guys worked really hard on the car and we finished better than I thought we would. We got damage in the race and that didn't help us any either, but we did manage to run the whole race and we didn't crash out. I give the guys an A+ for this weekend."

Mark started at the rear of the field, but used the race’s first 12 laps to advance to 34th position. The car handled poorly for the entire race and the team used several cautions to make a variety of wholesale changes to the No. 6 AAA Ford Fusion, including adding several spring rubbers, lowering the track bar and even changing the springs in the rear of the car during one long caution period. Mark was caught up in an accident on lap 173, completely spinning around in the infield after making contact with the No. 14 car, but the team was able to survive and continue to pick up position’s throughout the race. In the end when the dust settled, Mark found himself just outside the top 20.

“The guys really fought hard,” said Mark. “We were behind the eight ball from the beginning, but everyone dug in and we did the best we could do. Things don’t always go your way, but we kept fighting and I am truly proud of the AAA team’s effort today.”

The weekend marked the fourth straight week where Mark and the No. 6 AAA team have been caught up in a storm of bad luck. Mark has now left two of the last three tracks with severely damaged race cars, after getting caught up in accidents through no fault of his own.

“We never got any laps with that car and it was off pretty bad,” added Mark. “They got it closer and we got tore up a little bit, but we finished 22nd. We just haven’t had a lot of luck in the last few weeks, but all we can keep doing is going forward.”

Mark and the team fought throughout the race attempting to alter the integrity of an extremely loose race car, He went a lap down for the first time of the day just before the race’s second caution on lap 89, but he was able to claim the free pass and move back on the lead lap. Mark continued to fight, breaking into the top 30 on lap 179 and moving to as high as 22nd on lap 199. Still, the car was too loose for Mark to contend with the heavy traffic around him. He survived several late cautions, and was able to bring the car home in one piece in the end.
Mark and the team will return to action next weekend at Phoenix where Mark dominated in the spring, leading 111 laps in the effort. With two races remaining, Mark is ninth in the Nextel Cup point race.