The 2005 Dodge Charger 500

Mark and the No. 6 Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) Racing Team turned in one Mark and Jeff Burton

of their strongest performances of the season Saturday night at Darlington Raceway with a fourth-place run and advanced five places to sixth in the Nextel Cup point standings. Mark made it interesting, spinning out with only three laps to go while attempting to move into third position, but the team was ready for the challenge, quickly rebounding for the fourth place run.

“I'm just proud of this race team,” said Mark. “It was a hard fought fourth, but they had the car to do it - just not quite enough car to win with. But it was an awfully good run. It seemed like forever before we got to the top five, but once we got there it was no problem to stay there. I just have to thank the Viagra® team for a good car and it was a good run. “

Mark spent the first 100 laps of the race moving towards the front of the field, before eventually breaking into the top five on lap 277. He would run there for the next 87 laps until lap 364 when his No. 6 Viagra® Ford got away from him while attempting to take third position by making an inside pass on the No. 9 car of Kasey Kahne. The veteran quickly corrected the car, dropping only two places to sixth before caution was issued for the spin. Race leader Ryan Newman opted to stay out, while the majority of the field opted to pit, allowing Mark the opportunity to bring his Viagra Ford to pit lane for four fresh tires.

The race would finish under a green-white-checkered two-lap dash to the finish, with Mark restarting in eighth. He was able to power his No. 6 Ford four more places to fourth, just narrowly beating out Newman at the line for his third top-five finish of the season and his fifth top 10.

“If I hadn't spun out there, we would have run third but we were lucky to get back to fourth,” added Mark. "I got a little greedy and tried to make a pass too quick. I stepped on that big motor and it was like stepping on a cat’s tail and it went right around. It worked out OK. I was going to pass them both and get third, but I couldn't waste any time. I had a chance to go and I stepped on the gas a little bit too hard and you really had to feather the throttle with those old tires so it slipped away from me."

Mark started the race 20th based on Friday’s qualifying effort. Two quick cautions in the race caused pit strategy to come into play and Mark and crew chief Pat Tryson used the second caution on lap six to come into the pits for four fresh tires, while the majority of the field stayed out. Mark dropped back to 31st on the restart, but the gamble for fresh tires paid off, as Mark wasted little time slicing through the field as the race went green on lap 10. By lap 20 Mark had moved all the back up inside the top 20. By lap 28 he was running in 15th and by the time the day’s third caution was called on lap 39, Mark had advanced 20 positions all the way up to 11th.

The team used the caution to come into the pits and take four fresh tires, fuel and make a track bar adjustment to help the car turn better in the corners. Mark needed only two laps once the field went green on lap 47 to move inside the top 10 for the first time of the evening. Eventually the he began to struggle with the car’s handling and dropped all the way to 16th by lap 85. The day’s fifth caution on lap 95 afforded the team the opportunity to come into the pits for four fresh tires, fuel and further adjustments and by lap 134 Mark had moved his No. 6 Ford back inside the field’s top 10 where he would run for the remainder of the day, with the exception of green-flag pit cycles.

At the halfway point on lap 183 Mark had moved up to eighth place and had established himself as a fixture in the race’s top 10. He cracked the top-five on lap 277, and was running fifth when the day’s 10th caution was issued just moments later on lap 282. With the car handling well, Mark opted for no changes and four tires and fuel and the team turned in a lightning fast 13.9-second stop to send Mark back out in fourth when the field went green on lap 286.

With the race winding down, Mark was running in fifth place with third and Pit stop for Mark

fourth place in his sights. With three laps to go Mark caught up with fourth place Kasey Kahne and third place Jeff Gordon and was set to move to the inside for the pass, but his 40-lap old tires just did not have enough grip to support his effort and the back end of the car got away from him as he moved in to take the position. Keenly, Mark was able to collect the car and save it from colliding with the inside wall, while jumping back in line and holding position, while dropping only to sixth. The field’s decision to pit just prior to the green-white-checkered finish, allowed Mark to pit as well and set him back up with a solid opportunity at a top-five finish. He restarted in eight and was able to get by four cars in the final two laps for the fourth-place run.

Mark and the team return to action next Saturday night at Richmond, where Mark has finished inside the top 10 in five of his last six races. With 10 races in the books, Mark is currently in sixth place in the Nextel point standings, 41 points outside of fifth.