The 2006 Dover 400

Mark and the No. 6 AAA Race Team fell victim Mark leads Carl Edwards At Dove

to an untimely caution on lap 297 of Sunday’s Dover 400. Mark had been running inside the top-five, but found himself trapped a lap down and in 18th position after the caution. Mark would be able to fight his way back to 14th position, but he would be unable to gain the lap back, having to settle for a top-15 finish in the second of 10 races in the Nextel Chase for the Cup.

“It really was a good effort by this No. 6 AAA Team,” said Mark. “The car was pretty good and we were able to get up to the front on some strategy. Once we got there we were able to run pretty well and even pull away a bit. But, when we had that caution catch us a lap down, we just weren’t able to recover.”

“We were a touch off, so when it (the caution) happened we were not able to recover,” added Mark. “It would have taken us longer to recover than it would have if we had been just a little quicker. We were just a whisker off and we were going get away with that until we got a lap down on that pit sequence. That’s two races where we ran better than we finished, but we haven’t had a disastrous finish. If we can go to Talladega and not wreck, we’d make all of that back up.”

Mark and crew chief Pat Tryson opted to stay out under caution on lap 204 and used the strategy to move into the top five to fourth when the field went green on lap 213. Mark would run inside the top five for the proceeding 73 laps, climbing to as high as third as the top-five pulled away from the rest of the field. Mark came down pit road under green for four tires and fuel on lap 286 and after a 13.86-second returned to the field in 22nd, as they waited for the remainder of the field to cycle through its stops. However, the caution would wave just 11 laps later, putting Mark’s No. 6 Ford a lap down and ending his shot at a top-five finish.

Mark would spend the remainder of the race fighting for the lucky dog position as the first car one lap down. However, the race would see only one more caution and Mark would be unable to regain his spot on the lead lap, having to settle for the 14th-place finish. Several other ‘Chase’ competitors experienced problems, and Mark retained his sixth-place position in the point standings, remaining 75 points behind first place.

Mark started the race seventh after a top-10 qualifying effort on Friday and moved up to sixth by lap 11. However, as would be the case for most of the race, the No. 6 Ford Fusion would start out handling loosely before becoming extremely tight over the course of the run. Battling the tight conditions of the car, Mark fell back as far as 24th by lap 67. Mark was able to rebound and move back inside the top 15 by lap 125. The team used a 13.3-second stop under caution on lap 166 to move up to 12th position when the field went green on lap 169. Three laps later Mark powered his way into 11th position, before the car once again became too tight over the long run.

The team delivered its fastest stop of the day with a 12.67-second four-tire stop under caution on lap 186, that preserved Mark’s place inside the top 15 despite that fact that several cars either stayed out or opted for two tires only. Caution number eight was called on lap 204, setting up the team’s strategy to stay out for track position, as Mark returned in fourth and was able to remain in the top-five and pull away from the field, before coming into the pits for tires and fuel under green on lap 286, setting up the final scenario.

With eight races remaining in the 10-race ‘Chase’ to decide the 2006 Nextel Cup Champion, Mark is currently in sixth place; 75 points behind first place. Mark trails fifth place by 21 points and his only 57 points behind third. He leads 10th by 149 points and seventh by 27.