The EA Sports 500

Mark put on an incredible display of driving talent Sunday at Restrictor plate mayhem

Talladega Superspeedway. His split-second decisions on the track kept him out of trouble and gave the Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) team their fourth consecutive top-10 finish.

Mark started the race in 14th place, although starting position does not matter much since track position can change drastically from lap to lap. He drafted his way up to fifth place by lap 50 when he made his first pit stop of the day. The car was a bit tight, so the crew made an air pressure adjustment and Mark returned to the race in fifth place.

He remained fifth for the next 35 laps since the top-six cars ran single-file during that time. Mark told the team the car was still too tight, but he continued to run in the lead draft. Mark planned to pit under green around lap 100, but a caution on lap 96 brought him into the pits for a wedge and air pressure adjustment. The 14.75-second stop sent him out in third place when the race resumed on lap 102.

The car was working pretty well in the draft and Mark moved up as high as second before he was shuffled back to 15th place by lap 130. A caution for debris brought Mark into the pits for the final time on lap 131, which was in their window to go the distance on fuel. The team made no adjustments and the 15-second stop gave him 13th place.

The final 20 laps of the race left the fans on their feet as the drivers raced in packs four-wide many times. Mark was fourth with 20 laps to go, but only two laps later fell back to 17th place. With 10 to go, he was 19th and was trying desperately to find a line of cars that could help him move forward. In the final 10 laps of the race he found the line he was looking for and was up to third with only a few laps to go, but got shuffled back again.

On the final lap of the race, the big accident everyone anticipated finally happened. Bobby Labonte was fighting for the lead when he made contact with Bobby Hamilton. Labonte's car became airborne and 17 cars were caught up in the melee. The accident happened right in front of Mark, but quick thinking got him through it. Mark actually drove under Labonte's airborne car to cross the finish line in ninth place.

"We had a great car," Mark said. "I was nearly dead-last with 20 laps to go and got in the outside lane with a really fast car behind me and I believe I got to about third with five laps to go. Then I got hit in the left-front and fell way back and then got through that wreck. I went underneath Labonte and Mike Wallace, I think. I am so glad that race is over and we made it through everything."

"We certainly had a better day than I'd expected," said Jack Roush. "The car was well-driven, they had good pit stops, the engine ran pretty fair and the body men did a nice job. Now we need to go back and have some discussions with NASCAR about these rules to see if we can qualify with the Dodges and run with the Chevrolets."

Next weekend the Winston Cup series head west to Phoenix International Raceway.