The 2003 EA Sports Thunder 500

With 15 laps to go things were looking good for Mark and the Viagra® Elliott Sadler flying high

(sildenafil citrate) Racing team. Mark, who had one of the strongest cars in the field, was running in second place and fighting for the lead with teammate Kurt Busch as the final laps were winding down on the 2003 EA Sports 500. Mark was running in seventh place when the no. 38 car went airborne causing the day’s final caution with just six laps to go in the race. The field was red flagged and Mark restarted in seventh place when the race resumed with only four laps remaining.

Teaming up with the No. 12 and No. 2 car Mark moved up to fifth place with just under two laps to go. However, despite a previous agreement, the No. 2 car opted to go below Mark with just over two laps remaining. Mark was stranded in the middle of the track with no drafting partners. To make matters worse another car made contact with the front fender of the Viagra® Taurus and Mark dropped back to 23rd place as the field took the checkered flag. A tough finish for a car that ran all but four of the race’s 188 laps inside the top 20 and had been in fifth place with just two laps remaining.

Mark started the race 15th but fell out of the draft early and dropped back to 32nd place by lap three. However, the No. 6 Ford would be strong on this day and Mark moved back into the draft and back into 15th place by lap 10. The veteran driver would move in and out of the draft for the remainder of the day moving through the field.

Mark, running second, came in for his fifth pit stop of the day on lap 128 Elliott Sadler flying high

to take right side tires and fuel under a green flag. The team struggled getting around the No. 90 car on pit road and Mark returned to the field in 20th place, but the No. 6 had lost valuable ground to the leaders and was running several car lengths and two packs of cars behind the front.

Mark would hook up with teammate Matt Kenseth and three other cars to form a five-car drafting train that caught the next pack in only eight laps. The day’s third caution just two laps later allotted the team the opportunity to make a series of stops to take on right side and left side tires as well as a splash of fuel just before the race went green with Mark in 17th place.

Mark continued to shuffle in and out of the draft over the next several laps, moving to seventh place by lap 159. Two laps later Mark fell out of the draft, falling to 14th, before moving back inside the top 10 on lap 167. The day’s fourth caution was issued one lap later. Mark opted not to pit and was running in second place when the field went green on lap 174 with only 14 laps remaining. Mark continued to fight for position for the next several laps, before Elliot Sadler’s crash on lap 182 brought out the day’s final caution, setting up the four lap shootout that would see Mark come out on the wrong end. Adding insult to injury, Mark’s car suffered damage after the race, when he was caught up in a post race accident that included several cars.