The 2006 Food City 500

On a cold, snowy day at Bristol Motor Speedway, Mark and the AAA Racing Team ran to a sixth-place finish in the Pit Stop At Bristol

Food City 500. Mark was able to avoid an array of accidents in a race that saw 18 cautions, to move to his first top-10 finish at the track since 2000. The finish was Mark’s fourth top-10 in five races of 2006 and moved the veteran driver to within 32 points of the Nextel Cup points lead.

“Our AAA crew was on the spot on pit road today,” said Mark. “We got shuffled back on one run with a set of tires I didn’t like, but they were strong on pit road and their last adjustment to the car made it the best it was all day. That’s the right time to be good, so we came from about 13th to sixth. I’m thrilled. I didn’t pass hardly any cars all day until that last run and I couldn’t be happier.”

Mark and the team saved their best for the end, with Mark moving from 13th to sixth in the race’s final 88 laps to take the sixth-place finish. Mark had to hold off teammate Greg Biffle for the race’s final seven laps, before avoiding the spinning No. 24 car of Jeff Gordon on the final lap to move into sixth place. Mark was in eighth place when the race went green after the day’s 18th and final caution with 48 laps remaining. With the race running down, Marks’ AAA Ford Fusion was the fastest on the track. He passed Tony Stewart with 24 laps to go for seventh, before avoiding Gordon on the final lap for sixth.

In a weekend filled with rain and snow, Friday’s qualifying effort was Baby It's Cold At Bristol

cancelled due to persistent precipitation, and Mark started fourth-based on last year’s owner’s points. The car was ‘tight’ early on and Mark fell back to seventh by lap 40, as the car’s handling started to loosen up. He eventually rebounded and moved back to fifth where he was running when the day’s second caution was called on lap 72. After coming into the pits for four tires, fuel and wedge adjustment, Mark returned to the field in eighth when the field went green on lap 77.

Mark had moved his No. 6 car back to fifth place by the time caution number seven was issued on lap 186, after a multi-car accident forced the race to be red-flagged for 14 minutes. He would hold fifth position for the next 70 laps before dropping back to sixth on lap 269. The handling on Mark’s car would gradually start to go away over the next run with him dropping back to as low as 14th, where he was running when caution number 13 was called on lap 337. The team would come into the pits for four tires, fuel and a wedge adjustment, and return in 14 th position when the field resumed green-flag racing on lap 339.

Mark had moved up to 12th when the day’s 15th caution was called on lap 407, with less than 100 laps remaining. The team came down pit road for the final and most important stop of the day, taking four tires, fuel and making critical adjustment to the air pressure and wedge of the car that would make Mark’s car become one of the fastest on the track for the final run of the day. After a 14 second stop, Mark returned in 10 th where he started when the race went green on lap 420, with 80 laps to go.

Fourteen laps later he overtook Dale Earnhardt Jr. for ninth. On the next Mark Battles At Bristol

lap caution was again called, setting up a crucial decision for crew chief Pat Tryson and the AAA Team. Tryson opted for staying out for track position, rather than coming down pit road for fresh tires, while most of the cars behind Mark, opted to come in. The gamble paid off, with Mark not losing a single position over the final 57 laps of the race, while settling in as one of the fastest cars in the race and picking up three more positions to sixth.

“Pat Tryson and the AAA pit crew where just on their game today,” said Mark. “They made the car the best it was all day at the end of the race, and that is when you really need to be good. We were able to hold our position, while picking up more places and coming back to a good solid finish.”

For the most part, Mark was able to avoid all the accidents in Sunday and escape Bristol with a solid finish.

“I caved my hood in on that one deal, but other than that, we were pretty clean,” said Mark. “I needed to be. I wanted to get through this one and score some points. I want to make that chase this year.”

The run snapped a dry spell for Mark, dating back to August 25 of 2000, the last time he scored a top-10 finish at Bristol. With the finish, Mark moved to within 32 points of the Nextel Cup points lead. Sitting at fourth he is currently only 13 points behind third-place and 24 points out of second. The series heads to Martinsville next weekend, where Mark has two career victories and 20 top-10 finishes in 38 starts. Mark finished third at Martinsville at the spring race last season.