Food City 500

Mark made a huge gain on Friday by winning the pole for Mark on the pole - Photo by Kathy Schrantz

Sunday's Food City 500. It was the first time he had won a Winston Cup pole since October 1999. The Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) Taurus led the first two laps of the race until Kevin Harvick passed Mark for the lead. The car was loose early in the race, but got better as the race progressed. Mark was running seventh when he pitted for minor air pressure adjustments on lap 79. A 15.21-second stop helped him gain four positions in the pits and resume the race in third place.

By lap 150, Mark needed the team to free up the car a lot. They raised the track bar considerably during that pit stop under caution. During the stop, the front air gun failed which caused an 18.29-second stop. The slow stop sent Mark out in 10th place. Now the car was way too loose, and Mark Gradually dropped back as far as 22nd place by lap 220.

Mark on the pole

The team was going to reverse some of their previous adjustments, but before they got the chance, Mark was involved in an accident on lap 246. Jeff Burton, one of Mark's Roush teammates, blew a right-front tire coming out of turn four. As Burton hit the wall and came down the race track, Mark had nowhere to go but in the back of Burton. Mark was forced to pull behind the wall to replace his damaged radiator.

He returned to the race on lap 325 with no front bumper or hood, but was determined to finish the race and gain a few more positions on the track. He was in 37th place and 86 laps behind the leaders, but the team never gave up. In the final 175 laps of the race, the Viagra® Racing team had two more pit stops in the 14-second range. Mark was able to move ahead of some of the cars that had dropped out of the race to finish in 34th place. Elliott Sadler went on to win his first career Winston Cup race. Sadler drives for the Wood Brothers team, which Roush supports with engines and chassis.

put a fork in it - it's done

"All I could do was just keep on trying," Mark said. "I just wasn't in the right spot today. If I had been a little bit later, or a little bit sooner to the scene of the accident we'd have been okay. I was in a spot where I really didn't have many options. It's too bad because I think we had a really good car. The track came to us later on, after we had already had the accident. I'm really happy for Elliott though. That's the greatest thing I've seen in a long time." "Mark was providing leadership for the whole team today," Jack Roush said. "He had the pole and he provided the set-up to help Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch and Jeff Burton do better. Burton cut a tire which took Mark out, as well as Jeff. In all the years they've been racing together that is the first time they've been in a wreck together as a team. It wasn't anybody's fault, it just happened."

Mark dropped to 27th in the point standings, but hopes to recover next weekend when the Winston Cup series moves on to Texas Motor Speedway.

IN MARK'S OWN WORDS
"On Tuesday and Wednesday, we tested in Martinsville, VA. I was happy because we ran really well there! We are hoping to repeat last year's win because we sure could use one right now!

I'm leaving for Texas today and we're hoping to run well there too! Actually, I'm hoping all my teammates have a good run. We could all use a little boost right now!

I am very positive that things are going to turn around soon for us…and for the rest of the Roush guys. We've just had a run of bad luck lately and you know how it is when that happens…we've all been through it. Our time is coming though…you just wait and hang in there with us!"