The 2005 Ford 400

Mark said all along that he and his Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) Racing Team would fight until the last Biffle beats Mark by .017 sec

checkered flag fell at Homestead and they did just that. Mark and the No. 6 Team went down swinging in Sunday night’s Nextel Cup season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, with Mark and the No. 6 team fighting to the very end, coming up just short of victory as Roush teammate Greg Biffle edged Mark out at the line finish line by inches for the victory in one of the most exciting races of the season. Mark and Biffle led a 1-2-3-4 Roush finish at Homestead, with Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards close behind.

"That was a great race,” said Mark moments after climbing out of the Viagra® car. “The race track was just in perfect condition. I really wanted to get a win for Viagra® in their last race, and I was so close. Congratulations to Greg Biffle on the win and congratulations to Tony Stewart on the championship. We had a great night - man, it was close. I thought we were going to be able to pull it off but we were just inches short.

“I guess maybe we needed another lap, or maybe I would have crashed trying,” added Mark. “I raced Greg hard and I raced him clean and vice versa and he was in front when it was over. I would have loved to have one, but I guess only one guy can win. We had a great run, a great finish and a great year, and we were able to move up to fourth in the points in the last race.”

Mark was running in second place and had caught leader Casey Mears when the night’s eighth and final caution waved on lap 251 with only 16 laps remaining in the race. Mark and crew chief Pat Tryson decided to take two tires under caution and excellent work by the Viagra® Racing team’s over-the-wall crew put Mark back out in second place, and first of the cars who pitted.

Dave Blaney opted to stay out and restarted ahead of Mark in the lead when the field went green with only 11 laps remaining. Mark, who’s car was stronger on long runs than on restarts, would have to contend with Blaney and the lapped No. 01 car, allowing Biffle to close the gap and take the race lead with only eight to go. Mark refused to go down without a fight, mounting a late charge, catching Biffle and making the move to the inside coming off of turn four. The veteran was able to pull along side the No. 16 car, but came up just inches short of making the pass at the finish line.

“I did everything I could,” added Mark. “And I thought I had him, - but we just came up inches short. Still, it was a lot of fun and it’s really exciting to end the season this way. This is a great race team. These guys are killer. I've had the time of my life in 2005. I want to thank the fans. I want to thank Viagra® and Ford, Pennzoil, Gatorade, Goodyear, Maxwell House and all the people that support us. Like I say, I hope we can keep these guys (on the No. 6 team) together for another year and we’ll come back and make one more run at this thing.”

The race was a tale of two stories for Mark, who struggled in the early going with his No. 6 Viagra® Ford Taurus, radioing to Tryson early on that he did not feel the car was competitive. He started fifth, but fell all the way back to 12th by the ninth lap of the race. However the car began to steadily improve, breaking back inside the top 10 for good on lap 34. The Viagra® Race Team was stealer all day, gaining Mark several positions on pit road, including three on its fourth stop of the day on lap 127, a 13. 09-second stop that put Mark inside the top five for the first time of the race when green-flag racing resumed on lap 130.

By the lap 200 mark, Mark’s No. 6 Ford had become a rocket, passing teammate Mark - Homestead 2005 Ford 400

Carl Edwards for second place on lap 209. Mark took over the lead just after leader Casey Mears pitted on lap 227. He brought his No. 6 Ford down pit road a lap later for a green-flag stop to take on four tires and fuel and Mark was back in second once the field had cycled through on lap 238.

Strong on the long run, Mark spent the next several laps moving in on Mears and appeared poised to take the lead just moments before the caution fell on lap 251, setting up the 11 lap shootout for the win.

Mark finished the chase with six top-five finishes in the 10 races, including a win at Kansas and second-place runs at Texas and Homestead. Overall he had seven top fives in 10 races.

“Oh man, I'm the luckiest man in the world to drive that No. 6 car,” said Mark. “I sure hope that we're able to keep all those guys together. They are true winners. We scored a lot of points in the chase. If you look at what we did, we were in the top five almost every race, except for two where one time we shot ourselves in the foot, and the other time was the wreck at Talladega. I'm just hoping that I can drive cars that good again next year. That was fun. The track was spectacular tonight and I’m looking forward to taking another shot at it next season.”