The 2003 GFS Marketplace 400 at Michigan

Mark and the Viagra® Racing Team battled to a 17th-place finish in Sunday’s Michigan 400, despite fighting an ill-handling car Mark at Michigan

for virtually all 200 laps of the race. Mark and the No. 6 team worked feverishly with the car for the majority of the weekend, but were never able to correct the car’s handling, which meant that Mark would have his work cut out for him on Sunday.

However, the Viagra® Racing team would refuse to give up, using a combination of excellent pit work and strategy to salvage the situation. In the end, Mark would have high praise for his team.

“I’m really proud of this Viagra® Racing team,” said Mark after the race. “We didn’t have the best situation, but we kept fighting and we got the best that we could possibly get from the situation. Nobody on this team ever gave up.”

“We had good stops in the pits and Ben (Leslie) and the guys did a good job with a pitting strategy that allowed us to move up the field, despite the fact that we just didn’t have a very fast car today.”

Starting the race 37th after taking a provisional on Friday, Mark struggled with the car from the green flag, dropping to 40th place by lap 10. As the day would unfold, the car would develop a tendency to start out extremely tight on a run, before becoming way too tight over the course of the run. The team would use the day’s first caution to come into the pits to make adjustments to help the car’s handling.

By lap 54, Mark had worked his way back into 34th place when the day’s second caution was issued. The No. 6 Ford Taurus came into the pits for four tires. A 14.3-second stop helped move Mark into 26th place when the field returned to green. Mark was running in 27th position when the day’s fourth caution was issued on lap 77. Having just pitted for four tires under caution on lap 68, the team opted not to pit and Mark found himself in 11th place when the field went green on lap 82.

Continuing to handle tight, the No. 6 had fallen to 16th place when caution was issued on lap 89. The team again used the opportunity to come into the pits and make adjustments to improve the car’s handling; this time taking only right-side tires and taking wedge out. Mark was running in 12th position when the race went green on lap 95.

The adjustment failed to improve the car and Mark had dropped to 20th place by lap 105 when caution was called for the sixth time of the day. This time the team came down pit road to take four fresh tires and wedge out, still in hopes of improving the car’s handling. Once the field went green on lap 113, Mark was running in 25th position.

The adjustment paid off and the veteran had battled his way to 20th place by lap 127, before the car’s handling started to tighten once again. Caution number seven allowed Mark to come into the pits for four tires and adjustments. The team again took wedge out, in hopes of freeing up the handling. Mark returned to the field in 20th place when the race went green.

The day’s eighth and final caution of the day would occur with 60 laps to go. Mark would come down pit road on lap 145 to top of the gas tank, giving the No. 6 Ford Taurus enough fuel to finish the race. The strategy would prove golden, as Mark would restart the race in eighth place when the field went green with only 51 laps remaining.

However the car’s handling simply would not get better, as Mark started the run loose, allowing several cars to get by him as he struggled to hang on to the car. By lap 155 Mark was running in 20th place; by lap 172 he was in 25th place.

Mark in the pits

Again Mark would not give up, continuing to battle for position, as several of the cars were forced to come into the pits for gas. By lap 187 Mark had broken back into the top 20. With eight laps to go Mark moved into 18th place, as he continued to fight for every position, before finally moving to 17th place on the race’s final lap.

“The guys did a great job with the strategy and we moved all the way up to eighth place to start that final run,” said Mark. “The car just started the run so loose that I couldn’t get a grip on it and we lost a lot of positions.

“It just wasn’t ever right. By the end of the run the car was so tight that it was really hard to drive, but fortunately we were able to get some positions late.”

The run moved Mark up one place to 14th in the Winston Cup point standings, 169 points outside of 10th place. The team returns to action next Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway.