The 2006 Golden Corral 500

Mark and the AAA race team battled all day at Atlanta Motor Speedway, finding the right blend of handling, speed and Mark waits for Golden Corral 500

track position, when it mattered the most – at the end. Mark, who was strong all day, used the next to the last run of the day to pick off seven cars and move from eighth to second place by lap 261, just seconds before the day’s eighth and final caution was issued on lap 262. After a lightning fast stop of 12.62 in the team’s final pit stop of the day, Mark restarted in second-place with 58 laps to go in the race. Mark was able to pull his No. 6 AAA Ford Fusion up beside race-leader Kasey Kahne with only 11 laps remaining, but he would be unable to take the lead away from Kahne, thus settling for the second-place finish.

“I really had the best case scenario at the end,” said Mark in the media center after the race. We had enough gas to make it and a green flag fuel stop run. My car was great on the long run and we ran him down. He got a handful of steering wheel and found some more speed. I really thought we could get him there with 15 to go. We caught him in traffic and got up beside of him, but he got up on the wheel and got it done. Still, it was a great effort by our AAA team today.

“I really had the best case scenario for my car and I really thought we would have enough, but it was just a whisker short of getting it done,” added Mark.

Persistent rains on Sunday forced the race’s start to Monday morning. With cool morning temperatures, Mark started the race 11th based on Friday night’s qualifying effort. The cool conditions made the car’s handling tight early and Mark fell back to as low as 15 th early on. The track started to come around and Mark had moved back into 13 th position, when the day’s first caution was issued on lap 15. The team came in for the first of eight stops on the day to take four tires, fuel and to make an adjustment to the car’s handling.

The adjustment worked and on lap 33, Mark broke into the field’s top-10 for the first time of the day. The veteran driver had powered his Fusion all the way to seventh position, when caution number three was issued on lap 66. The team came into the pits for the third time of the afternoon, taking four tires, fuel and making an adjustment to the track bar to help tighten up the car’s handling. Again the adjustment paid off, as Mark was able to use the pursuing run to move up the field and into the top five by lap 75. Mark passed former teammate Jeff Burton on lap 86 for fourth position, where he settled in for the next several laps in an effort to save the wear on the tires.

Mark was still in fourth when the day’s fourth caution was issued on lap 117. The team came down for tires, fuel and another track bar adjustment, but there was a problem on the stop with the rear tires and Mark lost several spots and valuable track position. He was forced to restart in 13 th position when racing resumed on lap 125. Mark refused to give up, once again fighting his way back through the field and inside the top 10. He was running in eighth place when caution number five was called on lap 164. The team came down pit road for four tires, fuel and to put the track bar back up, and rebounded with a 13.03-second stop that put Mark back out in seventh position when the field went back to racing on lap 169.

Mark again lost position in the pits, after being trapped in the box by the Mark battles in Golden Corral 500

No. 14 car after caution on lap 187. Having to back up to get out of the pits, Mark fell from eighth to 12 th on the stop, and would be forced to again work his way back through lapped traffic, as well as the race leaders. Once again he was up for the challenge, moving back inside the top 10 on lap 218, just before caution number seven on lap 220. The team again came down pit road and the AAA pit crew again responded, posting a stop of 12.7-seconds that put the AAA Ford back out in eighth place when the field returned to green-flag racing.

On lap 248 Mark blew by the No. 48 car of Jimmie Johnson to once again move back inside the top five. Ten laps later he passed Jeff Gordon for third, before moving into second place on lap 261. The caution on lap 264 would set up the final stop and the 58 lap-race for the checkered. Mark quickly fell to fourth place, but rebounded and moved back to second on lap 300. He would be able to close in on Kahne, but unable to get past the No. 9 car, coming up just short of the victory.

“I didn’t save anything,” said Mark. “My car was just slow on the start. I flogged it to death and I had enough eventually to get to him. If I could have got in front of him I might have been able to take his line away and got it done, but it was so strong. When we got there my tires were gone and his were too, but he was in front. I certainly didn’t save anything. I’m proud as I can be of the effort that we made. We probably had the fans standing on their feet there for a little bit and that’s what it’s all about.”

The team returns to action next Sunday for the season’s first short track race of the year at Bristol Motor Speedway, where Mark has two wins, 15 top-fives and 20 top-10’s in 38 career Nextel Cup starts.