For the second week in a row, Rusty
Wallace and Mark staged a stirring late-race duel that brought the
fans to their feet. Mark only wishes things would have turned out at Bristol
the way they did in the Goody's Body Pain 500. With 33 laps remaining,
Mark got alongside Wallace and the two stayed that way for five laps
before Mark's Roush Racing Ford got the best of Wallace's Penske
Racing South Ford.
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The battle had been for fourth place,
but a late surge by Mike Skinner left Mark in fifth. Kenny Wallace
also cam on at the end, leaving brother Rusty in seventh. For both Mark
and Rusty, their battle was one of the highlights of their day. A
week earlier, Rusty had held off a late-charging Mark for the win at
Bristol. The two obviously enjoy racing each other, they just wish
the stakes had been higher at Martinsville.
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"We raced," Mark said with a smile. "we
raced hard for it. I wish we would have had time to do that last
week at Bristol." "I'm sure he does," Wallace said jokingly when told
of Mark's comments. And for much of the early going, it appeared anyone battling
Wallace late in the race would be fighting for the win. He started
fifth, but took the lead for the first time just 18 laps into the race.
Wallace led six times for a race-high 177 laps, but he lost the lead to
Jeff Gordon on lap 377 and never got to the front the rest of the race.
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Mark was also content with his finish. While
he won the spring race here in 1992, he says this was his best-ever
run at the track. Coming from someone as demanding as Mark, that's
high praise for his Jimmy Fennig-led crew. "It was a great run, " Mark
said. "It was the best we've ever run at Martinsville, even though we
finished fifth. So I'm proud of the team. I was real happy with my
car, it was the best car I ever had here. It hooked up and
we were looking good, but we couldn't contend for the win."
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A loose set of tires late in the race
also cost Mark, who led just once for 17 laps. "The best set we had
was earlier in the day, but (the last set) was loose," Mark said. "It
wasn't quite as quick and got loose and we used the right rear out and
we dropped back to fifth." Fennig figures the crew should have adjusted
more on the Taurus than it did, but agreed that it was an overall solid
day for the team. Mark improved to third in the points, 124 behind
Burton and just 39 behind runnerup Dale Jarrett.
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Considering Mark ended up 29th in
this race last spring, Fennig wasn't about to quibble about a fifth-place
run. "We were debating whether to tighten it up or not and we didn't
and that was it," Fennig said. "The car was good, but not good enough.
We just worked hard on setting it up, ... (But) we were loose all day
and (the last set of tires) was the loosest set and that didn't help
matters. But I guess we'll take this."
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