There was no red carpet.Or keys to the city.
Or even a squirt gun.
What a difference a day made.
For when NASCAR veteran Mark Mark dropped in Wednesday, much of the clamor still was about Tuesday's flashy entrance of NBA star Shaquille O'Neal, the newest member of the Miami Heat.
Not to worry.
The 45-year-old Mark, on hand to promote the Ford Motor Company's latest and greatest 2005 vehicles and the Nextel Cup Series' season- ending Ford 400 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway, kept his focus on the business at hand.
And a darned good pitch man he was.
"I can't wait to get these cars in my dealership," said Mark, the Daytona Beach resident who back in January took over the operation of the Ford agency in his hometown of Batesville, Ark.
The highlight of the midday gathering was the unveiling of the 2005, 40th-anniversary Mustang pace car that will lead the best in stock car racing to the green flag for what promises to be the most dramatic race ever held at the 1.5-mile, high-banked Homestead-Miami oval.
With the race, the 10th and final event of NASCAR's new Chase for the Championship, likely to determine the inaugural Nextel Cup winner, all eyes will be on South Florida.
"It would be an understatement to say that we're excited," said speedway president Curtis Gray at the Omni Colonade Hotel in Coral Gables. "It's the greatest thing to ever happen to the Homestead-Miami Speedway.
And I believe it will be the most exciting thing to ever happen in NASCAR.
" Mark, of course, plans to be part of the Ford 400 show.
Whether or not he'll figure into the points championship remains to be seen.
With eight "regular season" Nextel Cup races remaining — including Sunday's Siemen's 300 at the New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon — Mark finds himself 15th in the driver standings.
The four-time Cup runner-up currently is 138 points behind 10th-place Ryan Newman. Only the top 10 — and anyone within 400 points of the leader — will qualify for the 10-race chase that begins in Loudon on Sept. 9 and ends at Homestead on Nov. 21.
Mark, who won at Dover this season, said that given the level competition in the Nextel Cup Series, he's uncertain about being able to make up the deficit in time.
He voiced some frustration over some of the mechanical problems he's had this year at the wheel of the No. 6 Roush Racing Viagra Ford Taurus.
His efforts have been stymied by two DNFs — Did Not Finish — this season because of engine failures at Daytona and Pocono.
"I don't know. You have to remember that we're racing against some tremendous competition," said the man who finished second to Tony Stewart in the points race in 2002, second to Jeff Gordon in 1998 and second to Dale Earnhardt in 1994 and 1990.
"You also have remember that if we could have just broke half of the races instead of seven, we'd be fifth or so in the points and it would have been a no-brainer to make the race for the chase.
"We have the race team to do it, but unfortunately, we've had seven devastating mechanical failures this year already. If nothing goes wrong the rest of the year, we might be in good shape. But we've certainly put ourselves in a hole that's difficult to dig out of."
Mark credited much of the team's climb over last year's 17th-place overall finish in the points to engine upgrades made by Ford and to crew chief Pat Tryson.
Setting alongside Cup champion Matt Kenseth at Homestead last November, Roush talked about the need to find and use more modern engine and body configurations.
"It's been better, but I think the biggest difference in the performance of the 6 car has been Pat Tryson and the whole Viagra team," said Mark, who funded his own start-up Cup team in 1981, competing in five races before running a full schedule in 1982. He eventually would return to the ASA ranks before being spotted by Roush in 1987.
"They've done a great job in figuring out what works for me and making better and better race cars as the season's gone forward. It's a combination of all that," he added of this year's effort.
While there barely was time to scratch the surface of his relationship with Roush, Mark did talk briefly about his feelings for his affable team owner.
The relationship has proved fruitful: driving for Roush, Mark had a string of 10 consecutive top-10 points finishes that ended in 2001, when he finished 12th.
"He's the father figure in my life. I don't look at him as my employer, I look at him as my partner in business as well as in life. We've built a life-long bond and respect and admiration over the 17 years we've worked together," Mark reflected.
"Sure, it's meant a lot to my career, but it's meant a lot beyond my career as well. He's a friend forever."
