Mark
and the U.S. Army/Dale Earnhardt Inc. team endured a tough outing in Sunday's Kobalt Tools
500 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Mark started 10th, but was never able to get a handle on his No. 8 Chevrolet. The veteran ran
as low at 30th before battling back to a 22nd-place finish, while turning some of his fastest
lap times late in the race.
“That felt like the longest race of my life,” said Mark. “You never want to run that way, but all
you can do is hang in there and make the best out of a bad day. I really mean it when I say that
I truly appreciate the effort of everyone on this U.S. Army team."
“These guys are really a pleasure to work with,” added Mark. “This team is made up of a group of
real racers and they want nothing more than to win each week. We had a pretty bad day out there,
but they soldiered on and never gave up and never stopped coming up with suggestions to make
the car better. We’ll hang in there, keep working and we’ll come back and get this thing right.
We're like our soldiers -- we don't quit, we just fight harder to complete the mission.”
Mark went a lap down to the leader on Lap 85 of 325. The team continued to work with the car’s
handling under a series of cautions, but with little success. Mark went two laps down on Lap 156.
Still, the team continued to work with the car, refusing to give up. Their efforts started to see
some light after massive adjustments on Lap 199. Mark broke back inside the top 25 on lap 220
and was able to hold his position for the remainder of the race at the 1.54-mile track.
Mark, who is 18th in the Sprint Cup driver point standings, will hand over the U.S. Army Chevy
to rookie Aric Almirola at the next two Cup races -- Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway on March
16 and Marksville (Va.) Speedway on March 30. He will return to action for the April 6th race at
Texas Motor Speedway.
|
