The 2006 Kroger 250 Craftsmen Truck Race

Mark ran to his fourth top-five finish in as many starts in the Craftsman Truck Series this season, finishing fourth in Mark at Martinsville 2006

Saturday’s Kroger 250 at Martinsville Speedway. Mark just narrowly missed the pole in Saturday’s qualifying session, and started the race on the outside of the front row. He would run inside the top-five for the majority of the day, bringing home the fourth-place finish.

"Our Scotts Ford F-150 is crumpled up a little bit, but it's not that bad,” said Mark after the race. “It didn't slow us down. I learned some things today, and I didn't expect so many cautions. I hooked my truck up a little too much in practice yesterday. The track was green and it was real hard on left-rear tires. We hooked it down a little harder than it needed to be today.

“Mike (Beam, crew chief) and the guys did a good job with the truck freeing it up, but that's just what we had. The way it turned out, we had a strong truck, but we got behind and we couldn't get to the front."

The race saw a record 16 cautions, with a collaboration of short-green flag runs that made it hard to gain position on the track. Running second, Mark pitted on lap 65 after the day’s third caution, while the leaders stayed out. He returned to the track in seventh, but moved back to second when the leaders pitted under caution on lap 101.

“It didn't play into our hands,” added Mark. “But we had such a great ride here that we still finished fourth, and there's nothing wrong with that. Under different circumstances we might have challenged for a win."

Mark and crew chief Mike Beam would again opt to pit under caution on lap 120 to take four tires and fuel and Mark came back out 25th when the field went green on lap 124. By lap 141 he had wheeled his way to 13th position, before breaking back inside the top 10 after the day’s 10th caution on lap 162.

Mark moved his No. 6 Scotts Ford F-150 back inside the top five on lap 202, before taking over forth position on lap 217. He would be able to hang on to the position for the remaining 33 laps to move to the top-five finish in his first Truck race at Martinsville.