In another fantastic year of NASCAR Busch Series Grand National
Division competition, Mark won an outstanding 43
percent of the 14 races he entered. In addition to his six
wins, he also earned nine top-5's, 10 top-10 finishes and
three Bud Poles in his Winn-Dixie Taurus. The season did not start out as
he had hoped, as he scored only a 39th place finish at
Daytona. Mark led the race for a few laps until he was
caught up in an accident on lap 43. The following week
turned out much better with a second place finish at
North Carolina Speedway. Mark claimed his first pole and
win of the season in the Sam's Town 300 at Las Vegas
Motor Speedway in March. The Winn-Dixie Taurus dominated
the race, leading 150 of the 200 laps. It was the first
Busch Series win for rookie crew chief Tony Lambert and
the new Mooresville, N.C., based team.
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Mark had another strong
run at Atlanta where he posted a sixth place finish
despite being caught up in an accident on lap 134. He
was not as lucky at Darlington where he finished 39th,
despite starting from the pole. He ran with the leaders
until he pitted under green on lap 101. A few laps later,
a caution came out which put him one lap down. As he lined up
with the lapped cars, he was involved in a multi-car accident.
He ended the month of March at Texas much like he began it in
Las Vegas. After starting second, Mark won his second race
of the season and also gave Jack Roush his 200th career win
as a car owner. He beat his Roush teammate Jeff Burton to the
yellow flag as it began to rain on lap 158. NASCAR called the
race official on lap 163 and declared Mark the winner.
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April's race at Talladega
brought the Winn-Dixie team its only major disappointment
of the year. Mark failed to qualify for the race after
attempting to requalify on Friday morning. Only one
Ford made the field, and that was a Thunderbird.
Mark made up for Talladega by winning both of the races he
entered in May. He started second and finished first at both
Richmond and Charlotte. The team now had four wins to its
credit at the halfway point of their season.
After a three-month break, Mark took fifth place at
Michigan Speedway in August. Two weeks later, he won his
fifth race of the year at Darlington. A second place finish
at Richmond rounded out the month of September.
It looked as though Mark would sweep the Busch races at
Charlotte. He led 39 laps of the October event and was
leading when a rear tire went down. The debris from the tire
broke the brake line, which took Mark out of the race. He
finished a disappointing 36th.
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He made up for it two weeks
later as he won from the pole at Rockingham. Mark held
off Jeff Green to capture his sixth win of the season
and the 40th of his career. Mark ended the season with
a 14th place finish in Homestead. The suspension of the
car had been damaged from an earlier accident in the
race, and he gave it everything he had to finish the
race one lap down. "We had an incredible season," Mark
said. "I think everybody forget pretty quickly that this
was a brand new team. Tony Lambert and the guys gave me
great cars every week and we could have won nearly every
race if it hadn't been for a few accidents. It was a
special season since I was able to give Jack his 200th
win in Texas, and I improved my record to 40 career wins.
The Busch Series has meant a lot to me over the years
and I look forward to another limited schedule in 2000."
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