to retire from NASCAR Nextel Cup racing to concentrate on trucks in 2006,
was asked to stay one more year by longtime friend and team owner Jack Roush,
who couldn't find a proper replacement for Mark in the No. 6 Ford.Now, the popular 47-year-old racer is preparing for his 22nd Daytona 500 and dreaming about making it to Victory Circle.
"It's Daytona," Mark said Monday during a break in preseason testing at Daytona International Speedway. "It's the biggest race of the year and I need to win it. This is my last chance. I'm just going to try to get in the front on the last lap and hog the track."
Mark had a strong season in 2005, easily making it into the 10-man, 10-race Chase for the championship that closed out the year. He got one win — his 35th — and had 12 top fives and 19 top 10s in 36 races, finishing fourth in the standings.
The four-time series runner-up would love to close out his Cup career with a similar season.
"I would really love the 2005 performance to be the last year of my Cup so, if I could do that well again in '06, it would be fantastic," Mark said. "If I could do better than that, obviously, it would be a dream come true. It would be incredible.
"If we could race for that championship and win, it would be the coolest thing. At the same time, realistically speaking, I know the odds that I'm up against and I can't believe that I was able to personally give the performance that I gave on the race track last year. It will be hard to do that again."
The three-day test that started Monday is for teams that finished in the even positions in last year's final standings. The teams in the odd positions ran last week.
Kyle Busch, last year's top rookie, was fastest in the morning session at 186.629 mph, while longtime racing star Sterling Marlin, driving for the first time for MB2 Motorsports, was fastest for the day in the afternoon session at 187.110. Both drive Chevrolets.
Mark was 13th in both sessions with a top lap of 186.636 in the afternoon.
