earlier in the season.After finishing fourth last week at Talladega -- his first top-5 finish of the season and second top-10 in three races -- who can argue with him?
"I think if we could make it out of Talladega in one piece, that's a sign our luck has changed for the better," he said.
What's more, Mark comes to a track where he's had a great deal of success. He has three top-15 finishes in four Winston Cup starts at California Speedway, and he won the 1998 California 500. Mark was also 10th in this race a year ago. He'll start this year's race from the 10th spot after posting a speed of 181.182.
"I really like this track," Mark said. "It's similar to the other tracks I enjoy, like Michigan, Charlotte and Las Vegas. It's wide here and there's plenty of room to pass. It won't be anything like what we just went through at Talladega. This will be real racing, as opposed to riding around waiting for an accident."
To say that the season has been a disappointment for Mark would be an understatement. In nine races, Mark has just four finishes in the top 20. His average finish is 23rd.
Mark is seeking his first win since the 2000 spring event at Martinsville.
To put that in perspective, he's finished no worse than 12th in the Winston Cup points standings in the past 12 seasons. This year, he sits 21st after nine starts.
Mark has had reason to believe his season was going to turn around before. In Atlanta, Mark qualified fourth, only to finish 41st. In Bristol, Mark took the pole, only to be spun out Sunday by Jeff Burton -- his Roush Racing teammate. What started as a promising weekend ended with a 34th-place finish.
"[We've had] some really good cars this year, we just haven't had the luck to go along with them," he said. "We're just barely 100 points out of 10th place in the points. It's certainly not where we want to be. We just need to get the momentum going."
