So imagine how thrilled the veteran driver is to have escaped Sunday's
Daytona 500 with a Top 5 finish."I'm excited about this season. The guys worked really hard in Daytona and we came out of there with a better finish than we could have imagined, said Mark. We lost our primary car in the Twin 125's and the guys just did a remarkable job of fighting through it and giving me the best car possible. I don't think that I deserved a top-five finish, but the Viagra Racing Team surely did. Ben Leslie and the crew just did a remarkable job at Speedweeks."
Sunday was only Mark's fifth Top 5 finish in 19 Daytona 500 starts. But it was also his third consecutive Top 10 finish at the "World Center of Racing" and his second Top 5 in a row.
But Mark is thrilled to be out of Daytona and heading to what many in the Winston Cup garage call "the real racing season," which begins Sunday with the Subway 400 at North Carolina Speedway.
Rockingham will always have a special place in Mark's heart as it was the site of his first career Winston Cup win in 1989. He has 18 Top 10 finishes and 11 Top 5 runs in his 33 career starts at "The Rock."
"It's a challenging track that can be really tough at times, Mark said. "It's a great challenge for me and for any driver. It can be really hard to figure out the right setup, but it can be a great track on the long runs. Last year we nailed the setup in the second race, but were just awful in the first race there. Hopefully we can use some of the knowledge we gained a year ago and have a good run there.
"I'm looking forward to getting on the track there. It's a track where you can run anywhere on the track and you can pass. It's really more of the start of what we do each week. I prefer the tracks where more control is in the hands of the drivers and Rockingham is that type of track."
