be quite an accomplishment for many of the drivers on the
Winston Cup circuit, as would over three million in prize
money and a 12th place finish in the Winston Cup points
standings.But not for Mark and the No. 6 ViagraŽ (sildenafil citrate) racing team.
"In my entire racing career I've never had a year where I was not competitive," says the veteran Mark, who this year will enter his 15th season with for Roush Racing and his 20th on the NASCAR scene. "But last season there were times when we just were not (competitive). I've run races for 25 years and it's just hard to say why that happens."
Make no mistake, in 2002 Mark and the No. 6 team will look to return to the front of the pack.
"Some people think that I race to just run in circles out on the track," said Mark. "But that is just not the case at all. I race and live to run good out there on the track. Just being out there is not what does it for me. It's running the best you can and competing."
Much has been made about the off-season switch that sent Mark's No. 6 crew from this year to the No. 97 team of Kurt Busch and the No. 97 team, including crew chief Ben Leslie to Mark's No. 6 ViagraŽ team. Mark says it is simply an opportunity to bring 'new blood' into the program, as with fresh faces, come fresh ideas.
"I'm real excited about the upcoming season and the opportunity to have and work with a fresh group," said Mark. "I think that the new lineup brings new ideas to the table and makes it really exciting and challenging. Changes like that have been real good for us in the past."
After the 1997 season, Mark and the No. 6 team brought in an almost entirely different lineup within the team and went from 16-top five finishes in '97 to 22 during the 1998 season. The 1998 season also saw Mark win more Winston Cup races (seven) than any other year in his career, and his second place finish in the points standings tied his career best.
Mark and the No. 6 team will look for similar results in 2002.
"I'm excited to be working with the people I'm working with and I'm excited about getting competitive again," added Mark. "We basically did it in '98 and it worked really well for us."
Mark does not like to set standard goals for a season, as he admits there are just too many things that can happen on a race track that nobody can control, but he admits the competitive fire that lies inside him is burning for better results.
"I'm not much for setting goals on wins, points or position," said Mark. "My goal and the goal of this team is to do all we can do, give all we can give and put all the effort we have into winning.
"I'm a competitor, I want to win every pole, every race, every practice, you name it, but that's just not going to always happen. You can't control a flat tire here or a part going bad there. There are so many things out there that you can't control."
Mark went on to say that the goal of the No. 6 ViagraŽ Racing team will be to get everything they possibly can out of every day at the track.
"What you can do is try to squeeze all the performance out of what you have every single time we put it (the car) on the race track."
For Mark 12th place simply is not good enough, and the work it will take to climb back into the NASCAR upper echelon has been under way since the cars pulled off the track at Loudon in late November. "I'm committed to this season and I'm looking forward to the process that goes into making us competitive. And that starts long before the first race in February," said Mark.
