Mark believes that he and the ViagraŽ
(sildenafil citrate) team are as strong as ever. In the first
four races of the season, Mark has only scored one top-10
finish (sixth at Las Vegas), but he feels his finishes are
not reflective of the team's performance."With the exception of Daytona, I have been pleased with the performance of our cars," Mark said. "I was relatively pleased with how we ran in Atlanta and I was real encouraged after Rockingham and Las Vegas. If we can get started on a roll, we'll be back to our old selves in no time. We are working on some issues that have affected the team, but it takes time to work things out."
The 20th place finish in Rockingham does not demonstrate that Mark's car was strong enough to regain one of the two laps he lost due to an extra pit stop to change a loose wheel. In Las Vegas, Mark finished sixth and led the most laps. This weekend, the entire team is optimistic about their performance in Darlington.
"We have really high hopes for this weekend," Mark said. "We are taking JR-52, which is our old standby car. In September, we had a car capable of winning the race but the rain messed up our game plan. We feel like our set-up is real good and we can adapt it to what the new Goodyear tire might want.
"We have high expectations for our performance at Darlington. Our goal is to break through the problems we've had this season and finish as good as we have run."
