Jeff Gordon's six consecutive road-course victories have overshadowed some impressive achievements by other NASCAR
Winston Cup Series drivers in that span. Sitting at the top
of that list is Mark Mark.Sunday's Global Crossing @ The Glen will give Mark a chance to add another entry in what has been a stellar collection of performances on road courses throughout his career.
In his 24 NASCAR Winston Cup Series road-course starts at Watkins Glen International and Sears Point Raceway, Mark has four victories, 17 top-5 finishes, 21 top-10s and four poles. In fact, he started from the pole in each of his four victories.
"The object of road racing is to go as fast as you can and stay out of the ditches," Mark said. "Watkins Glen is a real fun place for me to drive even though it is challenging to pass. We're taking our Sears Point car, and I hope to start a new streak of winning three races in a row there. Winning a pole would also be nice since we haven't done that yet this year."
Mark comes to Watkins Glen looking to capitalize on the momentum of a third-place finish at the first road course race of the season at Sears Point in June.
Mark is no stranger to Victory Lane at Watkins Glen, having won three races in a row there from 1993-95, but he has not been there since. Last year, track position hurt Mark all day, although he managed to get a 10th-place finish.
His first pit stop dropped him back to 17th since several of the teams that pitted earlier did not pit. Then he was forced to make an extra stop for fuel which pushed him back to 22nd. The car was better on older tires, and he worked his way up through the field to earn his 11th top-10 finish in 12 starts on the road course.
"Our car got better as the day went on," Mark said.
"Unfortunately, even when the car was good, we still weren't as fast as Jeff Gordon. If we wouldn't have had to pit an extra time we probably could have had a top-5 finish."
