Rookie Ryan Newman had just won The Winston all-star race. Jimmie Johnson
won the pole for the Coca-Cola Racing Family 600, and everyone was pretty
sure one of them would wind up in victory lane Sunday night.If not them, one of the other young hotshots who have ruled the NASCAR Winston Cup Series this year. If not Johnson or Newman, then probably 23-year-old Kurt Busch, or 30-year-old teammate Matt Kenseth or 27-year-old Dale Earnhardt Jr. They have all been nearly unbeatable at times.
Few expected one of NASCAR's veteran drivers to step to the plate with the game on the line. And few expected it to be Mark, a 43-year-old who had not won in his past 73 races.
But with the checkered flag on the line and midnight fast approaching, it was Mark who stole the show at Lowe's Motor Speedway, beating Kenseth and the rest to win NASCAR's longest race for the first time.
Afterward, Mark spun his car around in circles on the front stretch grass, mimicking the donuts made popular recently by drivers nearly half his age.
Mark, who has not won since April 2000, was ecstatic, and he had every right to be.
Not only did he break the stranglehold the young guns have had on the sport in recent weeks, but he put his own reputation back on the Hall of Fame track it has been on most of his career.
When Mark was struggling last year, rarely contending en route to a winless season and disappointing 12th-place finish in points -- his first outside the top 10 in 13 years -- many began to write him off, wondering if he still had the commitment and dedication it takes to win at NASCAR's top level.
Many wrongly assumed that Mark no longer had the fire and desire to compete against NASCAR's younger stars.
Mark and his teammates, of course, knew better.
Though most refused to believe him, Mark said last year that, for whatever reason, his team was no longer giving him a race car good enough to be competitive. Too many variables had changed -- new tires, aerodynamics, chassis setups that no longer worked. For reasons that still go unexplained, Mark and veteran crew chief Jimmy Fennig just no longer clicked.
"I can't do it by myself. I can't win anything in a slow car," Mark said
last year and again Sunday night during his return to victory lane.So Mark agreed to one of the most surprising moves of the offseason. He and Busch, his 23-year-old teammate, simply switched crews, giving Busch Mark's veteran team and pairing Mark with a younger, less-experienced crew and crew chief in Ben Leslie.
The move was immediately questioned by most critics, particularly when Busch came out of the box strong, winning at Bristol and challenging for the championship early in the season.
What had gone relatively unnoticed, however, was that Mark was quietly creeping up the chart himself, clicking off top-10 finishes and occasionally appearing in the top five.
He finished fifth at California, fourth at Richmond and then, all of a sudden, he had the car to beat in The Winston. That didn't last long thanks to a blow engine, but a week later, Mark came back strong at Charlotte and drove his heart out to win one of NASCAR's most grueling races.
Afterward, Mark was a giddy as he has ever been after one of the biggest victories of his career.
"It hasn't made my career, but I'm the happiest man on Earth right now," he said.
He was so happy that he agreed to split the $1 million bonus he won with his crew. That, perhaps more than anything, is what made Mark happy, knowing that he won with a crew that he took a gamble on and put great faith in.
"It was really, really important to win this race," Mark said. "There are so many guys on this team that either hadn't been to Victory Lane or hadn't been in the capacity that they're working in and they wanted it really bad. ... This is a big win. This is big for these guys."
And it likely won't be the last. Mark is notoriously one of the most
pessimistic racers in NASCAR. He's fond of saying that he might never win
again, and he reiterated that fear when he climbed from his car Sunday
night.But he also knows that he's now got the confidence to win again almost any week. And he's also got a habit of going on a hot streak, winning two, three and even four in a row, which he has done twice.
"I said in 2000 that this may be the last one and I'll say it again. This may be the last time I ever stand down there. I don't know," Mark said. "(But) I feel pretty good about it now. And I think we've got a good shot at (this week) at Dover to be honest with you."
He could also be on his way to the championship that has so far eluded him. He has finished in the top five nine times, including three runner-up finishes. Just 143 points out of first, this could be his year.
"This is a good year for us," Mark says. "We're top five in points, and if we can start racing like this, week in and week out ... if we can keep picking it up and keep having good luck, we could even contend for the championship this year."
Don't count him out. After one of the toughest years of his career, Mark, the savvy veteran, is clearly back.
