The 2002 MBNA All-American Heroes 400

"Fast pit stops and a fast car" are the words Mark used to describe Mark qualifys at Dover

how he and the No. 6 Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) Racing team overcame a poor qualifying effort on Friday to run to a second-place finish in Sunday's MBNA American Heroes 400. The finish, Mark's ninth top-five of the season, allowed Mark to up his lead - in the Winston Cup Points standings - to 30 points over second place Jimmy Johnson. Johnson won the race.

"We put ourselves in a pitiful hole there on Friday with a dumb qualifying effort," said Mark, who started the race in 32nd position, his third worst qualifying effort of the season and his worst since March. "But we dug our way out with fast pit stops and a fast car," added Mark. "You just can't say enough about this Viagra® Racing team. These guys never give up. They gave me a great car and everything we needed to compete in this race."

Mark made a couple of late runs on Johnson for the win, cutting Johnson's lead to just two-tenths of a second with five laps remaining. Dealing with lapped traffic and the aero push, Mark was able to make a serious vie for the win, but unable to pass the rookie for the victory.

"The 48 was fast there at the end. Our car was really good and we tried really hard. When I got there I tried a little too hard. I wanted to win really bad and I'd get a push when I got right behind him and I just wasn't able to overcome him."

"The car needed a slight adjustment on the last pit stop, but we decided to play it conservative. We were running lap times that were as fast as anyone, and we just didn't want to do anything that would shoot ourselves in the foot and let anything slip through our fingers. If we had made the adjustment, then maybe we could have given him (Johnson) more trouble."

After starting 32nd, Mark wasted no time moving up the field. He was running in 29th position by lap 10. The veteran had worked his way into 21st position when the day's third caution was called on lap 53. In a move to gain track position, the Viagra® Racing team chose to take right side tires only, making Mark the only driver to not take four tires.

Mark and Jeff Burton

The move worked and Mark returned to the field in third position. It took several laps for the tires to find their groove and Mark dropped all the way back to 14th position, before the car settled in. By lap 64 he was back in 11th place and by the 107th lap of the race he was again running inside the top 10.

The team was running in 10th place when they came into the pits on lap 117, this time taking four tires and fuel. A 15.3-second stop sent the Viagra® Ford Taurus back out in ninth position. Mark spent the next several laps working his way up the field, eventually leading five laps and earning five bonus points in the championship race. Eventually, Mark came into the pits on lap 243 as the leader.

Another fast stop of 15.4 seconds (four tires, fuel) sent Mark back out in eighth place. By lap 265, the Winston Cup Points Leader broke into the top-five. The day's last caution on lap 318 sent Mark into the pits for the final time, taking on four fresh tires and fuel, but opting to play conservative with no changes. Yet another excellent stop of 15.03 seconds sent Mark back out in third place and in position to make a run at the win.

By lap 372, Mark had taken over second place. He made a pair of runs at Johnson, but came up short of the victory. Still, the strong run allowed Mark to increase his lead in the championship race to 30 points.

The finish is Mark's ninth top-five of 2002 and his 17th top 10. It also marks the veteran's 20th top-10 run at Dover in 33 races and his 16th top-five. Mark was the first of four Roush Racing cars that finished inside the top 10, with teammates Matt Kenseth (4), Kurt Busch (6) and Jeff Burton (7) following.

With eight races remaining in the season, Mark will take his points lead and momentum to Kansas City next weekend for the Protection One 400. While excited to be in the hunt, Mark knows that there are a lot of races left in 2002.

"I did say when I left New Hampshire that I was glad we were coming here because if nothing went wrong, I could leave here with the points lead too. Well, something went wrong on Friday and we overcame it. Nothing went wrong for us today and we were able to overcome our problems. Still, we have a lot of racing and a lot of tough races to face yet, and probably a lot of tough situations to face that we can't even imagine."