The 2004 MBNA America 400

Mark and the Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) Racing team went to Dover looking Mark battles at Dover

to follow up their June win there with yet another strong performance at the 1-mile track that Mark often calls his favorite. In the end they found just what they were looking for, another top-five finish and continued movement up in the Nextel Cup point standings. Mark took over second place on lap 284 and held the position for the remaining 116 laps of the race. The strong performance moved Mark up to fifth in the Chase for the Nextel Cup – tied in points for fourth place with Jimmie Johnson. Mark has moved from eighth to fifth during the first two races of Nextel’s 10-race playoff to decide the champion.

"We just had a great race and such a good team effort today,” said Mark. “We had great pit stops and I'm just blessed with such a great group of guys like Pat Tryson and Wally Brown and Todd Zeigler and Jack Roush that provide me the tools that I need at the right time. I'm feeling pretty good right now. That's what we needed to do after Loudon. We knew what we probably were going to do at Loudon and we also knew what we could do here and we came and did what we needed to do.”

Sunday’s performance featured a combination of solid work in the pits and a fast car. Mark started the race in 12th place and would battle a loose car early. By the fifth lap he had dropped to 15th place. He was running in 14th when the day’s first caution was issued on lap 13. The team opted to come into the pits for two tires and fuel and Mark returned in 15th place when green-flag racing resumed. With Mark continuing to struggle with the car’s handling, the No. 6 Viagra? Ford fell back to as far as 17th place by lap 33.

Mark had moved back up to 15th place when caution number two was called on lap 47. The team came into the pits for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. After a 14.20-second stop, Mark came out in 13th place. With the car ‘pushing’ really bad, Mark moved to 12th, where he was running when the day’s third caution was called on lap 119. The caution gave the Viagra? team an opportunity to pit for four scuffed tires, fuel and additional chassis adjustments. A quick 13.742-second stop put Mark into the field’s top 10 for the first time of the day – he would never run outside the top 10 again.

Mark was still running in ninth place when caution number four was issued on lap 169. The team came into the pits two laps later and posted its best stop of the afternoon, a 13.08-second stop to take on four tires, fuel and make another chassis adjustment. The solid work in the pits put Mark back out in the top-five for the first time of the day, with Mark running fifth when the field went green on lap 177.

The car again started the run loose and Mark quickly fell back to sixth place on lap 182. Mark regrouped and moved back into fifth place on lap 207. The veteran would run inside the field’s top-five for the remainder of the day. On lap 211 Mark moved his Ford into fourth place, before taking over third on lap 234. Three laps later Mark moved into second place. Mark took the lead on lap 261 and earned five bonus points in the Chase, as the field started to pit under green. Crew Chief Pat Tryson brought Mark down pit road for a green-flag stop on lap 263. Once again the Viagra® Team came through, posting a 13.63-second stop to preserve Mark’s position among the race leaders.

Mark was running in third once the field had cycled through its pits. On lap 284, Mark passed Rusty Wallace for second place and he would not relinquish the position for the remainder of the race. Race leader Ryan Newman, who had the dominate car in Sunday’s race, had pulled away from the field, but a caution on lap 226 would make it interesting. The team pitted for the final time of the day under caution on lap 228, taking four tires and fuel, while making no adjustments in another quick time of 13.34 seconds.

“I would have liked to have given Ryan a run for his money on that last restart,” said Mark. “I thought that we could, but boy, was I wrong. He just had a little too much for us today.”

Mark and Newman would pull away from third place as the field returned to green with 70 laps to go. Newman was able to pull away from Mark, but Mark would move on to the solid second-place finish. The finish is Mark’s eighth top-five of the season and his sixth top-five in the last nine races. The finish moved Mark up to fifth in the point standings and in a tie for fourth, his highest place in the standings since 2002.

The team will return to action next week at Talladega Super speedway for the season’s fourth and final restrictor plate race of the season. Mark has finished sixth or better in two of the three restrictor plate races this season, including a sixth-place finish at Talladega earlier this year.