they don't finish first.Chicago Cubs shortstop and first baseman Ernie Banks, Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim Kelly, Utah Jazz guard John Stockton.
Mark should give those guys a call. They can relate. He has a few things in common with all of them.
They rank among the best athletes ever to compete in their respective sports. They were highly respected by the peers and fans, not only for their talent, but also their character.
And one more thing – none of them has a championship ring.
Few people would argue that Mark is the best NASCAR driver in history to fail to win a Winston Cup championship. It still could happen, but Mark will be 45 next season.
He has two more years on his contract to drive the No. 6 Viagra Ford for Jack Roush. Mark firmly believes he can contend for the title next season with the new Taurus body and improved cylinder heads on the Ford engine.
But it may be too late. In a sport with a growing number of talented young stars including Dale Earnhardt Jr., Ryan Newman and Jimmie Johnson, the chances of an old guy like Mark beating them out for a Cup title seems unlikely.
And that's a shame. Mark is a class act. From the time he drove in his first Winston Cup event in 1981, he has raced in a spirit of sportsmanship that many of the new breed of drivers fail to follow. Some of Mark's former foes could be pretty ornery as well.
Dale Earnhardt was beloved by fans, but he also was as mean as they come during a race. If you were in his way, you were in big trouble. If you happened to bump him, you could have expected him to bump you twice as hard in the next race.
Mark rarely has used a bump-and-run to make a pass. He never has intentionally put another driver into the wall. He gets out of the way when he knows his car isn't as competitive as a car and driver behind him.
He plays clean and he plays fair, and that could be a factor in why he has come close to a championship so many times without winning one.
Four times since 1990, Mark has finished as the runner-up to the title. Two were heartbreaking – a 26-point loss to Earnhardt in 1990 and a 38-point loss to Tony Stewart last year.
Both years involved points penalties involving car specifications that had little or no performance advantage.
Few people realize that Mark also has finished third in the standings four other years, including 1997 when he ended up 29 points behind Cup champ Jeff Gordon and 15 behind Dale Jarrett.
All those years of coming so close had to run through his mind last week when teammate Matt Kenseth, the man he begged Roush to hire, won the first Winston Cup championship for Roush Racing.
It was the shining moment Mark deserved, but never achieved. Some drivers might have taken it hard, feeling they got a raw deal. Mark handled the day with dignity and sincere joy for Kenseth and Roush.
"There's no bittersweet here," Mark said. "What I've accomplished, I'm proud of. But I'm not more proud of Matt today. He is a great racecar driver and a better person. The actions make the man, the trophy doesn't."
No one in NASCAR better epitomizes that statement than Mark. When he retires, NASCAR officials would be wise to consider naming a sportsmanship award in his honor. It's the least they could do for a driver who always has put the sport in the best possible light.
A championship may elude Mark. A career of excellence and high repute did not.
