NAPA 500 - 2000

"I think we broke the pulleys off the front of the engine, so we were all done, but the Valvoline Taurus The broken pully

was working well. This has been one of those years for that kind of stuff. We broke things that we run forever and don't break. so I guess you chalk that one up to a little bit of bad luck and we'll have to make them stronger for next year. I guess the harder we run these things and the more power we make, the more RPM's we make, you have parts that give you trouble that never have before maybe"

When asked how hard it was to end on this kind of note Mark said, "We weren't running bad today, so I like that. I thought the Valvoline teamj had a good car for me. We were chasing the setup around a little bit and if we could have improved on it much, we could have gotton real racey there, so I was encouraged by that and I can't help it the thing broke".

Mark is looking forward to the offseason. He plans to spend some time around Thanksgiving with family and friends at his Daytona Beach home and then get his son's Quarter-Midget track up and running at New Smyrna Fla. On Dec 6, Mark will have an operation on his back to remove the black box put in last winter during the first operation that helped stimulate the regrowth of bones in his back. Mark says he will be in New York City for the awards banquet.

If you would like to see some pictures I took of Mark and team in the pits and back at the garage you can click here for that page.

You can see some pictures from Friday's qualifying and Saturday's practice by clicking here.


Congratulations, Jerry Nadeau, for the win at the 2000 NASCAR Winston Cup NAPA 500 in Atlanta, Ga.