The 2001 New England 300

Mark and the Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) racing team started the Mark in New England

Winston Cup season finale in 12th place based on their position in owners' points from when this race was originally scheduled to be run in September. The team was graced with a good car and good weather for the one-day event on Friday. Mark ran in the top 10 most of the day and earned another top-10 finish.

The race began under cool, sunny skies and Mark moved up to 11th place despite the car being tight coming out of the corners. He had moved up to eighth place when the first caution of the day came out on lap 32. The crew made track bar and air pressure adjustments and sent Mark back out in seventh place after a 14.15-second stop.

The next two cautions were called by NASCAR for the teams to check their tire wear since they were only given a 45-minute practice earlier that morning. Many teams were having problems with their right-side tires, so Mark tried to be conservative early in the race to save his tires. He was up to fifth place by lap 97 when the second mandatory caution came out. The team had a lengthy pit stop since they added a rubber to the right-rear spring to help the handling and improve the tire wear. Mark returned to the race in ninth place on lap 106. Within 30 laps he was back up to sixth place, although the car was still a little tight coming off the corners. The team raised the track bar on lap 142 and another 14-second pit stop sent him out in sixth place.

By the halfway point of the race Mark was still in sixth place. He told the team the car needed to turn better and they needed to take wedge out on the next stop. They did that on lap 201. Mark was running in seventh when he told the team the right-front tire was starting to give up by lap 235. He fell back to 11th place and pitted for fresh tires and more adjustments on lap 257.

As the field cycled through green-flag pit stops, there were eight cars that had not pitted when the caution came out with 27 laps to go. This put Mark one lap down, but when the race restarted NASCAR put him at the tail end of the lead lap. Since he restarted the race ahead of the leaders, he was able to stay in front of them until the next caution on lap 286. Since he was the last car on the lead lap, the team figured they would not lose anything to pit for new tires.

Mark was in 12th place when the race resumed with 10 laps to go. Since he was back on the lead lap, he was able to gain a few more spots in the final laps to finish the race in ninth place. The finish helped him maintain his 12th place position in the point standings.

"We had a good car today," Mark said. "If we would not have had problems with the right-front tire toward the end we might have had a top-five finish. The tire Goodyear brought was a softer compound for the cold weather and it didn't hold up as well as it should have, but it definitely had good grip on the track. It was more like what I am used to driving on.

"I'm real proud of this team today and all season. They've done everything they could to give me good cars and good pit stops. Hopefully next year we can have the results to show that."