The 2005 New England 300

Mark and the Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) Racing Team had their work cut out for Mark in Loudon in July 2005

Mark and the Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) Racing Team ran to a 15th-place finish in Sunday’s New England 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway. Mark picked up his final position with only seven laps to go in route to his 12th top-15 finish this season. After 19 races Mark is currently seventh in the Nextel Cup point standings, 27 points out of fifth place and 352 out of first.

“That's really all we had today,” said Mark. “The guys did an awesome job and that's all I could do. I'm proud of our team. They were awesome on pit road. We ran a smart race and we got 15th. That's better than we could have done, so we'll keep on marching."

Mark and the team started 19th and struggled to find speed for the majority of the day, but a solid effort in the pits and determined driving by the wily veteran helped take the No. 6 Ford to a solid finish. By lap nine Mark had dropped to 23rd place. He eventually worked his way back to 20th, where he was running when the day’s second caution was issued on lap 26. The team came in for two tires and fuel and returned in 23rd place as the first eight cars elected to stay out.

Mark had dropped back to 24th place by lap 57 when caution number four was called for rain fall. A lightning fast 12.89-second stop by the Viagra® over-the-wall crew helped gain Mark six positions up to 18th when green flag racing resumed on lap 67.

The team used another fast stop of 13.76-seconds after the day’s fifth caution on lap 115 to help gain Mark three spots up to 16th. Mark got up to 15th, before the car’s handling became loose and he fell back to 18th.

Mark was still running in 18th position when caution was issued for the seventh time on lap 217, giving the team the opportunity to come into the pits for the fifth and final time of the day. The team was once again relentless under pressure, reeling off a 13.37-second stop that put Mark back out in 15th place with 80 laps to go. Mark would be forced to fight for the spot, eventually dropping back to 16th on lap 245, before coming back and taking the spot with just seven laps to go.

The team will return to action next week at Pocono, where Mark finished seventh last month. Mark will be looking for his first career win at the track where he has posted six second-place finish.