The 2004 Nextel Challenge

Mark and the Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) Racing team Mark in the pits at night

boasted one of the top cars all weekend at the Nextel All-Star Challenge at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. The team qualified fourth on Friday and Mark ran in the field’s top five for most of night, before an incident on lap 61 with the No. 8 and No. 5 cars ended Mark’s bid for the win.

The No. 8 car appeared to bump Mark’s car from the rear, getting Mark’s car loose. Mark was able to save the car, but not until after he had made contact with the No. 5 car of Terry Labonte. The contact caused severe damage to the sheet metal and exhaust system of Mark’s car and the No. 6 Viagra® Ford was never the same again. Mark was able to run on to a 10th place finish, but he would not be a contender for the remaining 29 laps of the race.

"I think I got a little bit of a nudge from behind there and it knocked me up into Terry,” said Mark. “That messed our car up. We had a pretty competitive car up until that point. We finished third in the first segment and sixth or seventh in the second segment after the inversion. We were fixing to do something there and just got a little help. I was just out there racing giving it my best. After that accident it messed our car up and we just had to kind of hang on and do what we could."

The Nextel All-Star Challenge is divided into three different segments of 40, 30 and 20 laps. Mark’s car was strong early and the veteran was able to narrowly avoid an early accident that claimed seven cars and badly damaged three others. Mark went on to move into the field’s top three by lap 29. He held that position for the remainder of the session. After the first segment the top eight cars of the field were inverted, so Mark started the second segment in sixth position accordingly.

A 12.99-second pit stop under caution on lap 55 helped move Mark up to fourth place when the field went green on lap 60. With 30 laps to go, Mark was in striking distance with one of the fastest cars on the track. However, on the next lap the No. 8 car hit Mark, causing the damage to his Ford Taurus. Mark dropped all the way to eighth place, before getting back by the No. 2 car to finish the second segment in seventh.

Mark fought to move back up front, but the damage proved to be too severe as he eventually dropped back to 10th place where he finished the event. Matt Kenseth went on to win the event.

“I’m not even really sure what happened,” added Mark. “My guys told me I got a little nudge, but whatever. I wound up sideways and into Terry and that messed my car up. We had a real competitive car. We got off just a little bit in the second segment, but made our adjustments for the last segment and were anxious to go see what we could do. It was a good run. We have such a great race team right now. We ran fast on Friday and we ran fast tonight and we hope to run faster next week."

The team returns to points racing next weekend in the longest race of the Nextel Cup season, the Coca-Cola 600; an event Mark won in 2002.