NASCAR Nextel Cup future that is swirling around Daytona International
Speedway this week.Mark, racing the No. 01 Ginn Racing Chevrolet in this weekend's season-opening Daytona 500, was asked if he would consider ramping up his partial schedule if he came out strong this season. If, say, Mark was fifth in the points heading into the March 25 race at Bristol Motor Speedway would he reconsider his plans to skip that race?
Hearing the question, Mark asked the media why they kept pummeling him about things like this and then explained they weren't the only ones broaching the topic.
"Matt Kenseth's got a $200 bet," he said. "We'll see if he wins it or not. I have a plan, I'm very happy. If I wanted to run the full season, I certainly could. I don't want to, I haven't asked to. In fact I said no to that over and over and over again, so let's just not worry about whether or not I'm fifth in the points going into Bristol and let me do what I want to do, and that's exactly what I have on the schedule.
"I just don't see any need to be worrying about all the what-ifs." Still, the what-ifs persisted. In Sunday's Daytona 500, Mark competes in his first full-fledged race with his No. 01 team. Although he ran the Budweiser Shootout and the Gatorade Duel with his team, this will be the first points effort.
So, is he worried about accidentally pitting in the wrong stall on Sunday? Could old habits persist and Mark pull into the No. 6 pits that he used for so many years while driving a Jack Roush-owned Ford?
"I hope it's not hard," he said of finding his own stall. "If it is, I'm in trouble. I don't know. I've had people around me speculate that I would do that. I don't know if I will or not. I've run two races so Far, and the 6 car wasn't in those races, so I knew where my pit was and I found my pit board OK.
"At the same time, it is all new, and I've been No. 6 for 19 years, but I've drove a lot of other things too, I've drove [No.] 60, I've drove No. 9, I've drove some other things, but obviously considering that the colors haven't changed on the 6 car that much from when I drove it, there's always a chance. I have done a lot dumber things than that."
