The 2006 O'Reilly 200 Craftsmen Truck Race

Mark and the No. 6 Scotts Ford F-150 were simply dominant in Wednesday Mark Wins At Bristol Truck Race

night’s Craftsman Truck Series win at Bristol Motor Speedway. Mark took the pole, his second of the season, and led 164 of 200 laps en route to his fourth victory of the season in just eight starts in the Craftsman Truck Series. Mark never surrendered the lead on the track all night, giving up the lead only once while coming down pit road, while others opted to stay out on the track. The win made Mark the fourth winningest driver in NASCAR history, with 87 total NASCAR wins in the Nextel Cup, Busch and Truck series’.

"It all started off being a great day as soon as I got here and started working with Mike Beam and the Scotts team,” said Mark. “They really had that F-150 working today. We made a few adjustments on it during practice and I told them, 'Man, we're ready.' We quit practice early and the truck was spectacular. I knew it was today and it was tonight. Mike Beam made a great call and we had the truck that we needed to save tires and save gas till it came time to lower the hammer."

Mark was fast right out of the truck and never looked back, taking what was his 10th career NASCAR pole at Bristol (seven Cup, two Busch). He pulled away early and simply drove away from the field. The race’s nine cautions were the only thing that kept the field close, but Mark would pull away each time on the restart. After the race’s second caution was issued on lap 28 the team would come down pit road for its first and only stop of the race, taking on four tires and fuel. Mark would come out of the pits short on enough fuel to make it the remainder of the race, but his ability to conserve on long green flag runs, combined with the numerous cautions down the stretch was enough to take him to the end.

Mark came out of the pits in 14th position, as 13 cars opted to stay out on the track for a different fuel strategy. The field went green on lap 33 and Mark drove his way back inside the top 10 on lap 50. He was running in ninth when the race’s third caution was called on lap 63. The remainder of the field was then forced to come down pit road and Mark was shown as the leader when the field returned to green on lap 69. He led the remaining 131 laps in one of the most dominating performances of his career.

“It was spectacular the whole time and it's just a lot of fun to race with Mike and all of those guys,” added Mark. “They get so excited when we run good and that makes it so much fun. I want to thank Jack Roush for making that available to me. Such a great team, and I thought we had an incredible crowd here tonight, a big crowd and they were supportive of it. I'm sure we're going to see a lot more sparks yet this weekend. We're not done making sparks out there yet."

The win was Mark’s fifth at Bristol Motor Speedway, with two each coming in the Cup and Busch Series’. Mark now has four wins, seven top-five finishes and two poles in eight truck starts in 2006. He will return to action in the Scotts Ford F-150 at New Hampshire in September.