Mark earned a record extending 30th career-Busch
pole at Texas Motor Speedway
and ran virtually the entire race inside the field’s top five, en route to
his 104th career top-five Busch finish. Making his final Busch start of the
2006 season in the No. 6 Ameriquest Ford Fusion, Mark pitted for the third
and final time of the race on lap 126 for four tires and fuel under green.
Once the field cycled through its stops Mark was back in fourth, where he
went on to finish the race.
"We were a fourth-place car, and these guys did a great job with it,”
said Mark. “We just didn't have it wired in quite good enough to run with
those first three. It was a good run for us. These guys did a great job
and we were a fourth-place car all day and that's where we wound up. We
couldn't ask for better than that."
Mark started the race on the pole and led the first nine laps before dropping
back to third on lap 10. He remained in the race’s top four for the remainder
of the race, with the exception of when the team pitted under green on lap
126. Once the stops cycled through, Mark was back in fourth place. Mark
pitted early for fuel on the final stop and was able to conserve fuel for
the top-five finish.
"We did conserve fuel, but we were going to run fourth no matter what,”
added Mark. “So the last 15 laps, I slowed down a little bit and just
brought it home."
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