The Pennzoil Freedom 400

Mark started his day in 16th place for Sunday's Pennzoil Near miss at homestead

Freedom 400. He dropped to 19th early in the race, but the longer he ran the Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) Taurus, the better it got. He was up to 10th place by the time he pitted for fuel and tires on lap 58. The car was a bit tight, so the crew made an air pressure and wedge adjustment on the first stop.

Once Mark returned to the race, he was not pleased with the way the car handled. He told the team the car was too loose to run on the apron and too tight to run up on the track. They decided to reverse the previous changes during their next stop on lap 83. The 14.3-second stop helped Mark maintain his 10th place position.

He worked his way up to ninth before the next caution on lap 111 for debris. The team decided to improve Mark's track position by only changing right-side tires. The 6.9-second stop sent Mark out in the lead. He led the 11 caution laps until the race resumed on lap 123. Kevin Harvick was able to pass him on the restart and Mark told his crew the track was changing. The car was loose and he dropped back to sixth place. The team lowered the track bar and made another air pressure adjustment during the caution on lap 148. Since a few of the teams only took two tires, Mark returned to the track in 10th place.

He was able to run in the top 10, but the fourth caution of the race brought him into the pits again. The crew did another two-tire stop, but he was still in 10th place. The car was too loose and Mark began to drop back in the field. He was frustrated with the numerous cautions since his car worked better on long runs. The team added wedge on lap 225 and Mark was 19th when the race resumed.

With 27 laps to go, Mark said the car was pushing. He fell back to 21st place while he struggled with the handling. A caution on lap 251 brought him into the pits for the final time for air pressure and wedge adjustments. He was 19th with 13 laps to go, but the handling was still a problem for him. Mark finished the race in 24th place, while Bill Elliott won his first race in seven years. Elliott and the other Dodge drivers all had a good day, which hopefully will force a rule change to help the Fords before Atlanta next weekend.

"Our car was really good in happy hour yesterday," Mark said. "It was also pretty good early in the race. About halfway through the race, the track surface changed and we couldn't get the handling quite right. It was a disappointing finish. We had a few problems on the track and in the pits. I'd like to see NASCAR help the Fords before Atlanta. It's a little late in the year to help us, but it would be nice for next year. The Dodges were really strong all weekend and the advantage they got before Indy has helped them beat us at many of the tracks where downforce is important. Hopefully we'll have a better weekend at Atlanta."

Next weekend the Winston Cup teams will go to Atlanta Motor Speedway for what should have been their final race of the season. Now the season will end in two weeks at New Hampshire with the make-up race that was canceled in September.