Challenge on Saturday night, he's charged up to try to turn those hopes into
a dream finish to this chapter of his career."This was a miracle tonight," Mark said after leading the final 19 laps to win $1,101,325 with the second all-star race victory of his career at Lowe's Motor Speedway. "And we're not done yet. They want to deliver another one – a championship."
In 17 previous Nextel Cup seasons with car owner Jack Roush, Mark has finished sixth or better in the points standings 13 times. He has been the championship runner-up four times, but has not won the title.
Last year, after starting the season slowly, Mark mounted a furious summer run and clawed his way into the inaugural Chase for the Nextel Cup. He nursed his title hopes all the way into the last of the 10 races in the Chase, but wound up fourth in the final standings as teammate Kurt Busch won the title.
As the season closed, Mark said he went to each member of his No. 6 Ford team. The 46-year-old Mark said he promised each of them that he'd summon everything he had left to give it one last try to win a championship, but knew he couldn't do it if his team wasn't there to help him.
Saturday night, Mark said it was gratifying to see those teammates who complied with his pleas drenched with champagne as they celebrated their all-star victory. "The look on the face of every guy who made this happen, the guys who do the work, I wish I could capture that and hold onto it," Mark said. "That's really special."
Mark also basked in what he called an overwhelming response from a crowd of around 125,000, who enthusiastically welcomed the veteran's victory that elevated what otherwise might have gone down as one of the less memorable among all-star events.
After Mark jumped past Elliott Sadler on a restart one lap into the final 20-lap segment, that was that. Only when Mark backed off to what he called a "comfort zone" in a few of the remaining laps did Sadler make up any ground. Sadler gave it everything his No. 38 Ford had, but the outcome was never in significant doubt.
The Challenge did add to NASCAR all-star racing's contentious history when a wreck off Turn 4 on Lap 35 left nine cars mangled and Kevin Harvick and Joe Nemechek exchanging words, gestures and other pleasantries in its aftermath.
Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon did come across the finish line side-by-side, but it was for fourth, with Gordon edging Johnson to finish behind the front two and Brian Vickers, who punted Mike Bliss on the final lap of the Nextel Open preliminary to elbow his way into the main event.
This night was all about Mark.
He'd gone barely 100 yards past the checkered flag before telling his team
he wanted to come back to defend the victory next season. Later, Mark said
he'd also like to run next year's Bud Shootout at Daytona.Beyond that, however, he's sticking to his plan to leave the full-time Cup grind behind after 2005 to race in the NASCAR Truck Series and/or short-track cars in Friday and Saturday night shows across the country.
"I don't see how it would be possible to race a limited scheduled on the level that I want to race on," Mark said. "It's just not possible to do that.
"Last year, I reached deeper than I ever have in my life to contend for the championship. I thought there was no way – no possible way – I could find any more. But I've had to reach even deeper this year, and I know there's no possible way I could step it up another notch still."
Mark has never given anything less than maximum effort, and that's not about to change.
"I don't know if you all truly realize how big this job has become," he said. "Maybe it's just harder for me because of my age. It's like walking around with a house on my back, that's what it feels like. It's not fun and games. If you lay back and rest one time, when you stand back up you're at the back of the pack. That's not going to happen, so I am not going to lay down and rest."
Mark has five top-10 finishes in the season's first 11 points races, putting him 10th in the standings going into Sunday's Coca-Cola 600. He won the 600 in 2002 and also has three career victories at October races at the 1.5-mile track he still said he loves more than any other track in the world despite the fact he's not a fan of the "levigating" process used to alter the racing surface this year.
After Charlotte comes Dover, a track where Mark won last year. He's confident that he and his team still have enough to get back to the Chase after 26 races, and harbors faith they can find a way to step things up in the final 10 races the way Busch did to win the championship a year ago.
"This is my last chance," Mark said. "Do I expect to win it? You know me, you know the answer to that.
"But do I expect to fight like a dog for it?
"You'd better believe it."
