The Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 400

Mark ran to his third straight top-10 and tenth top-five finish of the season, with a strong second-place finish in Mark puts Tony a lap down early in Sunday's Pop Secret 400 at Rockingham.

Mark puts Tony a lap down early in Sunday's Pop Secret 400 at Rockingham.

Sunday's Pop Secret 400 at the North Carolina Speedway. The finish helped Mark close the gap between he and points leader Tony Stewart. Mark, who entered the race 146 points outside of first place, left Rockingham only 87 points out of first place with just two races remaining.

Mark, who led a race-high 144 laps and earned 10 bonus points on the day, passed teammate Kurt Busch on lap 366 to move into second place, and spent the last 20 laps of the race battling eventual winner Johnny Benson for the lead. Mark would pull within inches of passing Benson, but was unable to regain the lead.

The No. 6 Viagra® Ford Taurus was strong all weekend, qualifying fifth on Friday and posted the second fastest time in Saturday's final practice. Sunday's race was no different. By lap 33 Mark was running the fastest times on the track and by lap 41 the Viagra Ford took the lead for the first time of the day.

After falling back to third a few laps later, Mark once again took over first place on lap 68 and would go on to lead the next 37 laps. The Viagrā Racing Team would go into the pits for the second time of the day on lap 108, taking on four tires and fuel with an impressive 14.48-second stop. Once all the cars had pitted Mark was again in the lead on lap 113. The Viagra® Ford Taurus would lead the field for the next 43 laps, before the car started to tighten up and Mark dropped back into second place.

Mark tears it up at The Rock.

By lap 198 Mark was back in front of the field when the team came into the pits for its third stop. With the car tight, the Viagra Racing Team made wedge and air pressure adjustments, as well as taking on four tires and fuel in another impressive stop of 14.592. Once the field had cycled through their pit stops, Mark was running in sixth position on lap 217.

Mark had moved to second place by lap 257, when the day's third caution was called. With the car a 'little tight', Mark came into the pits on lap 258 to make more wedge adjustments and take on tires and fuel. The Viagra Racing team - who finished second in Saturday's pit crew competition - took only 14.20 seconds to make a wedge adjustment and take on four tires and fuel.

Mark took the lead for the fourth time of the day on lap 283 and led the field for the next 57 laps before being passed by Busch on lap 340. Mark began to experience problems with the car's front end and dropped back to third place by lap 349.

Running alone on the bottom of the track, Mark was able to overcome Busch for second place by lap 366. He spent the remainder of the race battling for the win, before settling for the second place finish.

The finish is Mark's 20th top-10 finish of 2003 and his 10th-top five.

The Viagra® Racing Team returns to action next Sunday in Phoenix, before concluding the 2003 season a week later in Homestead.