Mark ranks 10th in the Winston Cup standings as he heads to Warkins Glen this weekend.
Mark's no different. He went under the knife to have his ailing back sized up during NASCAR's short offseason last November. The surgery was a success. Less than three months later, he was at Daytona to begin again.
There's only one difference between Mark and any other
athlete looking to get off the disabled list. For most, their
surgeries usually signal a new beginning for their careers --
a chance to wipe away lingering pains and return to full
effectiveness.Even though he gets around better than a year ago, and even though he has little trouble climbing in and out of his race car, Mark's new and improved back has sent his fortunes into a freefall.
That's not how Mark expected a surgically improved vertebral column to say thanks. It's not the back that is giving him problems -- it's Lady Luck, or the lack therof.
With an unforgiving and soon forgettable season rapidly winding down, Mark's improved range of motion has his No. 6 Ford backing up in the Winston Cup standings.
It's not the normal course of events for Mark, who's traditionally a threat every February to make each season end with his first Winston Cup championship. Last year, in the heat of the battle, his back turned sour and resulted in yet another top-five season that ended without a championship ring.
There will be no championship this season either -- whether his back feels better or not.
The Arkansas native heads to Watkins Glen this weekend staring down a pair of shotgun finishes in the series' last two stops -- 43rd at Pocono and 43rd again at the Brickyard 400 in Indianapolis.
Lap 15 at Indy spoiled what had been a promising weekend. After winning Saturday's IROC finale and finishing second to Dale Earnhardt in the IROC championship points, Mark was moving his Ford to the front of the Brickyard 400 when he was hit in -- where else? -- in the back by Mike Skinner.
"I was trying to be careful, and Skinner got in the back of
me," Mark said. "It was an accident."For one of the most consistent drivers in Winston Cup history, accidents are few and far between. This season, they've rang out like Hurricane warnings along the North Carolina coast. Aside from a win earlier in the season at Martinsville, it has been hard-luck city for Mark.
At Pocono -- the race that preceeded Indy -- it was a Roush Racing motor that backfired and sent Mark back to the garage from whence he wouldn't return. Same story at Richmond earlier in the year.
"Yeah, I wasn't even all that mad (at Indianapolis)," Mark said. "If that would have happened a year ago, I would have had to either kill myself or someone else. I really didn't get that mad because it's just like, 'I can't believe it.' That's why it took me so long to get out of the car. I wasn't hurt I was just stunned. I couldn't believe that I was wrecked on lap 15."
Believe it. Mark won earlier this season at Martinsville with some late-race strategy. Less than 40 miles into the Brickyard 400, there was no late-race run to strategize for.
It's all a mystery to Mark. How could someone so consistent at finishing suddenly find finishing so tough?
Whatever the reason, Mark is stress-free for the remainder of the season. He sits 10th in the Winston Cup standings. It would take a miracle of magnanimous proportions for him to sneak back into the title hunt.
He'll head to Watkins Glen knowing that he is one of the best road racers and hoping that whatever can go wrong, won't go wrong for a change.
"It still doesn't matter," he said. "All it does is take a little bit of stress and strain off of scoring every point and puts a little bit more stress and strain on just sheer performance. So it's still just as strenuous, but the strain is in a little different focus.
"If you're in the points championship you never want to lose a point. If you're gonna run sixth, you've gotta kill yourself for fifth. If you're not in the points championship, if you're running sixth, you've gotta really try to kill yourself to figure out how to get first out of it. It's just a little bit different reality that you're dealing with."
