his Roush Racing team head to Lowe's Motor Speedway. A blown tire and a
32nd-place finish at Richmond have Mark in third place in the point
standings, but he's looking to move up. "We were first in the points right
after Talladega and it is a very realistic goal to do it again," he said.
"We spent two nights testing at Lowe's Motor Speedway last week and we
were pretty pleased with the results. We're going to race a brand new car
at The Winston, and assuming nothing happens to it -- which is a big
assumption at The Winston -- we will most likely run it again at the
Coca-Cola 600. It tested well, and we have a good backup for the 600. If
anything happens to this car during The Winston, we'll run the car we took
to California."Mark has finished in the top 10 at the Coca-Cola 600 every year since 1996, and three of those four starts resulted in top-five finishes. "We usually have pretty good luck at Charlotte," Mark said. "It's a good track for us and has been one of my favorites for a long time. It's tough to get the setup right when you start in daylight and end under the lights, but you just have to accept that you will make adjustments along the way as the track tightens up. I think we have a great shot to win not only the 600-mile race, but also the Winston No Bull Five $1 million bonus. Jeff Burton won it at the 600 last year, so I think it is my turn to finally win the money."
Mark will also compete in the Busch Series race at Charlotte on May 27. He will be racing a car with a special Winn-Dixie paint scheme for the second time this year. This paint scheme will be a tribute for the Memorial Day weekend. Mark has won four of six BGN starts this season.
In 30 career Winston Cup starts at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Mark has posted three wins, 12 top fives, 15 top 10s, and two pole positions. He has won more than $1.3 million in his Winston Cup career at Charlotte.
Mark will also make an appearance at Hawk Ridge Elementary School in Charlotte on Wednesday, May 24. Mark's appearance is part of General Mills' Box Tops for Education program. The students at the school collected 9,500 box tops -- more than any other school in the Charlotte area. Mark is one of five Roush Racing drivers to challenge students in cities across America to collect box tops. Since the program began four years ago, General Mills has paid more than $25 million to schools that collect and redeem box tops from General Mills products. After spending time with the Hawk Ridge students on Wednesday morning, Mark will compete for the Coca-Cola 600 pole that night. "I haven't won a pole yet this year and haven't sat on the pole for the Coca-Cola 600 since 1991," Mark said. "Maybe the kids can give me some advice and enough luck to win the pole that night."
Mark's engine builder, Roush Racing's Randy Hewitt, claimed
the top prize in the Clevite Engine Builder Showdown 2000. The Showdown
2000 pitted the top engine builders in NASCAR Winston Cup racing in a
timed competition. Hewitt and his assistant Mike Kasch assembled a bare
block Ford 5.8L engine in 21 minutes and 41 seconds to edge the team from
Larry Hedrick Motorsports in the finals. Hewitt won an expense-paid trip
for two to Hawaii and a one-year lease on a Mustang GT convertible or
Camaro SS convertible. Highlights of the event will be seen on TNN's
"NASCAR Garage" this fall.
