The 2002 Protection One 400

Mark and the Viagrā Racing Team battled all weekend and for the first Mark leads Rusty Wallace, Kurt Busch and Joe Nemechek

157 laps of Sunday's Protection One 400, before finding the right mix for speed. After struggling in practice and for much of the race, Mark had moved up to ninth place with only 31 laps remaining. The veteran was poised to keep his points lead in tact, when the car began experiencing mechanical problems just a few moments later.

Mark ran the next 12 laps in 10th place before coming into the pits during the days 10th caution to take on four fresh tires to complete the final laps of the race. However the Viagrā Ford Taurus stalled in the pits. The crew was able to push start the car and Mark made one more lap before returning to the pits. The team worked for several minutes on the car, but the problems were too severe and Mark and the crew retired to the garage with a 25th-place finish.

"I thought we were going to finish that bad, but I figured it would be because we couldn't get the car going," said Mark after the race. "However the car was actually really good on long runs and it looked like we were going to have a really good finish there.

"But that is the way it goes," added Mark. "We are not the first team to have a problem this year and we won't be the last. I thought that we didn't have a chance going into the race but we ran really well. I'm proud of the guys and their effort today. The car was actually pretty good, but it just didn't have quite enough laps in it today."

Mark and the team struggled with the car right off the truck, but Mark was able to turn an impressive lap in qualifying and the Viagrā Ford Taurus started the race in ninth position. However the team was unable to get a grip on the car during either of Saturday's practice sessions and the team was uncertain heading into the race.

Unable to find the right setup for the car, Mark struggled with tightness and fell back to 20th position by lap 18 and 24th by the 37th lap. The team continued to struggle with the car and was running in 18th position when the day's sixth caution was called on lap 100. Just as they did a week ago the Viagra® Racing Team gambled and took two tires on its third pit stop of the day and returned to the field in eighth place when the field went green on lap 107.

However the strategy failed to work and Mark had dropped back 23rd place when caution was called on lap 111. The team came back in for four more tires and air pressure adjustments and returned to the field in 22nd place when the race went green on lap 117.

Mark worked his way up to 19th place by the day's next caution on lap 142. When the rest of the field pitted one lap later, Mark stayed out and led lap 143 for five bonus points in the championship race. One lap later he came into the pits on lap 144 where he took on four tires and pulled and added spring rubbers from the rear and front ends of the car.

The adjustments still fail to tighten up the car and Mark used the next caution on lap 151 to remove the spring rubber from the front of the car and take on fuel. For the first time all weekend the car began to respond. Mark returned to the field in 23rd place, but had worked his way inside the top 20 by lap 154. He used the next twenty laps of the race to gain five positions up to 15th.

By lap 204 Mark was running inside the top 10 when green flag pitting began. After a four-tire and fuel only pit stop on lap 209 Mark returned to the field in 13th place. By lap 224 he had the Viagrā Ford Taurus inside the top 10 again.

Mark moved into ninth place on lap 236, before the mechanical problems set in on lap 243. By lap 250 Mark was out of the race.

The 25th place finish drops Mark to second place in the Winston Cup points standings, but only 11 points outside of first place and 25 points ahead of third.

"We'll keep fighting and we'll fight to the end," said Mark after the race. "There is still a lot of racing left to be done and we'll be there racing to the end. I don't know where we will be in the points, but we'll be fighting as hard as ever."

"The guys really worked hard on the car all weekend and Mark did a great job of driving it," said crew chief Ben Leslie. "It's unfortunate that we didn't get the finish that we could have, but I'm still very proud of the effort on everyone's part."

Mark and the No. 6 Viagra® Racing team travel to Talladega next weekend for the EA Sports 500, the season's fourth and final restrictor place race of the season. Mark has finished inside the top six in two of three restrictor plate races this season.