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Mark picked up two spots on the final lap of Sunday’s Samsung 500,
to post his best finish of the
2008 season, an eighth-place run at Texas Motor Speedway (TMS). The top-10 run was also the best
of the four Dale Earnhardt Inc. team.Mark, who was inducted earlier in the week into the TMS Hall of Fame, backed up the honor by posting his eighth career top-10 result at the 1.5-mile track. “This was just an awesome job by this U.S. Army Team,” said Mark, who started the race from the 31st position. “We kept working with the car all day and it was pretty good there by the end of the race." "I’m very proud of (crew chief) Tony Gibson and this entire team," added Mark. "I think we had a run that our soldiers can be proud of today. Hopefully we can build on this, and pick up where we left off next week at Phoenix.” Mark battled hard and worked his way to seventh place, when the race’s sixth and final caution was issued on Lap 329 of 339. With only 10 cars on the lead lap, the caution set up several different strategic options for the race leaders. Mark and Gibson opted for four tires, while the first five cars stayed on the track for the green-white-checkered overtime finish. Mark restarted his No. 8 U.S. Army Chevrolet Impala SS in ninth position, and fell back to 10th as the race took the white flag signifying one lap remaining. However, Mark dug in and was able to pick up two positions during the final lap. “There really was a lot going on at the end,” explained Mark. “It’s always hard to know what to do in those situations, but Tony made a good decision and we were able to get an eighth-place finish out of the deal. I’m very excited about this run today.” The Texas result moved the No. 8 Dale Earnhardt Inc. team into 19th place in the Sprint Cup owner points. |
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