The Sharpie 500

It was a tough weekend for Mark and the Viagra® Mark Martin

(sildenafil citrate) team. Mark had been good in practice on Friday, but the track conditions changed before qualifying and his car was too loose. Mark qualified 31st which gave him a pit stall on the backstretch which is a disadvantage from the start.

Mark quickly worked his way up through the field once the race started Saturday night. He avoided the five cautions in the first 100 laps of the race and was in 11th place by lap 100. Four more cautions came out in the next 50 laps and Mark continued to drive to the front. He was up to seventh place by lap 150 and told the team it was the best car he had driven all year.

What looked to be a promising night for the team turned for the worst on lap 232 when Mark blew his right-front tire and hit the wall. He drove into the pits, but the team had to park him behind the wall to replace the upper and lower A-frames, and the left-rear truck arm. The repairs put Mark 164 laps down when he returned to the track on lap 386.

Even when Mark returned to the track, he was still able to run lap times as fast as the leaders. The team pitted a few more times in the remaining laps to remove some camber from the right-front so they would not blow another tire. Mark finished the race in 37th place but was able to maintain his 12th place position in the Winston Cup point standings.

"That was the best car I had driven all year," Mark said. "It is such a shame that we had to blow a tire and ruin the great run we had going. The Viagra® crew members were heroes tonight to get me back on the track and running as fast as the leaders. They did a fantastic job all weekend and I wish we could have had a finish that showed the strength of our car."

Next weekend the Winston Cup series returns to Darlington, S.C., for Sunday's Southern 500.