The 2004 Sirius At The Glen

Mark showed off his mastery of road course racing, passing four cars in the final eight laps of the race to grab a Mark at the Glen 2004

third place finish in Sunday’s race at Watkins Glen International. Mark was running in 10th when the race went green for the final time with 16 laps to go. By lap 78 he had powered his way to eighth, before breaking into the top five with six to go. Mark drove his Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) Ford past the No. 8 and No. 41 cars in the race’s final two laps to move up to third.

"This is sweet because the car got better as the race went on,” said Mark “We were just bound and determined to make the car good on the long run today, and those guys did it. Wally Brown and Pat Tryson and the whole team, great pit stops and a great effort today.

“Once you get up there you can run so much faster,” added Mark. “There at the end we were peeling 'em off pretty good, ripping off some good laps and getting around there pretty fast."

The finish was Mark’s 4th top-five of the season and his 9th top 10. It also marked his 12th top-five finish at Watkins Glen and his 15th top ten in 17 races. The run was a strong comeback from the cut tire in last week’s race at Indy that dropped Mark from 4th to 25th on the race’s final lap and it helped move Mark up two spots to 13th and back to within 72 points of the Nextel Cup top 10 with four races remaining in the chase for the top 10.

Fog and rain forced both practice and qualifying on Friday to be cancelled and Mark started 15th based on his ranking in the points. The team worked to get the car where they wanted during both of Saturday’s practice sessions and Mark was one of the strongest cars heading into Sunday’s race. Mark struggled with the car at the race’s start and was running in 16th position when the day’s first caution was issued on lap 15. The team opted to stay out while several other cars pitted and Mark was running in eighth position then the field went green.

Mark had moved up to seventh place by lap 28 when the team came into the pits under green for four tires, fuel, and an air pressure adjustment to offset a slightly loose car. Several of the cars were now running on different pit sequences and Mark came out of the pits in 25th place. Several of the cars pitted under caution on lap 31 and Mark moved up to 18th place when the field went green on lap 34.

By lap 40 Mark had moved his No. 6 Ford into 14th place, as he began picking off cars one by one. Caution was called for the fourth time of the day on lap 48 with Mark running just outside the top 10 in 11th position. Again on a different sequence, Pat Tryson and the No. 6 Viagra® Team opted to stay out while others pitted and Mark was running in sixth place when the field went green on lap 51.

Four laps later Mark broke into the field’s top-five for the first time of the day on lap 55. He pitted for the final time under green three laps later, taking four fresh tires and fuel. Mark came out of the pits in 21st position, as several of the car still needed to pit. By lap 62 Mark had moved back inside the top 15. He was running 11th when the day’s fifth and final caution was called on lap 72, with just 18 remaining.

Mark was in 10th place when the racing resumed on lap 74. The veteran would waste no time, meticulously passing cars each lap in route to the top-five finish. Mark moved into ninth place just three laps later on lap 77. One lap later he took over eighth place. With eight laps to go he was in seventh and honing in on a pack of four cars. Mark would use the remaining eight laps to pass the remaining cars, including a pass of the No. 41 car on the race’s final lap.

“I wish we would've started a little better, or had a little bit better fuel mileage,” added Mark. “But we overcame all those fuel-mileage guys there at the end, and it worked out real well for us. Pat Tryson is a genius.

"It was awfully tough back there where I started,” added Mark. “The guys were pretty wild and bouncing off of each other, and it took a while for us to start overtaking many of them. Then we got in reasonable shape, then the gas-mileage thing got in. We couldn't do what some of those guys could do. So, we had to go back into the middle of the pack and fight our way back. Getting that long green at the end was a really good thing. We had a car that would run really strong on the long run. We were fast. We were the fastest all day at the end, the last 20 laps, and that's where we made hay.”

“This is just a great race team,” added Mark. “I don’t care what the points say this is a top-five race team and we’ve proven that week in and week out. The thing that I am happy about is when I bolt down in my Viagra® Taurus on Sundays that thing can go. And, it's an honor and a privilege to be driving that stuff, and I'm so grateful for that. Beyond that, I can't help it. I can't keep the air in the tires, and can't keep the parts from breaking, so maybe all that stuff's behind us and we go out here and win some races.”

The team will return to action next week at Michigan International Speedway, where Mark has won on four occasions.