The 2005 Sirius At The Glen

Mark and the Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) Racing team turned in yet another solid performance in Sunday’s Sirius at watkins glen 2005

the Glen 250 at Watkins Glen International. Mark’s third top-10 finish in the last four races was good enough to move Mark into fifth in the Nextel Cup point standings, his highest mark in the standings since June. Mark has now posted top 15’s in nine of the last 12 races.

"It was a great run,” said Mark. “What an awesome team I have here. Pat Tryson is doing great on the strategy, and it's looking better and better to make that Chase. Once we get in there, we have some awesome motors made up that we haven't used, we have horsepower we haven’t used yet, and we have great race cars and a pile of tests. So, it's looking better every week."

Mark started the race sixth and ran inside the top 10 for the entire race, with the exception of pit cycles. He broke into the top five for the first time of the day just past the race’s half-way point on lap 46. The team pitted for the second and final time under green on lap 53, taking four tires and fuel in 15.96 seconds. The stop would give Mark enough fuel to go the distance, as he would return to the field in 21st position. Mark was back in fifth once the field had cycled through its stops. After two more cautions, he found himself in seventh place as the laps wound down. He would have to fight for position under a green-white-checkered finish, but he was able to hold on to the spot and earn his 16th top-10 finish in 18 career races at The Glen.

“We were a little too loose, and we never adjusted for it. I kept thinking it would come to us, and it never did. So on that last long run I used my back tires up, but it was a strong run,” added Mark. “This team is awesome. We were off a little bit but we didn't come and test here. We're saving our tests, and Pat was confident that we would run good enough. The main thing is to make the Chase and save those tests. We're going to have four or five left for the 10-race run there."

Mark is currently 90 points ahead of Roush teammate Kurt Busch in sixth. He’s 134 points ahead of eighth and 189 in front of 10th. With four races remaining to the 26-race cutoff point, Mark is 73 points behind fellow veteran Rusty Wallace in fourth and 331 points out of first.

The team returns to action next week at Michigan International Speedway, where Mark finished third in the spring and has posted top 10 finishes in five of the last seven, including back-to-back top fives. Mark boasts four career wins and 25 top-10 finishes at the 1.5 mile oval.