The 2006 Sony HD 500

Mark took the bottle of water from a team member as he climbed from his car following Sunday night's Nextel Cup race at California Speedway.

Mark And Reed Sorenson At Fontana

"Not cold enough,'' he said.

A few seconds later, Mark was given another bottle.

"Still not cold,'' he said, tossing the bottle aside.

Mark finally got a bottle that would refresh his 47-year-old body after a ridiculously hot race.

He never got a setup on his No. 6 Ford that worked once the California sun set on this 2-mile track.

"It was a winner in the sun and lost its mind when it got dark,'' said Mark, pausing to take another sip of water. "Our car got loose at night and got tight, and we weren't prepared for that.''

But the night wasn't a total loss. Mark salvaged a 12th-place finish to move up a spot to ninth in the points battle as the series heads to Richmond International Raceway, where the Chase for the Nextel Cup field will be set on Saturday night.

He is 457 points behind leader Matt Kenseth, two ahead of 10th-place Jeff Burton.

The bad news is Mark saw is lead on 11th-place Kasey Kahne shrink from 90 points to 32 after Kahne claimed his series-high fifth victory of the season.

"The race is on,'' said Mark, sitting exhausted on the back of his hauler. "I've been fighting and gouging in that 6 car for 19 years, and I'm going to fight with these guys to the very end. I'm going to go down swinging.''

Mark avoided going to Richmond in 10th thanks to the five bonus points he earned for leading a lap after a two-tire stop moved him from 17th to first under caution with about 57 laps remaining.

He fell back to 19th after taking four tires on his final stop under green while many teams took two or only gas.

"It wasn't key,'' Mark said of the strategy. "That was about where we were gonna run either way. We were coming on strong with four, but we just wanted to make it easier. It's so hard to pass.''

Mark spent most of the night see-sawing between 10th and 11th in points with Kahne.

He started 38th, but quickly moved to 23rd after Robby Gordon blew a tire on Lap 12 to bring out the first caution.

Forty-three laps in Mark was 16th and Kahne was third. When caution came out on Lap 83 Mark was eighth and Kahne ninth, leaving Kahne 71 points out of the top 10.

Kahne took the lead on Lap 89 and moved ahead of Mark, who fell back in the field because of a tire rub.

Mark got the right-front fender fixed during a pitstop under caution that came out on Lap 110 when Brian Vickers cut a tire.

By Lap 150 he'd climbed to 19th in the race and 10th in points, only six ahead of the race-leader Kahne.

Mark got a break when caution came out on Lap 156. During the ensuing pitstop, Kahne drew a pass-through penalty from NASCAR for speeding on pit road.

Kahne restarted 24th and Mark 21st, leaving Kahne almost where he started the day 89 points out of 10th.

Kahne was highly upset at the penalty, insinuating Dale Earnhardt Jr. should have been penalized if he was.

"Dale Jr. was on my [butt] the whole way,'' Kahne said.

Kahne didn't stay back for long, moving to 12th by the time a David Gilliland spinout brought out another caution on Lap 173. He restarted second after taking only two tires.

Kahne moved into the lead again on Lap 180 and still had it when the seventh caution came out on Lap 192, leaving him 12 points behind Mark.

This time Mark's team gambled on two tires to take the lead and pick up the bonus points. Kahne restarted fifth,

"Got that clean air, bud,'' said Mark's crew chief, Pat Tryson. "Go get checked out.''

But Mark couldn't check out. And he never thought he would win.

"It was a great race,'' said Mark, who was 10th in points heading into the 26th race two years ago before clinching a spot in the Chase. "The car just didn't handle right when it got dark.''