The 2005 Subway 500

Expectations were high for Mark and the Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) Racing Team going into the weekend at Martinsville Mark at Martinsville 10/05

Speedway. Mark finished third and contended for the win at the spring race there and moved into the race fresh off of back-to-back top-five finishes including a win at Kansas two weeks ago. However, Mark and the team struggled with the car through Friday’s practice and qualifying. Things only got worse when Mark lost a right front tire during the Saturday morning practice session that sent his No. 6 Ford crashing into the wall. The team was forced to pull out the back-up and start Sunday’s race from the back of the field and with very little practice time with the car. Still Mark was able to battle his way through the field, before his brakes eventually gave way with only 66 laps remaining in the race.

“I can’t tell you how proud I am of this team,” said Mark after the tough outing. “This was a difficult weekend from the start and these guys just kept battling back. They worked really hard to get the car ready yesterday for the race today and they just kept fighting. It seemed like nothing went right, but this Viagra® Team just kept battling back. In the end we weren’t able to overcome all that we had thrown at us, but nobody gave up and we’ll come back next week and try to go win Atlanta.”

Still the team continued to fight on. Mark slashed through the field early, picking up 10 places in the race’s first 33 laps. Mark had moved all the way to 27th position when the day’s second caution was called on lap 84. With the team having pitted for tires on lap 47 crew chief Pat Tryson opted to stay out for track position. The move put Mark all the way up to second place when the field restarted on lap 90. Mark had a difficult time running with the cars behind him on fresh tires, but the move netted Tryson and Mark nine positions once the team pitted again under the day’s third caution on lap 122. Mark returned to the field in 18th place once the field went green on lap 132.

Running in 19th place, Mark radioed the team on lap 170 telling Tryson that he had ‘lost the brakes’ on the car. Mark would continue to struggle with the team’s braking for the remainder of the race, before they finally gave way on lap 434. Mark hovered around the 15th position for the next 70 laps. He was running in 16th position when the team came into the pits for the fourth time, under caution on lap on lap 240. Mark restarted in 16th, but with the car’s handling starting to tighten up, he quickly fell back to 22nd position by lap 267.

Mark was back up to 16th place when caution number 10 was issued on lap 320. This time the team opted for four fresh tires and fuel and Mark dropped back to 24th on the restart on lap 326. The stop allowed the team the opportunity to stay out under caution number 11 on lap 341. The move once again moved Mark back inside the top five and he restarted in fifth place when the field went green on lap 347. However, once again his No. 6 Ford would struggle against the car’s on fresher tires and by lap 361 he had dropped all the way back to 12th.

With the brakes becoming more and more of an issue, Mark radioed Tryson that he was now doing all he could do to make it to the end of the race on the lead lap. However, that would prove too difficult, as Mark eventually went a lap down on lap 416, having dropped to 22nd position. Moments later Mark’s brakes would give way, causing him to brush the wall coming off of turn four. The team would be forced to take the car behind the wall to replace the brake pads. Mark would eventually return to the field in 34th place and 32 laps down to the leader and eventual winner Jeff Gordon.

“The result really isn’t what matters here today,” said Mark. “It’s the effort. These guys never gave up and I’m proud to drive their race car. We’ll just take this, move on and go get them in Atlanta next weekend. We have four races left and we intend to be competitive in every one of them.”

With four races remaining, Mark is currently in seventh position, four points behind sixth-place Rusty Wallace and 170 points behind leader Tony Stewart. The team returns to action next weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where Mark finished fourth in the fall and boasts two wins, 11 top-fives and 19 top-10 finishes. Mark led 227 of the race’s 325 laps en route to a second-place finish there last fall.