The 2005 Subway Fresh 500

Mark and the No. 6 Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) Racing Team ran to a 16th-place finish in Saturday night’s Subway 500 at Mark in Phoenix April 2005

Phoenix International Raceway. Mark ran as high as sixth on the day, but a late-race gamble in pit strategy backfired, and Mark fell back to as far as 22nd before recovering for the 16th-place finish. The finish was good enough to advance Mark up one place to sixth on the Nextel Cup points race.

Mark started the day 22nd based on Friday’s qualifying effort, and he struggled early with a tight handling car, falling as far back as 26th before the day’s first caution was called on lap 14. The team used the caution to take four tires and fuel in a quick stop of 13.72. Some teams stayed out or took two tires and Mark restarted in 26th position on lap 16. He quickly fell back to 28th by lap 19, waiting for the car to ‘come in.’ The car soon settled into the run and by lap 36 Mark had moved his way up to 21st.

By lap 50 Mark had marched his way to 17th place and his white Viagra® Ford was turning the fastest times on the track. By lap 84 Mark had moved into 12th place where he would run for the next 49 laps until caution was called on lap 132. The team used the caution to come into the pits for four tires and fuel and a stop of 14.18 seconds sent Mark back out inside the top 10 for the first time of the day.

Mark had advanced to eighth place when the day’s sixth caution was called on Mark in Phoenix April 2005

lap 190. The Viagra® Team opted to stay out and Mark restarted in seventh place on lap 194. Five laps later he moved into sixth place, where he was running when caution was again called on lap 205 after a multi-car accident. The team came into the pits for the fifth time of the day, turning in its best effort, a 13.483-second stop for four tires and fuel. Some teams stayed out, while other took two tires and Mark restarted in 11th place.

Mark’s tires had settled in nicely and he was happy with the car’s handling when caution number eight was called on lap 220, with Mark still in 11th place. Happy with what they had, the team opted for a gas-only stop that would give them enough gas to go the distance on lap 222. However the strategy backfired, as the majority of the field took fresh tires. Mark would be unable to run with the cars on new tires and his No. 6 Ford fell all the way back to 22nd when caution was called on lap 237.

The team promptly came in for four tires, but the damage was done as Mark would have to restart in 22nd and fight his way back up the field. He would spend the remainder of the race maneuvering through lapped traffic and chasing down the cars in front of him, en route to the 16th place finish.

The finish moved Mark up in the points one spot to sixth. After eight races he is currently 12 points out of fifth and 263 behind first place. The team returns to action next week at Talladega for the second superspeedway race of the season.