Despite problems that Mark encountered in his Car of Tomorrow (COT) debut Saturday
night, the savvy U.S. Army driver still managed to pull off a respectable 12th-place
finish at Phoenix International Raceway.
Mark, who missed NASCAR's previous two COT races (Bristol and Martinsville) as part of his
limited 2007 schedule with Ginn Racing, is 10th in the Nextel Cup driver standings. In
the six races in which he has competed, Mark has averaged a 6.16 finish. In owner
points, the 01 Army team is ranked fifth.
"That was a pretty hard race tonight," said Mark. "We never really did get a handle on
the car, and we just weren't able to get going all night. I couldn't get the Army Chevy
to hook up coming off (turn) four like we were able to do during Friday's practice. We
still have work to do on our Car of Tomorrow program, but we'll keep plugging away and
get better."
"Still, Ryan (Pemberton, crew chief) did a great job calling the race and the pit crew
was once again awesome," added Mark. "When you don't have it all together and still
finish 12th, that says something about the quality of this team. We're like our soldiers,
we never give up."
Mark started the race 20th, but was never able to get his U.S. Army Chevrolet dialed in
on the one-mile oval. He ran in the mid to high teens for the majority of the 312-lap
event before gaining track position late in the race to finish 12th. It was the first
time in six races that he failed to post a top-10 result.
Mark will take off next weekend's race at Talladega. He will return to action the following
week in Richmond. Regan Smith will pilot the 01 car at Talladega Superspeedway in the
Aaron's 499 -- Sunday, April 29.
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