The 2001 Tropicana 400

Mark started the inaugural race at Chicagoland Speedway in 18th place. After a somewhat disappointing The 6 Car

practice session on Saturday, Mark and the crew made drastic changes to the set-up of the Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) Taurus before Sunday's race. The team figured if the changes worked, the car would be very competitive. If not, it would probably be the same as it was in practice.

After 24 laps, Mark told the crew the car was loose going into the corners and tight coming out of them. They used the first caution on lap 24 to pit and add a spring rubber to the left-rear spring. Since NASCAR told the teams there would be a mandatory caution on lap 40 to check tire wear, many teams did not pit when Mark did. The early stop sent him out of the pits in 26th place. When NASCAR did have the mandatory caution, Mark stayed out on the track and gained the lead while most teams pitted. He led for eight laps before settling in the top-10 for the next 65 laps.

As the race continued, the car became very loose. Mark had fallen back to 24th place, so the team made more spring rubber adjustments on lap 138 under caution. He was 25th when the race resumed and Mark began to work his way back up through the field.

By lap 187 the car was a little tight. The team gained two positions in the pits with a quick pit stop and more adjustments to the car. Mark was 15th when the race resumed on lap 196. Another caution came out only three laps later. According to the team's calculations, if they pitted for gas then, they could finish the race without pitting again. Mark came in for fuel only and was in 16th place with 65 laps to go.

Since Mark could finish the race without another pit stop, the team decided to stay out during the next caution on lap 229. Mark was 12th when the caution came out, but assumed the lead again when the leaders pitted for the final time. Kevin Harvick was gaining ground on Mark quickly and passed him for the lead with 25 laps to go. Another caution came out for oil on the track on lap 245. Robert Pressley passed Mark during the restart on lap 249. Mark was in third place with only 10 laps to go and had a safe distance on fourth place.

On lap 259, the final caution of the day came out when Tony Stewart was hit from behind by Sterling Marlin. None of the leaders pitted, but during the restart on lap 263, Mark thought his car was out of gas. Once he got going the car was fine, but he dropped back to seventh place during the hiccup. Mark recovered one position to finish the race in sixth place and move up to 12th in the Winston Cup point standings. Harvick won the race, his second of the year.

"I'm a little disappointed," Mark said. "At first I thought we were going to run 20th today, but then I thought we were going to run second, and then for sure thought we were going to run third. I thought we ran out of gas on the restart, but it did pick it back up. I guess you're never satisfied, but I sure would have been happy to get what we earned. We took a car that I don't think was competitive and put it in contention for second, or third place. I sure am disappointed we didn't finish there, but the sixth place finish gave us a good day in the point standings. We're getting closer to 10th every week."

"The Viagra® car was in a position to have a top-five finish," said Jack Roush. "We played our gas pretty close and I guess it sucked some air in the pick up on the restart. We had three gallons at the end, so we had plenty to finish the race, but that cost us a couple of spots."

Next weekend the Winston Cup series heads north to New Hampshire International Speedway.