The 2004 Tropicana 400

With only three laps remaining in Sunday’s Tropicana 400, Mark and the Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) Racing team were Coming To The Front

poised for one of their best finishes of the season. Mark, who had one of the fastest cars all weekend, was running the fastest times on the race track. He had worked his way up to third place and was in the process of moving into second when engine failure ended his bid for victory with just three laps remaining. The incident brought a disappointing end to what had been one of the strongest runs in recent memory for Mark and the No. 6 team.

Mark had been forced to work his way through the field on two occasions, but on this day the field could offer little resistance to the No. 6 Viagra® Ford. Mark sliced his way up the field, passing one car at a time, putting himself in position to win the race late. Mark’s car seemed to only get stronger as the day went on. With only eight laps to go, Mark had moved into third place and was running his fastest times of race.

Mark’s car was strong all weekend, but he qualified only 18th after it started to rain during the qualifying run on Friday. After posting some of the fastest times in both practice sessions on Friday, Mark seemed determined to work his way up the field once the green flag dropped on Sunday. By lap 47 he had moved inside the top 10. He used the next nine laps to climb all the way to sixth place. By lap 70 Mark had driven his No. 6 Ford all the way into the top five. Fifteen laps later, Mark took the lead on lap 85 and led for the next 10 laps, before coming into the pits on lap 95.

Mark returned to the field in 13th place, and once the field had cycled through he was back in the top five. By lap 105 Mark had moved to third place and was gaining on the leaders when the day’s fourth caution was called on lap 119. A problem with the jack cost Mark valuable time on pit road and Mark had dropped back to 13th once the field went green on lap 126. Mark narrowly avoided a big wreck on that same lap, in which he had to go through the grass to avoid the wreckage. After a miscommunication over the radio Mark came into the pits while the pits were still closed and was forced to restart the race at the tail end of the longest line; all the way back in 18th position when the field went green on lap 134.

However, the Viagra Ford remained strong, and Mark had moved all the way back up to 12th place by lap 155. The day’s sixth caution was called on lap 174 and after a 13.381-second stop for four tires and fuel Mark was back inside the top 10. By lap 204 Mark had moved back inside the top five.

With just over 40 laps to go Mark was the fastest car on the track and he was honing in on the leaders when the day’s eighth caution was called on lap 245 with Mark in fourth place. The field went green with 11 laps remaining and Mark took only one lap to move into third place. The No. 6 Ford was posting its top times of the day and setting up to pass second place when Mark reported that the engine had failed with only three laps to go.

Despite the failure, Mark picked up almost 20 points on 10th place in the Nextel Cup point race. Mark is currently in 15th place, 138 points behind 10th.

The series takes a week off next weekend before returning to action in two weeks at Loudon