The 2005 UAW Ford 500

Mark Sunday said if it's God's will, he might still win a Nextel Cup championship.

Jimmie Johnson did this to Mark

But Mark's hopes for the 2005 crown took as big a hit as that which was delivered to his No. 6 Ford in Turn 1 at Talladega Superspeedway, only 19 laps into the UAW-Ford 500.

"It's hard to fight God's will and [Sunday] God's will was for me to finish about last," Mark said. "I'd have a championship by now if it was God's will.

"We're gonna take what we can get this year and see what happens going forward and see if everybody else in the Chase flips before the race is over."

In the end, despite Mark's car immediately being loaded in its hauler and relegated to the 41st position, problems among the other Chase contenders rendered his deficit less than he initially feared.

At half distance, more than half the Chase contenders had been involved in mishaps, including the point leader coming into the race, Jimmie Johnson.

Tony Stewart finished second behind Dale Jarrett and regained the point lead for the second time in three Chase races. Mark fell from fourth, 21 points behind to ninth, but only 138 points back.

Mark, who can rarely be confused for an optimist, was pessimistic about his title hopes after the wreck -- even considering Johnson came from more than 250 points back last year to lose the title by eight points.

"It hurts [but] what are you going to do?" Mark said. "It would have been Jimmie Johnson did this to Mark

hard to win this championship if I would have got a top 10 [so] you figure it out."

The wreck occurred when Mark was running in the top 10, as comfortably as he could in a draft of more than 30 cars, when the top-five cars of Elliott Sadler, Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. tangled in front of him.

Mark ran into Sadler; slowed, turned and was hit by Michael Waltrip's car. Mark then spun around, was hit head-on by Mike Skinner and driven into the outside wall.

"All I saw was the 38 [Sadler] out of control in front of us and we all know how that had to have happened," Mark said. "Once somebody wrecks in front of you there's not much to do to get involved.

"I got hit from behind and hit the guys in front of me [because] you can't stop as fast in these cars as a car that is wrecking can stop. It's impossible to slow down fast enough, so I got hit both from behind and I hit the guys in front of me. We just kept hitting stuff."

The accident was a rude ending for Mark, whose dislike of restrictor plate racing is well known.

"I just want to say one thing -- the fans are the only ones that can do Jimmie Johnson did this to Mark

something about this," Mark said. "No one else can -- the drivers can't, the owners can't and NASCAR's not gonna do anything about it.

"I doubt if the fans can, either. I know that it's exciting racing to watch, but I didn't even get a sweat worked up."

Mark, who said fixing restrictor plate racing at Talladega would involve cutting the banking on the track, thus making it unlikely to occur, finally said his demise had left him emotionless.

"I don't really have any other than I'm glad this is over with," Mark said. "Maybe they won't fix the thing and I won't have to go back out -- that's kind of how I feel about it, right now.

"These guys are incredible and they can fix anything, but this one is gonna be a challenge."

Crew chief Pat Tryson elected not to fix the No. 6, whose extensive damage included both front-lower A-frames being ripped from the chassis.