The 2006 USG Sheetrock 400

Mark and the No. 6 AAA Race team weathered a tough day at Chicagoland Speedway in the USG Sheetrock 400 to finish 18th and hold on to the sixth Mark Martin

place in the Nextel Cup point standings. Mark started ninth but struggled early on, falling back to 28th before rebounding for the top-20 finish. Mark and crew chief Pat Tryson used a blend of pit strategy and gritty racing to put Mark at 18th when the checkered flag fell.

“It was a great effort by the team on pit road today,” said Mark. “And we hung in there and fought it out the best we could. We just didn’t have a car that was good enough today and we did what we could to get the best finish that we could. We’ll just have to put this behind us and look to move forward next week.”

After running in the low 20’s for much of the day, Mark stayed out under three consecutive cautions late in the race. Mark restarted in 12th position on lap 237 after the day’s seventh caution, but the car just did not have the correct blend of handling and speed today. The veteran was able to keep the car inside the top 15 for the next 16 laps, but Mark finally fell to 18 on lap 152, just moments before Jeff Gordon wrecked Matt Kenseth to take lead and bring out the last caution with only four laps remaining. Mark was able to weather the onslaught of cars for the green-white-checkered finish to hang on to the 18th-place spot.

For the second week in a row the highlight of the race was the quick work of the No. 6 AAA Team in the pits. The AAA team had a near flawless day, turning in several fast stops, including a 12.92-second effort midway through the race.

Mark started the race ninth but dropped all the way to 18th by just the 10th lap, as he fought furiously with a really loose race car. Things failed to improve as the car’s handling tightened up over the long run, with Mark dropping all the way back to 22nd by lap 50. The team made air pressure and wedge adjustments during its first three pit stops to try to improve the car, but the effort was to little avail with Mark falling all the way back to 28th by lap 77.

Mark was running in 25th position after the team’s third stop under green on lap 128. With the race leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. breathing down his neck, Mark was able to dig down and fight off the No. 8 car’s attempt to put the No. 6 AAA Ford Fusion a lap down. Mark eventually drove away from the leader, until caution was called on lap 138 with Mark running in the 20th position.

Mark stayed out to lead a lap after the day’s third caution on lap 171, thus earning five bonus points in the rankings. The team then came down pit road to take four tires and make an adjustment to the right-front shock in hopes of improving the car’s ability to drive in the corner. Mark restarted in 21st position when the field went green on lap 175.

Once again the adjustments did little to curve the car’s problems as Mark continued to battle with the car in the corners. The team stopped for the sixth time of the day on lap 199 to take on four tires, fuel and make yet another wedge adjustment. Four laps later, still under caution, they topped off with fuel, stopping for the final time with 63 scheduled laps remaining. Mark returned in 21st place when the field went green on lap 204.

Mark was able to stay out under the remaining four cautions for track position, a move that secured the top-20 finish and ultimately his sixth-place position in the point standings.

We got our pit-road problems fixed,” said Mark. “Now we just got to get our cars better down the stretch. The cars were strong early on in the season, so the potential is there. It’s just up to us to find what we need and put it all together as we move into the next few races.”

Mark is currently 119 points ahead of 11th place with eight races remaining before the 26-race cutoff for the Chase for the Nextel Cup. Mark currently trails fifth by only 12 points and leads seventh by 17 points. The team will return to action next weekend at New Hampshire International Speedway where Mark finished eighth last year.