The 2002 Virginia 500

Athough exhausted and out of breath from 500 intense The 6 car coming hard

laps of tight-knit racing, Mark could still muster a large smile just moments after climbing out of his car at Martinsville on Sunday afternoon. Mark had just raced to an eighth-place finish - his fifth top-10 finish in only eight races - at one of the most challenging tracks on the Winston Cup circuit.

"That's the type of finish we needed here," said Mark, who worked his way from 14th place on lap 412 to 10th by lap 444 and on to the eighth place finish. "The team really dug in and fought hard. The pit stops were great and it was just a wonderful team effort."

Mark, who qualified 17th on Friday and ran times just out side the top-10 for most of the weekend's practice sessions, fell back to as low as 23rd in the race, before patiently finding his marks and running up the field. Martin found himself running 20th just 16 laps into the race before working his way back up into the field's top 15 by lap 49.

He was running 15th when the day's third caution was called on lap 73. With the car getting loose, Mark came in for his first pit stop of the day, taking on four fresh tires and making adjustments to the rear end of the car. Mark returned to the field 23rd ( his worst position of the day).

The No. 6 Viagra® Ford Taurus was running 21st when the next caution came out on lap 169. Mark came into the pits and the No. 6 team opted to take only right-side tires and pull a spring rubber from the rear of the car. The quick stop sent Mark back out in 13th place when the field went green on lap 180.

With the car becoming looser, Mark came in again after caution was called on lap 209 for debris on the track. The No. 6 Viagra® Racing team changed all four tires and fixed the right front fender (that had been pressed in due to contact on the track) in 15.60 seconds and Mark returned to the track in 18th place when the field went green again on lap 223.

On the fresh tires, Mark quickly worked his way through the field and was running in 13th place when the next caution came out on lap 252. Mark again took on four tires and made further adjustments to the rear of the car. A quick stop of 15.65 seconds, sent Mark back out in 14th place when the field returned to green-flag racing on lap 270.

Mark moved up to 12th before the car began to loosen up again around lap 308. When caution was called on lap 325 Mark came in for four more tires and rear-end adjustments to help with handling. The No. 6 team's quick stop of 14.20 seconds, sent Mark back out to the field inside the top 10 for the first time of the day at eighth place.

Mark was still running in eighth place when the ninth caution of the day was called on lap 406. The No. 6 team decided to go with four fresh tires and a track bar adjustment. Several teams opted for two tires only and with a quick stop of 14.30 seconds, Mark returned to the field in 14th place. Running on the four fresh tires, Mark again maneuvered up the field, breaking inside the top 10 on lap 443 just before caution number 10 came out. The No. 6 team opted not to pit and Mark found himself in eighth place when the field went green once again on lap 450. The race would see three more cautions in the final 50 laps and Mark would drop to ninth place by lap 466, before moving back into eighth place on lap 484 where he went on to finish the race.

"The No. 6 team did a nice job all day," said owner Jack Roush. "Mark was really up to his Martinsville form. He was the fastest car on the racetrack for a great deal of the time on the last 150 laps. Had track position permitted it, I think that he would have been able to win the race. "Still, certainly the finish he had was excellent."

"We got a little too far behind," added Mark. "We didn't really have a car that could move up, but we were able to hold position. The pit stops were just awesome though and we were able to move up.

"If we could have positioned ourselves a little better then we might could have moved up a little more. Still, I'm proud of the team and we'll move on to next week."

"Mark really drove his heart out on the track today and I couldn't be prouder of him or the team," said crew chief Ben Leslie. "The guys really stepped up to the plate on a couple of occasions when we really needed it."

The eighth place finish is Mark's 19th top-10 finish at Martinsville and the 198th of his Winston Cup career. With the strong run Mark moves to third in the Winston Cup points standings, just 102 points behind teammate Matt Kenseth and 129 points behind leader Sterling Marlin. Kenseth finished second and Roush teammates Jeff Burton and Kurt Busch finished ninth and 10th, as all four of the Roush cars were able to run to top-10 finishes.

Mark and the No. 6 team head to Talladega next weekend for the Talladega 500.