While Mark was home recuperating
from post-season back surgery, the people at Winn-Dixie were
putting in a few extra hours on Mark’s behalf. Mark
announced at the end of last year that he would be
retiring from Busch competition at the end of the 2000
season, in order to lessen some of the demands on his
time. The all-time leader in Busch victories with 40,
Mark intends to focus all his racing efforts on
winning the Winston Cup championship that has eluded him to date.
To commemorate Mark’s last year, the people at Winn-Dixie — Martin’s BGN sponsor — have festooned his Ford with a new paint scheme for the 2000 season.
The No. 60 car remains primarily black, with a checkered
flag pattern on the front and rear of the car. In each
of the white boxes in the checkered pattern, is written
the track and date of each of Mark’s 40 Busch wins.
“I have mixed emotions over my relationship with
Winn-Dixie, because they’ve helped me so much with my
career,” Mark said from his home in Florida. “We’ve had
some good times with them on the Busch Series. But
there’s been so much demand on my time that I decided
that I just needed to focus on my Winston Cup career.”
Mark has been on the mend for eight weeks since his
late-November back surgery. Kept out of any kind of
testing for at least another three weeks, the veteran
racer is more than ready to get rolling. “I’ve been
isolated from racing for eight weeks, and I can’t wait
to get back,” Mark said. “Things are going real well
with my back, and I feel stronger every day. Greg Biffle
is scheduled to test Mark’s Ford Taurus in pre-Daytona
runs at the 2.5-mile oval.
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