The 2003 Winston

Mark and the No. 6 Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) Racing Team were running in ninth place with only one lap remaining in Mark gets caught up in the wreck Stewart caused

Mark gets caught up in the wreck Stewart caused

the second segment of the 2003 Winston all-star race, when a multi-car accident put an early end to their race night. In just one more lap Mark would have secured a spot in the third and final round of the event, but the veteran driver got caught up in the wreck that claimed four other cars, all of which would have advanced to the final round. “"I was slowing down the No. five car was going around slowly and somebody ran into the back of me. Anyways, whoever was running behind me got into the back of me and that turned us out of control. It just wadded up from there. The 20 just got in the back of the 5 and turned him and he was doing a slow spin, so I had to wait for it to go down or up. The 20 and I really had to really “whoa down”, but then I got hit from behind. The wreck was on once the five started turning sideways."

Mark, who ran a special ‘reverse’ paint scheme for the weekend, officially finished 15th in the all-star event, but was optimistic about the team’s chances next week in the Coca-Cola 600, where Mark is the defending race winner.

“This wasn’t our best car, we saved that for next week,” said Mark. “Twice I’ve wrecked my best car in the Winston, so we don’t bring that anymore. It’s just too intense out there to take that chance. We’ll come back next week with our best car and work as hard as we can to win the 600.”

Mark qualified 14th on Friday, in a special qualifying session for the Winston that features a pit stop and three laps. The Winston is divided into three separate segments. The first segment ends after lap 40 and the second segment ends after lap 70. Only 20 of the 24 cars that started the race advance to the second segment. Fourteen of those 20 cars advance to the third segment. The final segment is 20 laps long, making the total laps of The Winston 90.

Mark is between Newman and Craven

The car was ‘tight’ during the first segment, but he managed to stay in place and finish the segment in 14th place, advancing to segment two. With the car ‘pushing’ in the corners, Mark brushed the wall in traffic on lap 44, but managed to hold position. The team took advantage of a caution three laps later to repair the slight damage and take on four tires and make wedge and air pressure adjustment to work on the car’s handling.

Mark restarted in 19th place when the field went green on lap 50 with 20 laps remaining in the segment. Mark worked his way up to 15th place by lap 56. By lap 60 Mark was running in 11th place with only 10 laps remaining the segment. He moved into the top 10 to ninth place on lap 63 and looked poised to advance to the final segment.

Caution was called on lap 66 for a wreck involving the no. 12 car, but instead of finishing the segment under caution the cars were stopped on the backstretch, before moving to green and restarting on lap 69. Mark was involved in the accident moments later.