BUSCH: Darlington: Mark McFarland race notes

MCFARLAND SURVIVES TRACK 'TOO TOUGH TO TAME'

DARLINGTON, S.C. (May 12, 2006) -- NASCAR Busch Series driver Mark McFarland and the No. 88 Navy Accelerate Your Life team managed to survive their first visit to Darlington Raceway, the track "too tough to tame," and took home a top-20 finish in the NASCAR Busch Series Diamond Hill Plywood 200.

The No. 88 Navy Accelerate Your Life Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS started the race in 28th position after running a lap of 29.975 seconds, 164.057 mph in the qualifying session.

The race's first caution came on Lap Eight and McFarland radioed to his crew that the car was too tight in the center, making it difficult for him to turn. The team pitted under caution on Lap 22 and made adjustments to the Navy Chevrolet to correct the handling problem. McFarland restarted the race in 31st position on Lap 25 and had moved up to 26th by Lap 55.

The team continued to adjust on the car during several subsequent pit stops and McFarland cracked the top 20 on Lap 114. In the closing laps he ran as high as 16th before taking the checkered flag in 18th position.

"For my first time here at Darlington, tonight was fun," McFarland said. "It's pretty tough to race and it's difficult to keep the tires under it and be good on the long runs. It paid off to be good on the long run that one time but the short run was good there at the end.

"I got to battle some veterans there at the end. I had a good race there with Kenny Wallace. He came over after the race and told me that he put the old Earnhardt move on me over in Turn 1. That was pretty cool. It was fun learning from him and racing with him."

While McFarland finished 18th in the race, he was the sixth-highest finishing Busch Series regular in a field filled with 17 Nextel Cup Series drivers.

"Mark did a good job tonight, especially considering it was his first time at Darlington," said Crew Chief Rich Hubbs. "Our pit crew did a heck of a job as well. They continuously knocked off great stops and picked up positions on pit road all night."

Navy Racing in the Media

On Monday, McFarland talked with a reporter from NASCAR Scene during testing at Lowe's Motor Speedway. On Thursday he was interviewed live from the track on Channel 13 WBTW's evening news show. The station is the CBS affiliate in the Myrtle Beach/Florence/Lumberton area. McFarland was also interviewed by a reporter from the Florence Morning News and was featured in two articles in Friday's edition.

-jrm-