Opening day practice was plagued with mechanical problems. Everything from broken rocker arms and bent push rods to shocks coming unbolted kept Team SAR thrashing in the pits to get ready for the first race of the season. Fortunately, all of that went away when racing finally started.
In the heat race, the #20 looked good and finished a solid 3rd place. In the feature, the #20 started strong and was moving up. But the pack was tight and racing was 3-wide and bumper to bumper. When the pack came up on a slow car, Mark tried going to the outside of the slow car, since it was still in the racing grove. Going into turn 1, the slow car moved to get out of the way of the leaders, not knowing the #20 was passing on the outside. To avoid a wreck, Mark drove even higher, and when he reached the loose gravel on the outside lane, there just wasn't enough traction to keep it straight. Mark spun and had to restart at the rear of the field. But he kept the car in one piece, and managed to salvage a 14th place finish out of 21 cars.