Mark Day (racing driver)

Mark Day
Born	September 21, 1961 (1961-09-21) (age 50) Clarksville, Tennessee
NASCAR Nationwide Series career
2009 position	110th
Best finish	71st - 1997
First race	1997 Coca-Cola 300 (Texas)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career
Best finish	120th - 1996
First race	1996 Federated Auto Parts 250 (Nashville Speedway)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
Statistics current as of March 19, 2010.

Mark Day (born September 21, 1961 in Clarksville, Tennessee)^[1] is a former NASCAR driver, racing for a number of years in NASCAR's higher division. In addition, his family currently owns the #05 31-W Racing Chevy in the Busch Series. That team races in that series on a part-time basis and full-time in the ARCA RE/MAX Series.

Craftsman Truck Series

Day only made one career CTS start. It came at Nashville Speedway USA in the #50 R & Z Motorsports truck. He started 23rd, but only managed 31st in the thirty-four car field. This is after he had mechanical woes.

Busch Series

Day made his debut in 1997, running five races for his family's 31-W Insulation team. He made his debut in the inaugural race at Texas, starting 37th. A mid-race wreck claimed his car and gave him a finish of 36th. It did not get much better for Day. He best finish on the year would end up being 31st at Talladega and had only a best start of 36th at Bristol. Simply put, it was not Day's dream season.

Day would scale down to one race for 1998 and for the rest of the years of his career, for that matter. He started 40th and finished 36th at Pikes Peak. He only competed fifty laps due to engine failure.

Day's one start in 1999 turned out to be just as poor. After starting 34th in the August Bristol race, Day managed 41st after a crash early in the event.

Another crash sideline Day in his 2000 start. He started 24th at Nashville, and this would turn out to be his best career start. He only finished 40th, however, due to a major late-race crash.

Day closed out his Busch career in 2001, finishing it with two consecutive starts. He did not finish either, but ironically, Day had his best career finish in that. After a 36th finish at Texas, Day was crashed out early of the inaugural event at Nashville Superspeedway. However, it turned up to be a 31st place finish and his best career showing.

After an 8 year hiatus from NASCAR's 2nd tier division. Day returned to the now NASCAR Nationwide Series for a one-race deal on October 23, 2009 at Memphis Motorsports Park for the Kroger On Track For The Cure 250. This was the final NASCAR Nationwide race for the Memphis Motorsports Park after announcing that the track will cease operations at the end of the year. Driving for Wayne Day in the #05 31-W Insulation Chevy on a two-race deal. Day ended the 1st Practice Session 30th out of 50 cars entered. By the Final Practice Session Day was 19th out of the 48 cars left. Day easily made the show qualifing the #05 31-W Insulation Chevy solidly in the top 10 with a career high 9th place starting position. However the race did not end so high for Day. After 86 laps, Day pulled the #05 31-W Insulation Chevy into the garage due to over-heating issues and he finished 33rd, but this could have been a start and park effort.

Late Model Racing

Day won the 2006 Late Model Championship, and several races in the Late Model Division at Music City Motorplex in Nashville, TN. In conjunction with the Music City Motorplex (Fairgrounds Speedway) and its sponsor Dollar General started Operation Big Chance during the 2006 race season for chance to race in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race in Martinsville, VA in the #2 Kevin Harvick Incorporated (KHI) Chevy Silverado in the 2007 season. Day was the Dollar General Operation Big Chance winner after being the track champion with the most points at the end of the year between all late model and super truck series drivers. After being announced the Operation Big Chance winner KHI offered Day a chance to qualify at Martinsville Truck Series race in 2007, but Day declined due to prior engagements with his late model series team. The next in line for the chance was 2nd place Willie Allen but Allen had just signed to drive the #13 Chevy Silverado for ThorSport for the full 2007 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season. MCM and Dollar General finally announced Daniel Pope the Dollar General Operation Big Chance winner and made is debut at Mansfield Motorsports Park.

Controversy

In 2002, Day had a friend enter a car in a NASCAR-sanctioned late model race at Nashville Speedway USA for the sole purpose of finishing behind rival Deborah Renshaw so that he could file a protest (per NASCAR rules).

According to the book Along For The Ride by Larry Woody (Chapter "Lap XIX: Women, Wendell and Willie"), "Day admitted early on that he was not convinced that women belonged on a race track" but that his problem was not with Renshaw because she was female, instead because she was a "bad driver." Woody noted that track promoter Dennis Glau had "gotten wind of the scheme prior to the race" and contacted NASCAR, who instructed him to disallow the protest. Her father Dan Renshaw, however, felt there was nothing to lose and allowed officials to search the engine. Unfortunately, a minor violation was found and her car was declared illegal. The protest was not only for Renshaw, but her male teammate Chevy White.

References

1. ^ Mark Day Career Statistics

• Career Stats from Nascar.com

Persondata
Name	Day, Mark
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	September 21, 1961
Place of birth	Clarksville, Tennessee
Date of death
Place of death