Just wondering if it's normal to have the distributor all the way advanced to get the red mark on the crank pulley to line up in between the indicator on the lower timing cover

 

Your distributor has nothing to do with setting the pulleys in their proper position. You need to line up the cam gear with the arrows on the back timing cover and the tdc mark on the crank pulley should be lined up with the pointer on the outer timing cover. Moving your distributors timing doesn't move the cam, nor the crank

 

Did you put the ECU test jumper in before using a timing light? The CEL should be on steady indicating that the ECU went into test mode. Also if your timing light has a dial on it set that to zero.