Injury late last season ruined his title run. This year bad luck hit early but he has run well since.
By JOANNE KORTH
Published June 1, 2003
A year ago, Sterling Marlin was the talk of NASCAR.
One of few remaining good ol' boys in a sport suddenly overrun with 20-somethings, Marlin was atop the Winston Cup standings and cruising toward a possible first championship. A late-season injury ended his bid and Marlin is yet to return to top form.
But he's on the way.
After a rough start to 2003, Marlin has four top-10 finishes the past five races. After 12 of 36 races, the affable driver of the No.40 Dodge is ninth in the standings.
He hopes it's not too late.
"We started fast last year and fell off a little bit," said Marlin, 45.
"This year, maybe we've got our bad luck out of the way on the start and will get going into the end of the year."
Popular for his fun-loving nature and talent for storytelling, Marlin kept everyone entertained last season. Given the best opportunity of his career with owner Chip Ganassi, Marlin won twice and led the standings for 25 consecutive races. But a neck injury sustained Sept.29 at Kansas City, Kan., ended his season.
The chance of a lifetime was gone.
Though disappointed, Marlin promised to wear his neck brace and be good as new for 2003. With his team intact, he planned to pick up his title quest right where he left off.
Luck had other ideas.
Seeming always to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, Marlin was involved in wrecks at Texas and Darlington. At Rockingham, the water pump failed.
After seven races, Marlin had finished on the lead lap of just three events.
"He was getting hit in every race - the front or back or side, knocking the fenders out," said Ganassi, who retained Marlin in 2001 when he purchased majority ownership of Felix Sabates' team. "We thought we had pretty good cars for him and we kept getting put out of races."
People wrote off Marlin.
It was the injury, some said. Others reasoned that having two rookie teammates - Jamie McMurray and Casey Mears - was detracting from Marlin's team.
But Marlin didn't buy it.
"We knew it was just a matter of time," he said. "We started kind of slow, had some tough luck and things went against us. You've just got to keep your head up.
"You know you've got a good solid team under you. We've got the same team we had in 2001 and 2002. It's the same group of guys and I wouldn't trade them for anybody."
Marlin never has been all that strong at Dover with just three top 10s in the past 12 races at the 1-mile concrete oval. But he starts sixth for today's MBNA Armed Forces Family 400 as Dodge drivers have four of the top six spots, led by pole-sitter Ryan Newman.
"I think we're going to get it going," Marlin said.
"This is the best I've qualified at Dover in a long time."
Over the past five races, Marlin seems to be regaining the consistency that led to his third-place finish in 2001 and made him a title contender last year. Though still looking for his first top five of 2003, he is encouraged it will come soon.
"We've had a top-five car just about every week but Atlanta," he said. "We had good cars, we just haven't capitalized on it.
"We'll get clicking now and get going. We'll look forward to moving up in the points and getting a win. We're back in the top 10 and we're not out of it yet."
