rpm.espn.com: Gordon beat Marlin off restart

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Monday, August 6
Gordon beat Marlin off restart
ESPN.com news services

INDIANAPOLIS -- With 25 laps left in the Brickyard 400, Sterling Marlin thought he had the car to beat.

With Jeff Gordon in his mirror, clear track ahead and a car that seemed to get better on long runs, Marlin couldn't think of a better scenario of how the closing laps should unfold.

The key, Marlin said, would be the restart, a trouble spot for his Dodge Intrepid much of the day. Get a good jump and the rest would be easy.

"I thought we could hold him off," Marlin said.

He couldn't.

Marlin failed to get a jump when the green flag waved to start lap 136. By the time they reached the first turn at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Gordon was no longer in his mirror, but rather on his left side, driving hard into the corner and taking away the lead for a final time.

"I tried to ease off the accelerator a little bit and let him run up close and then take off, and I did," Marlin said. "He tried to hit me in the back end and the next thing I know, here he comes. It didn't quite work out."

Marlin tried in vain to reel in Gordon over the closing laps, at one point closing the gap to only 0.697 seconds. But Gordon gradually pulled away, eventually winning by a comfortable 0.943 seconds to become the first three-time winner in the eight-year history of the event.

Instead of posting Dodge's first victory, Marlin, a veteran from Columbia, Tennessee, settled for second, his best finish in nearly a year.

"We're going to keep working hard and get us one," Marlin said afterward.

Gordon said Marlin almost got one Sunday.

"I got a little bit loose those last few laps and if I'd made a mistake, he would have had me and we would have seen a Dodge win this race," said Gordon, who drives a Chevrolet Monte Carlo.

It was a disappointing conclusion to an otherwise successful day for Dodge teams, who were competing for the first time since NASCAR changed a rule which added two inches to the front air dam in an effort to give the cars more downforce.

"I saw a difference, I definitely did when I was back there in traffic," Gordon said of his Dodge competitors.

In addition to Marlin, Ward Burton finished sixth and Bill Elliott eighth, giving the manufacturer three top-10 finishers for only the third time this season.

"It's getting frustrating for us," said Marlin, who last won in 1996 but moved into fourth place in the Winston Cup standings with his 11th top-10 finish of the season. "Last week, we didn't run good. We came here and tested and didn't run real good, but we kept working on the car. It's a good race car. The guys just rolled their sleeves up and got the car driving good. It was a good car and it didn't slow down much."

Marlin, who started eighth, led three times for 29 laps in what was probably the most competitive Brickyard 400 in five years, with 12 drivers accounting for 18 lead changes.

But for Marlin, it all came down to an inability to quickly get up to speed.

"For some reason with our car, we have a lot of trouble on restarts," Marlin said. "We've been having trouble with the fuel pump, running out of fuel. I thought we had it fixed, but I don't know. We had the car fixed to get real good gas mileage, and I don't know if that had something to do with it or not. It just wouldn't go."

Gordon saw enough improvement from the Dodges on Sunday to predict a victory may be just around the corner.

"I still believe though that you've got to be in the right position and have the right pit stops. You've got to have the whole package," Gordon said. "Just pushing the front end out two inches is not going to all of a sudden make them lap the field.

"I think they're going to start winning races, I really do. They're going to start figuring it out and it's going to make a difference. I think they were definitely an improvement."

That was of little consolation to Marlin, who wanted to win now.

"We gave it all we had," Marlin said.

	Gordon overcomes slow start for third Brickyard win Notebook: Rudd out of contention early Brickyard 400 provides redemption for Gordon, Loomis