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Thursday, August 16
Marlin sits fourth in the standings
Associated Press
BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Sterling Marlin figures he already should
have won a race this year for Dodge, which returned to Winston Cup
racing for the first time after a 16-year absence.
The 44-year-old driver from Columbia, Tenn., has led races early
and late but hasn't been able to break his 169-race losing streak.
And, he hasn't been able to give Dodge its first victory since its
much-hyped return.
|  | | Sterling Marlin, right, has had more than a few close calls at victory this season. |
"We've been in position to win three or four races, but it just
seems like we haven't been able to close it out," said Marlin,
fourth in the Winston Cup standings heading into Sunday's Pepsi 400
at Michigan International Speedway.
"It's hard to win one of the races these days. You just can't
afford to make mistakes, and you need a little luck," he said.
Marlin didn't have that luck at Michigan in June, when a caution
11 laps from the finish erased his comfortable lead over Jeff
Gordon and Ricky Rudd. On a restart four laps later, Gordon and
Rudd motored by and finished 1-2, leaving Marlin with a third-place
finish.
Two weeks ago in the Brickyard 400, Gordon again passed Marlin
on a late restart and ultimately beat him to the finish line by
about a second, leaving Dodge winless.
Marlin and the other Dodge drivers have 14 races left this
season to get that initial victory.
"I don't think we're really running out of time, but we've just
got to put it all together and get a little luck on our side for a
change," Marlin said.
Sunday's race will be the third since NASCAR permitted the
Dodges to move their air dams forward two inches, hoping to help
the cars handle better in traffic.
Marlin has yet to see any change.
"Everybody keeps asking me about it," he said. "I'll bet 20
people have said, 'Y'all should really be stout at Michigan with
those two inches,' but I can't tell any difference. Until we run
the same car back-to-back at the same track, it's hard to tell what
the rule change is going to do."
If Marlin is to break Dodge's victory drought, he'll probably
have to contend with Gordon again. The Winston Cup point leader has
won the past two races, both since his 30th birthday Aug. 4, and
his point lead has ballooned to 194 points over Rudd.
The bad news for Marlin and the rest of the field is that
Gordon's using the same car this weekend that won in June. It also
won the Brickyard.
"We've been able to hit the right setups with this car and it
has paid off with a bunch of top fives and a couple of wins,"
Gordon said. "Hopefully, we haven't used up all that good
fortune."
Mike Skinner, recovered from a broken left ankle, returns this
weekend, ending Robby Gordon's four-week stint in a Richard
Childress Racing Chevrolet. Skinner, injured in an accident at
Chicagoland Speedway, also plans to run Saturday's Busch Series
race.
"The doctor released me last week to begin therapy to work out
my ankle and I've done that a couple of times, but it wore me out
each time," Skinner said. "Michigan will be a good warmup for my
ankle because we don't use much brake there.
"I need to get my rhythm back in the car and get my
coordination back."
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