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Sunday, August 19
Marlin wins for first time in five years
Associated Press
BROOKLYN, Mich -- Sterling Marlin gave Dodge its first
Winston Cup victory in 24 years and his first in five seasons,
taking the rain-shortened Pepsi 400 on Sunday.
The two-time Daytona 500 winner passed Bill Elliott with 53 laps
to go, and won when a heavy shower halted the scheduled 200-lap
event at Michigan International Speedway.
|  | | Sterling Marlin (40) passes Bill Elliott (9) on lap 147 to take the lead for good during the Pepsi 400. |
Marlin beat Ricky Craven back to the finish line at lap 156 when
the caution flew for rain, and the cars ran six laps under yellow
before NASCAR called the race. An earlier shower at the halfway
point had forced a 1-hour, 45-minute stoppage.
Neil Bonnett got the last previous victory for Dodge in Ontario,
Calif., in 1977. The automaker returned to Winston Cup racing this
season after a 16-year absence.
"I kept looking in my mirror and I saw Ricky coming," Marlin
said. "It was raining and I was thinking, 'Man, they've got to
call it,' because it was getting slick out there.' "
His last win, in the 1996 Pepsi 400, also was rain-shortened.
"We'll take them," Marlin said after his seventh career
victory.
Craven finished a career-best second, with Elliott third. Matt
Kenseth and Johnny Benson rounded out the top five.
Ricky Rudd's blown engine brought out the second caution, at lap
121, and all the leaders except Jeremy Mayfield pitted. Elliott
changed two tires and came out behind Mayfield while Marlin chose
to take four, putting him back in seventh.
Elliott passed Mayfield for the lead on lap 129 and pulled out
to a 2-second advantage. But with the fresher tires, Marlin
steadily worked his way through the field and closed quickly on
Elliott.
He made two attempts to pass before finally pulling abreast of
his fellow Dodge driver on the frontstretch on lap 147. Marlin took
the lead in turn 1.
Craven took second from Elliott four laps later, and he was
gaining on Marlin when the rain came.
"I think we were within five laps of getting there," Craven
said. "It would have been exciting."
Rudd and Rusty Wallace appeared to have the fastest cars, but
Rudd's engine went sour just before the delay and Wallace's did the
same shortly after the race restarted.
"It always seems like you have problems when you're running
good," Rudd said. "When you're not having a good day, nothing
seems to break."
With those two out of the way, and with favorites Jeff Gordon
and Dale Jarrett mired deep in traffic, it almost assured a
surprise winner.
Many of the teams had crewmen posted at the NASCAR command post
in the garage, watching the weather radar for the approaching rain.
The pressure of an early finish provided some of the best racing of
the day, with cars dicing two- and three-wide for position.
Mark Martin was conserving fuel and leading when the first rain
shower forced NASCAR to stop the race at lap 100. He stayed out
when most of the other leaders had to pit. When the rain briefly
intensified, it looked like he might snap his 42-race losing
streak.
But the rain stopped, and the track was quickly dried to set up
the frantic finish.
Gordon finished eighth, while Jarrett had a flat left-rear tire
with 55 laps left and dropped back to 37th. Gordon leads Rudd, who
wound up 42nd in the field of 43, by 298 points in the series
standings.
NASCAR tried to start the race about 10 minutes early because of
approaching rain but didn't quite make it, with sprinkles hitting
the track as the cars took the track for pace laps. The rain forced
the field to make about 10 extra laps before the green flag waved. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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