NASCAR Cup

Sears Point: Sterling Marlin race report

Marlin holds on for top-20 finish in road course race SONOMA, Calif. (June 22, 2003) --- Although Sterling Marlin could go without the two road course races of the NASCAR Winston Cup season, he faired well in the first one of the year. Marlin ...

Edited: Jun 24, 2003, 12:22 AM

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Marlin holds on for top-20 finish in road course race

SONOMA, Calif. (June 22, 2003) --- Although Sterling Marlin could go without the two road course races of the NASCAR Winston Cup season, he faired well in the first one of the year. Marlin drove his No. 40 Coors Light Dodge to an 18th place finish in the Dodge/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway today. Marlin sits 10th in the championship points race.

Marlin started the race in 27th position next to teammate and rookie Jamie McMurray. He stayed in the top-20 for the first thirty laps and was able to jump to the top-15 due to a fast pit stop under green. Marlin radioed in to crew chief Lee McCall that his car was "loose" during the first half of the race. The adjustments the Coors Light crew made helped in the long run.

Marlin remained in the top-15 until a full course caution came out on lap 70. He came into the pits for a standard pit stop but the team's green flag pit strategy went out the window. The rest of the field came into the pits as well and a bottle neck at the end of pit road pushed Marlin back to 24th position. Marlin was able to move up to take the checkered flag in 18th position.

"I'm usually not too excited to be running these road races but today we did pretty good," Marlin said. "The car was loose at the beginning of the race but we made some changes and it would come to me on long runs. It was a decent finish. I'm ready for Daytona though."

Marlin has three Ganassi teammates entered in the race as well. Scott Pruett finished 34th in his #09 Target Dodge; Jamie McMurray finished 20th and Casey Mears finished 26th.

The Coors Light team heads to Daytona International Speedway next weekend for the Pepsi 400 on July 5th.

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