Sterling Marlin 2001 season fact sheet

Car:  No. 40 Coors Light Dodge Intrepid R/T

Owners:  Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates

Team Managers:  Andy Graves, Tony Glover

Crew Chief:  Lee McCall

2001 Season highlights:

·        Finished third in NASCAR Winston Cup championship points
standings.  Finished 22 points out of second place (Tony Stewart).

· Recorded a top-10 finish in the NASCAR Winston Cup point standings for the sixth year, but his first since 1996.

· Was the only driver that was ranked in the top-10 in the point standings all season.

· Marlin finished 19th in 2000 NASCAR Winston Cup points; he gained 16 spots finishing third in 2001.

· Scored three wins and one pole in 2001.

· Won the first Gatorade 125 qualifying race at Daytona International Speedway.

· Won the rain-shortened Pepsi 400 at Michigan on Aug. 19, 2001, giving Dodge its first NASCAR Winston Cup win since November 1977. It was Marlin’s first victory in 2001 and his first victory in 33 races at Michigan. The win ended Marlin’s 170-race winless streak that dated to Daytona in July 1996.

· Won the UAW-GM Quality 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, scoring his eighth career victory in 532 races. It was his second victory in 2001. This was Marlin’s first top-10 finish at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in 10 races since he finished fourth in this race in 1996. It was his first victory in 43 races at the speedway.

· Won the NASCAR Winston Cup Bud Pole for the Pepsi 400, scoring his 11th career Bud Pole in 520 NASCAR Winston Cup races. His most recent Bud Pole came at Pocono in June 1999, 70 races earlier.

· Oddity: Sterling Marlin barely edged Jeff Gordon at the line to lead lap 93 of the Kmart 400 at Michigan. The margin was so close that the computer report, which shows only three places past the decimal point, showed an interval of 0.000 second between the two.

·        Marlin participated in his first Winston No Bull 5 competition
during the 2001 Coca-Cola 600.  He finished 15th in the event.

· Marlin is ranked second in Superspeedway performances by NASCAR Winston Cup points earned on Superspeedways. He has one pole, two wins, 11 top-5s, and 17 top-10s. In 21 Superspeedway races, Marlin has led 50 times for 429 laps. He has a total of 3,808 Winston Cup points earned on Superspeedways; second to Jeff Gordon with 3,912 points.

· Marlin is eligible for The Winston– 2002. He has 10 career starts in The Winston and an average finish of 6.90.

-cgr-