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Jerry Bonkowski, Columnist, ESPNChicago.com 20y

Marlin turning fortunes back around

There's probably no one in Nextel Cup racing who knows what a difference a year makes better than Sterling Marlin.

In 2002, Marlin was enjoying his best season in Cup racing. He was atop the standings for 25 of the first 26 weeks. But all that quickly faded when his season was cut short by a racing crash. What had looked like a championship season dissolved into an 18th-place finish.

In 2003, Marlin was hoping to rebound from his previous year's disappointment. He sure did -- only in the wrong direction. For only the second time in his 18-year full-time racing career, he hit the ignominious triple crown of racing: he failed to win a race, failed to earn a pole and failed to manage even one top-five finish (although he did have 11 top-10 showings). Oh, and he once again finished 18th.

Now it's 2004, and a whole new beginning for the sandy-haired veteran from Columbia, Tenn. Heading into Sunday's Aaron's 499 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, Marlin already has a pair of top-five finishes in the first eight races, at Rockingham and Bristol. He's coming off a ninth-place outing last Sunday at Martinsville (Va.).

"From working with Sterling, he was 100 percent last year," said crew chief Lee McCall. "We struggled in some areas last year. We had some great runs and were in contention to win three races last year, but we just couldn't finish it off. Sterling is as good as he's ever been this year, and he was as good as he'd ever been last year. I think right now we have a great group of people working on the 40 car and the biggest thing is we challenged for a championship in 2002. We didn't have that last year, and everybody is trying to point fingers why we didn't do that.

"There were a lot of little things that we can say (made) our performance go down. We've approached those things, and I think our performance this year is back on track where we need to be. I think our performance in the last three races has shown that."

But Talladega is where Marlin could truly surprise. The last time he was on a superspeedway was the season-opening Daytona 500, where he bolted out of the gate with a strong fourth-place qualifying effort, only to see it go for naught when he was involved in a crash that ended his day 75 laps into the 200-lap winter classic.

Now that he's back on a jumbo-sized track and his No. 40 Dodge is sporting a restrictor plate like the rest of his fellow racers, Marlin could have one of his biggest days in the last two-plus years. He has won twice in his career at Talladega in back-to-back events: fall 1995 and spring 1996. He's also a three-time pole-sitter at the 2.66-mile racetrack, the longest on the Nextel Cup circuit.

"Talladega has always been good to me," he said. "I've got a couple of wins there and poles there. It's been a great track for the Marlin family (his father, CooCoo Marlin also had great success at the legendary Alabama track). "Probably the one that would really stand out is Bill (Elliott) making up two laps under green in '86. That was a pretty wild race, and I've been in some pretty wild finishes myself coming down toward the end. There have been a lot of good moments there."

To say Marlin, who is currently 13th in the points and could jump into the top 10 with a strong showing Sunday (he's just 48 points behind No. 10 Kevin Harvick), wants to put the last two years behind him this weekend and break out in a big way is an understatement.

"We're just trying to get back to the way we were," Marlin said. "It seems like we're doing pretty good right now. We're not that far out of the points race, so we can get back to where we were without any problem."

While he has enjoyed the sweet taste of success at Talladega, Marlin has also had to swallow some of the sour taste that high-speed track offers to drivers. Between the horsepower-robbing restrictor plates, the oftentimes wacky aerodynamics, the penchant for NASCAR to be less forgiving on rules violations such as passing below the bottom of the track stripe, Talladega can be a great day if you're running good.

But it also can be a bear when you're not.

"If you can stay up front at Talladega, it's OK, but if you're stuck in the middle or the back, it's just so aggravating to pass," Marlin said. "To get away from somebody, you just can't do it. It's 500 miles of white knuckles, looking out the back, looking out the front waiting to see what's going to happen."

And most of the time, what's going to happen usually does, namely "the big one," where tremendous crashes can take out a dozen cars or more at any one time.

"If you have a good car and get in the wrong lane and have to lift and you're running third or fourth, the next thing you know you're running 30th," Marlin said. "The deal is you try to stay in front all day. If you're running first, second or third, the odds are you're not going to get in (a big accident), but if you slip back around 15th or 20th, sometimes somebody tags somebody and away you go."

Marlin was victimized by the "big one" at Daytona two months ago. Johnny Sauter got into fellow Nextel Cup rookie Brian Vickers, who bounced into Michael Waltrip and "started the whole big wreck," Marlin said.

"We got caught in a wreck at Daytona that took out 12 of us," Marlin said. "We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time and there was nowhere to go.

"It's like danged if you do and danged if you don't. Hopefully everybody can keep their fenders on (at Talladega) and we'll run 500 miles caution free."

As stressful as Talladega is for Marlin, it's the same on pit road for McCall.

"Talladega is very suspenseful for myself," he said. "You always know in the back of your mind and historically there's always been a big wreck at these places. We were in the big wreck at Daytona and had a great car. You never know what's going to happen and where you're going to be. It's very stressful for a crew chief, especially for myself. I like to go to Talladega, and obviously you want to win, but if you can get out of there with a top-10 finish and not get in a wreck, then I think you've had a great day."

And potentially keep DEI Inc. out of Victory Lane, as well. Between Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip, they have dominated restrictor plate racing in recent years. In fact, Waltrip won there last fall, which was preceded by five consecutive wins by Junior between fall 2001 and his triumph in last spring's Aaron's 499.

"I think everybody wants to see what they've got," Marlin said. "They put a lot of emphasis on speedway stuff. I hear they've got four guys that don't do nothing but work on motors. No other team has that that I know of. They spend a lot of time in the wind tunnel. Their cars run good and drive really good. They've got two good drivers in them, so they've got the whole combination covered."

But Marlin doesn't have a half-shabby engine builder himself in Ernie Elliott.

"They've stepped up their program, and I'm really impressed with them on their open stuff," Marlin said. "They've really worked hard on it over the winter, and I think they've got the best motors out there. They're really great. I thank all them guys."

But don't expect Marlin to stick around at Talladega very long after the race -- unless he wins it. He has come to hate restrictor plate racing so much that it has become a necessary evil -- it's on the schedule twice each year and you have to get through it, but it doesn't mean you have to like it.

"You've got to have a fast car, a lot of motor and a good body on it," Marlin said. "You've got to have the breaks. If somebody goes with you and pushes you through there, you can go. Me, I used to really look forward to Talladega, but now it's just hurry up and get out of there. Everybody is on top of each other, and it's really hard to break away.

"Your chassis setup is not as critical at Talladega as it is at Daytona, so hopefully everybody can stay in a straight line and get this thing over with."

Jerry Bonkowski covers NASCAR for ESPN.com. He can be reached at Motorsportwriter@MSN.com.

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