#40 NASCAR Race Report - Darlington

September 1, 2002


COORS LIGHT TEAM SCORES TOP-5 IN DARLINGTON
Marlin remains in Winston Cup championship points lead

DARLINGTON, S.C. (September 1, 2002) - Sterling Marlin drove the No. 40
Coors Light Dodge Intrepid R/T to a fourth place finish in the Mountain Dew
Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.  For the 24th straight race (Rockingham
to Darlington), Marlin remains the leader in the NASCAR Winston Cup
championship points standings.  He is 91 points ahead of Jeff Gordon who is
currently in second place.

Qualifying for the Mountain Dew Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway was
cancelled Friday afternoon due to rain.  The field was set according to
owner points, therefore Marlin started the race in the pole position.
 
After a two-hour rain delay, the green and yellow flags waved for the start
of the race under caution.  The field ran approximately 20-recorded laps
before taking the green flag.  Marlin fell to second place on the first lap.
Although he remained in the top-5, Marlin did not regain the lead again
until lap 161.  Marlin lead for a total of 113 laps and never fell out of
the top-5 during the entire race.  The Coors Light Dodge took the checkered
flag in fourth place, Marlin's eighth top-5 of the season.

"It got real loose on the last two sets of tires," Marlin said.  "We were
really loose on the start and got adjusted.  I thought we were going to be
in good shape.  We were just really loose on the last two stops and we
couldn't do anything with it.  We had some good pit stops and came out
leading two or three times.  All the guys on the Coors Light Dodge team did
a good job.

"It looks like Jeff (Gordon) is getting on a roll here.  We had him beat
early, but we just didn't finish.  You've got to run good all day to win
this thing.  We were gaining back on him, but we just ran out of time."  

Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet, won the Mountain Dew
Southern 500 his second straight victory in a row.  Next on the schedule for
the No. 40 Coors Light team is the Chevy Monte Carlo 400 at Richmond
International Raceway on September 7, 2002.