Dodge Motorsports Weekend Results
\ Sterling Marlin Returns to Top-Five Form, Leads the Way For Dodge at Pocono; Rookie Gaughan Triumphs at TMS LONG POND, Pa. (June 9, 2002) - Sterling Marlin drove his No. 40 Coors Original Dodge Intrepid R/T to a fourth-place finish in Sunday's Pocono 500 NASCAR Winston Cup race at Pocono Raceway and maintained his 136-point advantage in the NASCAR Winston Cup Standings. Marlin, a 44-year-old Tennessee native, recorded his fifth top-five finish of the season and his first since a fifth-place run at Talladega on April 21. Marlin led once for two laps and that allowed him to retain his advantage over second-place Jimmie Johnson, who finished third Sunday. Johnson did not lead a lap. Dale Jarrett won the race in a Ford, and that allowed Ford to lengthen its advantage in the NASCAR Winston Cup manufacturers standings. Ford has five victories and 95 points. Each of the other three manufacturers have three wins this season. Chevrolet is second in the standings with 76 points, followed by Dodge with 73 and Pontiac with 64. Marlin and his Chip Ganassi with Felix Sabates Racing team used two-tire pit stops down the stretch to gain track position. Marlin's Dodge, the same one he won with earlier this season at Las Vegas and Darlington, started the race on the pole after qualifying was called off on Friday because of excessive rain the day before at the 2.5-mile track. Water seeped through the track all day Friday, and cars didn't even get on the track. "Our car was terrible early, and it took us about half the race to get the car going," Marlin said. "It was pretty decent at the end, but we were no match for the Chevys and Fords. We're glad to finish fourth as bad as it was early." Bill Elliott's No. 9 Dodge Dealers Intrepid R/T led once for 26 laps, but engine problems relegated Elliott to a 30th-place finish and he dropped two spots to 11th in the series standings. Dodge sophomore driver Casey Atwood recorded his best finish of the season in the No. 7 Sirius Satellite Radio Dodge Intrepid R/T. Atwood's 11th-place finish moved him up four spots to 29th in the standings. Kyle Petty's No. 45 Sprint Dodge Intrepid R/T finished 13th, and Petty now ranks 19th in the series standings. In the past 11 races, he's moved up from 38th. Other Dodge results on Sunday were: * Jimmy Spencer (No. 41 Target Dodge Intrepid R/T) 21st. * Hut Stricklin (No. 23 Hills Bros Coffee Dodge Intrepid R/T) 22nd. * Steve Grissom (No. 44 Georgia Pacific/Brawny Dodge Intrepid R/T) 25th * John Andretti (No. 43 Cheerios Dodge Intrepid R/T) 31st * Ward Burton (No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge Intrepid R/T) 33rd * Jeremy Mayfield (No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Intrepid R/T) 36th * Carl Long (No. 85 Mansion Motorsports/Juvenile Diabetes Dodge Intrepid R/T) 42nd. NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Brendan Gaughan drove his No. 62 NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Ram to victory in Friday night's O'Reilly 400 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. Gaughan, a rookie in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, captured his first career victory in his 24th start. He finished second at Texas last year. He gave Dodge its fourth victory of the season and extended Dodge's advantage in the manufacturers' standings. After seven of 23 races, Dodge leads Ford 52-44. "The NAPA Dodge Ram was strong, and the main reason why we switched to Dodge Motorsports is the fact that you get wind tunnel time and you get engineering help," Gaughan said. "The only advantage that Dodge Motorsports has is the people who are taking care of their teams. I just found out that we are the first winner in Dodge's 'Run with the Ram' program. We're the first Dodge team to win that's not a full-factory backed team. So, I'm honored. I'm privileged. "There's one man who's really special in this deal. His name is Tom Mount. Tom is the guy that dug our truck bodies for us. He goes to the wind tunnel for us when we get our wind tunnel time from Dodge. Without what Tom did with this truck, we wouldn't be anywhere near here." Gaughan gained three spots in the series standings and now ranks ninth, 167 points behind the leader. Pole sitter Jason Leffler finished 27th in the No. 2 Team ASE Dodge Ram and retained fifth place in the standings, 125 points out of the lead. Ted Musgrave, driver of the No. 1 Mopar Performance Parts Dodge Ram, finished fifth at TMS and retained third-place in the series standings, 20 points behind leader David Starr. Robert Pressley finished sixth in the No. 18 Bobby Hamilton Racing Dodge Ram, and rookie teammate Bill Lester finished 11th in the No. 8 Dodge Motorsports Ram. Other Dodge Ram finishers at Texas were: * Lance Hooper (No. 5 Diamond Cut Jeans/Blair 5.com Dodge Ram) 15th * Carlos Contreras (No. 43 Hot Wheels Dodge Ram) 18th * Jerry Hill (No. 179 RDS Racing Engines Dodge Ram) 20th * Tom Powers (No. 55 University of Northwestern Ohio Dodge Ram) 21st. * Michael Ritch (No. 51 OOIDA Dodge Ram) 24th * Donnie Neuenberger (No. 81 IHOP/Simply Gourmet Dodge Ram) 29th * Brian Rose (No. 4 The Perry Connection Dodge Ram) 35th Pennzoil World of Outlaws A season-long trifecta bet on Pennzoil World of Outlaws drivers Danny Lasoski, Steve Kinser and Mark Kinser could make a bettor a rich man. Whether it's a 1-3 finish like Saturday night in Terre Haute, Ind., or rankings at the top of the Outlaw point standings, Lasoski, Kinser and Kinser are usually close together at the head of the class. Lasoski, the defending Outlaw champion, led from flag-to-flag Saturday night at Terre Haute, Ind., to capture the 30-lap feature. Mark Kinser's Mopar-powered Maxim finished second followed by Steve Kinser. On Friday night in Farmer City, Ill., Stevie Smith won the race, followed by Danny Schatz. The Steve Kinser, Mark Kinser and Lasoski trifecta completed the top five. The weekend results left the trio of Outlaws at the top of the standings. Lasoski leads the way with 4,227 points, followed by Steve Kinser with 4,204 and Mark Kinser with 4,071.