#40 Brickyard 400 Race Report

> August 4, 2002
> 
> 
> COORS LIGHT TEAM FINISHES 27th IN THE BRICKYARD 400
> Marlin maintains Winston Cup championship points lead
> 
> INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (August 4, 2002) - Sterling Marlin drove the No. 40
> Coors Light Dodge Intrepid R/T to a 27th place finish in the Brickyard 400
> at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  For the 20th straight race (Rockingham to
> Indianapolis), Marlin remains the leader in the NASCAR Winston Cup
> championship points standings.  He has a 93-point lead over Jimmie Johnson
> who is currently in second place.  
> 
> At the start of the 160-lap event, the track temperature was recorded at
> 134.5 degrees Fahrenheit.  Marlin lined up in eighth place for the start
> but fell back through the field a few spots due to a tight race car.  The
> Coors Light Dodge remained in the top-15 but Marlin said that the car was
> extremely tight to drive.  By lap 67, the Coors Light team had made
> adjustments on the car and Marlin radioed in that the car was "damn good
> right now."  
> 
> "I've never seen the track change so much from yesterday to today," Marlin
> said after the race.  "Our car was real good yesterday.  Then we started
> racing and it was so tight you couldn't turn it. We about ran out of
> adjustments trying to free it up. Once it got going pretty good it blew
> up."
> 
> Thirty laps later, Marlin's Coors Light Dodge lost a cylinder and began
> running off the pace.  The team opted to stay out during a caution two
> laps later to gain five bonus points for the championship race; then he
> brought his car in for a four-tire/fuel pit stop. Marlin continued racing
> with seven cylinders and ended up with a 27th place finish.
> 
> "I don't know if it was the heat or what," Marlin said about the engine
> trouble.  "It's weird deal the way things are working out this year. It
> really could have been a bad day in the points, but the way it worked out
> wasn't too bad. Rusty (Wallace) ran second and we outran him most of the
> day. We didn't have anything for Bill (Elliott). He was gone. That Dodge
> was in another league today. They've been working hard, and they've been
> running good."
> 
> Bill Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Dodge, won the Brickyard 400.  This is
> the second win in a row for Elliott; he won the Pennsylvania 500 last
> weekend in Pocono.  Next on the schedule for the No. 40 Coors Light team
> is the Sirius Satellite Radio at Watkins Glen International road course on
> August 11, 2002.
> 
> Tony Glover was awarded the Brickyard 400 "True Grit" award during
> pre-race festivities at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  Glover was the
> fifth annual winner of the $10,000 award, presented by C & R Racing, Inc.
>