#40 Coors Light Daytona 500 Preview

Sterling Marlin, #40 Coors Light Dodge
Daytona 500 Advance

RACE INFORMATION:
	
EVENT:			Daytona 500 (race 1 of 36)
TRACK:			Daytona International Speedway
QUALIFYING:		Sunday, Feb. 9, 1p.m.
QUALIFYING RACE:	Gatorade 125s, Thursday, Feb. 13, 1 p.m. 
RACE:			Sunday, Feb. 16, 1 p.m.
BROADCAST:		FOX television and MRN radio

COORS LIGHT TEAM FACTS:
·	Chassis: The Coors Light team will race chassis #005 during
Speedweeks 2003.
·	Gatorade 125s:  In 22 starts, Marlin has won three Gatorade 125
races (1995, 1998, 2001).
·	Daytona 500:  Marlin's first-career victory was the 1994 Daytona
500.  In 1995, he became the first driver in history to record Daytona 500
wins as his first two career NASCAR Winston Cup victories.  Marlin became
the third driver to win back-to-back Daytona 500s.
·	Marlin earned his first-career NASCAR Winston Cup pole position in
the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway in 1991.

STERLING MARLIN QUOTES:

"You look at 2001, we were third in points and no one gave us much of a
chance when the season started. We came back last year and had the same
team, the same everybody and led points. We felt like when we went into last
year we had a pretty good chance to win the championship from the previous
year with the fall we put together. We've got the same everything now, so I
think we can come back and be as strong this year. Hopefully we won't get
hurt.

"There was nothing I could do about it. Once they saw the X-rays and I saw
'em, I knew I couldn't drive. It's frustrating. We worked hard all year to
get in a position to try to win the championship and then have that happen.
Worst things have happened. We're glad to be back this year and we're
looking forward to getting it done this year.

"Last year we wore the Hutchens and Hans. We're going to wear the Hans this
year. If I'd had it on last year, it might not have cracked my neck, I don't
know. Given what we saw, the Hans deal looks a little safer than the
Hutchens deal. NASCAR is always doing things to make it safer.

"I guess everybody saw it. It's a deal where I'd been racing cars a long
time and I knew going around the track the fender was on the tire hard. What
were they going to do? Put you in jail? We knew we were going to have to pit
anyway and go to the rear. We thought we'd just try to call their bluff and
get out there and try to pull it off and get back in the car. It didn't
quite work. I didn't know he (inspector) was behind me. He scared me when he
touched me on the shoulder. The hardest part was getting the window net
hooked back. I didn't think I was ever going to get it hooked. I finally got
it hooked. If I'd known that I wouldn't have tried to hook it. I would have
just come in the pits. It almost killed me.

"We're having a good time. That's what I did last year. If you can't have a
good time, you might as well stay home. I feel real good. The guys have a
lot of good cars built up. We're going to do some more testing before we go
back to Las Vegas and try to win at Vegas again. We need to get off to a
quick start. We've done that the past two years, so we hope we can do it
again this year."


CHIP GANASSI QUOTES:

Expectations for this season?  "I have to look at it a couple different
ways.  First of all with Sterling in the Coors Light car, we have high
expectations there is no question.  With Jamie we want to validate what
happened in 2002 with him and continue that.  With Casey in the Target car
we want to get him off to a good start and carry that through the season.
Our expectations for this year are like they always are.  We are about
performance around here and we want to do well.  You can have a great year
and not win the championship.  We want to be in the top-3 for sure.  We're
fortunate to have the wily veteran and two young rookies.  It's the best of
both worlds."  

Can you make a three-car team work?  "The answer lies ahead of us.  I surely
think we can or I wouldn't have done it.  It's about the people we have and
we have great people on our team.  It starts with Andy Graves and Tony
Glover and it flows down from there.  I'm excited about it.  You're either
getting big or your getting smaller.  If you're standing still you're
backing up."  

COORS LIGHT CREW:

Name	Crew position	Race shop duty
Al Shuford	Team Trainer	Team Trainer
Nate Kennon	Front Tire Changer	Front Mechanic
Trent Davis	Front Tire Carrier	Race Day Only
Mike Atwell	Rear Tire Changer	Test Team
Tim Shore	Rear Tire Carrier	Race Day Only
Greg Pasi	Jack Man	Race Day Only
Jerry Schweitz	Gas Man	Transportation Director
Mike Motil	Catch Can Man	Tire Specialist
Tony Santanicola	Windshield	Engine Specialist
Lorin Ranier	Spotter	Manager
Tony Santanicola	Engine Specialist	Engine Specialist
Steve Boyer	Engineer	Engineer
Derek Staments	Pit Support	Shocks
Dave Mitchell	Pit Support	Truck Driver
Mark Poole	Pit Support	Rear Mechanic
Todd Osborne	Pit Support	Car Chief
John Sacco	Scorer	Parts Department