Sterling Marlin, #40 Coors Light Dodge, Food City 500 Advance
RACE INFORMATION: EVENT: Food City 500 (race 6 of 36) TRACK: Bristol Motor Speedway QUALIFYING: Friday, March 21, 3:00 p.m. EST RACE: Sunday, March 23, 1:00 p.m. EST BROADCAST: FOX television and PRN radio COORS LIGHT TEAM FACTS: * Chassis: The Coors Light team is taking chassis # 303 to Bristol. This car has raced only at Rockingham earlier this season. * Marlin posted five top-10 finishes in his last seven races at Bristol. STERLING MARLIN QUOTES: At Bristol they've added more seats and it's sold out; does it surprise you that they keep doing that at Bristol? "Not really. You go around to different places and talking with fans and they all like to go to Bristol. It's a place where you can sit up high and look right down on the track and see everything that's going on. It's an exciting track - there's something going on all the time and I think the fans really like that. It's one of my favorite tracks to go to and race; it's really fast and you can move around and pass. The fans just really enjoy watching racing at Bristol." What are you doing for carbon monoxide at Bristol? Do you have any special devises you are running? "It never has bothered me there. Martinsville is a track where it has bothered me in the past. You would think that it would be bad at Bristol since your racing in a hole but I guess you run so fast at Bristol that it blows the stuff up. I don't know." If you had input into next season's Winston Cup schedule, what would you do? "I would look at having some more Saturday night races and drop the road courses. I have nothing on going out there to California I just think it would save the teams some money. We could go out to Sonoma one weekend and Fontana the next but I doubt they'll do anything like that. I like a good track like Richmond where you can put on a good show for the fans. I'd leave Darlington on there; this is tradition here for me and I'd sure hate to see them lose a race here." Dodges seem off... "I think we're off in two or three areas. A tenth here, a tenth there and your back on top leading races. I was at the shop on Wednesday and Thursday and they're trying to redo some stuff there. In the body stuff we lost some downforce from last year so we're working hard to try to get that back. They're working on the dyno and motor stuff a little bit. Just a lot of different areas." Team dynamic in making setup changes in the car from year to year... "You have to have an open mind. It's a deal where you'll have a good setup from last year or the year before and this year you can't do it. I like changing stuff on the car a lot. Glover will say, 'be careful what you do out there you don't know what this thing is going to do.' He likes to try the same stuff over and over. I remember when we had the #4 car and we were dominating the speedways. We went to Talladega and I said, 'Glover, let's soften this thing up.' I had to fight him on it but we ended up two tenths quicker. You have to have an open mind on this stuff." How's it going in the garage with the new access rules and less people in the garage area? "It's a lot different. This year in Daytona I probably signed 20 autographs in the garage and last year I probably signed 500. I think it's working out good for all the drivers. You have time to talk to all the crew guys outside the car and out behind the truck and you don't get in a stampede while you're trying to explain to them what the car is doing. It's worked real good." How is the three-car team helping you with the testing? "It's been good for us. The rookies get seven tests and they have been to every track that we've raced at so far and tested. Casey has surprised me; he's done really good this year. Jamie proved that he can win a race. I've got two good teammates and we've been gathering good information. We're able to share our notes and try a lot of different things." COORS LIGHT CREW: Name Crew position Race shop duty Hometown Sterling Marlin Driver Driver Columbia, Tennessee Andy Graves Team Manager Team Manager Syracuse, New York Tony Glover Team Manager Team Manager Kingsport, Tennessee Lee McCall Crew Chief Crew Chief Travelers Rest, South Carolina Al Shuford Team Trainer Team Trainer Shelby, North Carolina Nate Kennon Front Tire Changer Front Mechanic St. Louis, Missouri Trent Davis Front Tire Carrier Race Day Only Vale, North Carolina Mike Atwell Rear Tire Changer Test Team Charlotte, North Carolina Tim Shore Rear Tire Carrier Race Day Only Yadkinville, North Carolina Greg Pasi Jack Man Race Day Only Coory, Pennsylvania Jerry Schweitz Gas Man Transportation Director Waterloo, New York Mike Motil Catch Can Man Tire Specialist Hazelton, Pennsylvania Tony Santanicola Windshield Engine Specialist Vacaville, California Lorin Ranier Spotter Manager Prestonsburg, Kentucky Steve Boyer Engineer Engineer North Platte, Nebraska Derek Staments Pit Support Shocks Milford, New Jersey Dave Mitchell Pit Support Truck Driver Alderion, West Virginia Mark Poole Pit Support Rear Mechanic Kannapolis, North Carolina Todd Osborne Pit Support Car Chief Jamestown, Indiana John Sacco Scorer Parts Department Birmingham, Alabama BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY STATS: Sterling Marlin DATE START FINISH 8/24/2002 27 7 3/24/2002 16 19 8/25/2001 17 9 3/25/2001 2 12 8/26/2000 8 8 3/26/2000 28 10 8/28/1999 10 7 4/11/1999 24 14 8/22/1998 29 21 3/29/1998 24 40 8/23/1997 7 10 4/13/1997 2 20 8/24/1996 11 18 3/31/1996 4 18 8/26/1995 19 7 4/2/1995 31 9 8/27/1994 24 6 4/10/1994 18 8 8/28/1993 30 23 4/4/1993 17 20 8/29/1992 27 15 4/5/1992 19 32 8/24/1991 14 2 4/14/1991 15 27 8/25/1990 13 5 4/8/1990 5 7 8/26/1989 5 18 4/9/1989 14 15 8/27/1988 13 12 4/10/1988 15 8 8/22/1987 11 20 4/12/1987 14 24 4/6/1985 24 22 8/25/1984 22 8 8/27/1983 23 15 5/21/1983 19 18