Another Top-10 for Marlin at California Speedway

FONTANA, Calif. (April 27, 2003) --- As much as he does not care for the long travel to the West Coast, Sterling Marlin is definitely making the most of it.  Marlin has put his Coors Light Dodge in the top-10 at California Speedway in three straight races in a row.  

Marlin, who went to a backup car during Saturday's practice placing him at the rear of the field to start the race, moved up to finish in 10th place in Sunday's Auto Club 500.   The Coors Light team has finished in the top-10 in four out of the last five Winston Cup races.  Marlin currently sits 13th in NASCAR championship points.  

From the beginning of the race, Marlin consistently ran in the top-20 all day.  He reached the top-5 halfway through the race.  The Coors Light team continuously gained on the field until a pit stop on lap 200.  

The team chose to put on four scuff tires on Marlin's Dodge during the scheduled pit stop.  The tire choice proved to be the wrong one as Marlin restarted the race and was unable to drive the race car.  The Coors Light Dodge had to be brought in for another pit stop to change the tires; pushing Marlin back to restart in 13th position with 40 laps to go.  Marlin was able to move up and finish in 10th place but the mistake cost the team a top-5 finish.

"If we didn't get that bad set of tires on there we would have been right there at the end," Marlin said after the race.  "We had a good car but we just made that one mistake.  All in all, it was a good run for us considering we had to go to a backup car.  The boys worked hard in the pits and we finished pretty decent."

Ganassi teammates and rookies, Jamie McMurray and Casey Mears finished fifth and 34th respectively.  

The Coors Light team heads to Richmond International Raceway next weekend for the Pontiac Excitement 400.  The Saturday night race will be broadcast live on FX television and MRN radio on May 3 at 7:30 p.m. ET.