Tire Trouble for Marlin in Chicagoland

JOLIET, Ill. (July 13, 2003) --- From the start of the Tropicana 400 at Chicagoland Speedway, Sterling Marlin and his Coors Light crew knew they had a long day ahead of them.  Marlin fought a badly balanced car and had a blown tire all in the first 100 laps of the race.

Marlin started the race in 19th position and within the first 15 laps he radioed in that his car was not balanced correctly.  The team performed two pit stops within the first 85 laps to work on the handling.  The two stops did not help as Marlin radioed in on lap 90 that his car was "too loose to drive."  The Coors Light team pitted two laps later and found that the right front tire was about to blow.  Marlin had to bring his Coors Light Dodge down pit road one more time in order to fix a brake duct that was rubbing the right front tire.  

With the adjustments made, Marlin went back out in 16th position.  Just as Marlin radioed in that the car "felt a ton better."  He had a right front tire go down on a restart.  This brought the Coors Light Dodge in for an unexpected green flag pit stop and pushed them back to 35th position on the track.

For the second half of the race, Marlin played catch-up to the field and still fought a tight racecar.  At the end of the day, the Coors Light team finished in 21st position but remains 10th in the championship points race.

"It was just a bad day for this Coors Light team out there," Marlin said after the race.  "We couldn't get the handling right and then the blown tire put us at the rear of the field.  I'm glad to get this one over with and ready for the next race."

The Coors Light team races at New Hampshire International Speedway next weekend.  The New England 300 will be broadcast live on TNT television and MRN radio on Sunday, July 20th.