The Coors Light Dodge Captures a 16th place finish in the Golden Corral 500

HAMPTON, Ga. (March 15, 2004) --- Sterling Marlin overcame an
ill-handling car to battle his way from 31st to 16th in the Golden
Corral 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

 

"We tried a little bit of everything," Marlin said.  "We just couldn't
get a handle on it today.  We were loose most of the day and then tight
for a bit.  We tried a lot of different things to fix it but could never
quite seem to get it.  We will try and figure it out and get them next
week at Darlington.  I really like that track and it will be interesting
to see how the new safety walls change the race and the track."

 

Marlin started the race 31st after a tough qualifying run on Friday
where the car almost got sideways.  Marlin was working his way through
the field and was up to 17th when he made his first green-flag pit stop
of the race on lap 57.  The Coors Light crew made minor adjustments that
included fixing the right front fender that had sustained minor damage.


 

The Coors Light Dodge reentered the race 20th and started to gain spots
again when Marlin communicated that "the car was loose in the middle of
turn three and four."  On lap 116 the Coors Light team made their second
green-flag pit stop where they made air pressure adjustments to improve
the handling of the car.

 

The first caution flag flew on lap 125 and Marlin reported that the car
was loose in the center and the car had almost gotten sideways.  During
the pit stop the Coors Light crew made more air pressure adjustments,
and when the race restarted Marlin was running 16th.  

 

The Coors Light crew continued making adjustments for the remainder of
the race and Marlin was able to pilot the Coors Light Dodge to his third
top-20 finish of the season.

 

Marlin remains 18th in the NEXTEL Cup championship points after his
16th-place finish in Atlanta. Ganassi teammates Casey Mears and Jamie
McMurray finished 34th and 37th respectively.

 

The Coors Light team races at Darlington next weekend.  The race will be
broadcast live on FOX television and MRN radio on Sunday, March 21st at
1:00 p.m. EST.