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NASCAR WCUP: S. Marlin/R. Gordon Quotes from Winston Cup Preview

11 January 2001

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

STERLING MARLIN (No. 40) Coors Light

Do you have a teammate yet............does this have anything to do with how your team is getting ready for the season?

As far as I know we don't have one yet. They're down to several guys and some deals fell through that couldn't get out of contracts, so I guess during the next two or three days they're going to have somebody. We'll see then.

Does this have an affect on your team getting ready?

No, it just makes me drive cars a lot. We've got to go to Vegas tomorrow and we've got two cars to run, so they will have some help time Daytona gets here.

How concerned are you about the Dodge engine and what exactly seems to be the problem with it?

I haven't seen any problem with it. I haven't followed it as close as the other guys have.

ROBBY GORDON (No. 4) Kodak Film

What is your outlook for this season?

I'm really looking forward to it. I started with Larry about a month and a half ago. We've tested and had a lot of fun. The guy is very committed to his race team and it's a relief to have a guy worrying about all those other things when we can concentrate on going fast and making a very competitive racecar. I'm looking forward to 2001.

Robby, you're one of the few drivers who has gone back and forth between open wheel and stock car and you've done that a couple of times. Do you think this has hindered your career that if I don't do well here, I've gone plan B over there to fall back on?

If you want to come be my manager, you're welcome to. Yes, it hurt a little bit, but I think at the end of 1997, I made the decision to come to Winston Cup racing and it was the right decision. At the end of that year after having the fallout with Felix, I don't think there was an opportunity for me to stay in Winston Cup with a team that was capable of running up front. So, I went back to Indy cars and that positioned us to have our own Indy car race team. Once we had our Indy car team, I felt that if we're going to be in the racing business in America today, we probably should be racing Winston Cup, like I said in 1997. Now, we had a little control of our destiny. We struggled in a few certain areas that hurt us a lot; one would be some of the engine players, suppliers around here stroked us around, and now being with a good team you see where the horsepower number is. This year we're going to be a lot better off. I'm looking forward to having the Kodak sponsorship for a long time and I do plan on staying in Winston Cup. I did a five-year deal with them and I'm going to be here.

Robby, what is the status of Team Gordon now?

Hopefully, we'll have some kind of announcement in the next couple of weeks of what's going to happen with Team Gordon. I would like to keep it in place with somewhat of a Busch program. We have a couple of meetings next week.

Your history with Cal Wells goes back all the way to the off-road days and now that Scott Pruett is out of a ride, what are your feelings on that, because Scott is a pretty good driver. He's proven that, but there's really no opportunity any more for somebody like Scott, how do you feel for his situation?

I don't know the whole story there, but I'm going to suspect that Tide was the one that forced that. I'm sure he had a pretty decent contract in place. I know Cal Wells will honor it. He's a pretty good guy. If I were Cal, I'd put a program together to run the road courses and have fun.

Robby, with the problems you had last year with getting a full-time sponsor, if you look at the economy is starting to show some signs of slowing, what kinds of effects do you see as a former partner and team in what that might do to some car owners, what it might do to the sport if things fall more into a slower decline or goes into a recession that could happen?

Always after an election there is something like this that happens and things slow down a little bit, but I think NASCAR as a whole does a good job at keeping the exposure out there. The new network TV package next year will be more interesting to sponsors out there. It is tough to go out and raise the proper amount of money. If you don't have the money, you can't buy the right tools. If you don't have the right tools, you're not going to run good. It's a catch 22.

Text Provided By Marie Mason

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