Marlin notches first top-five since Talladega

LONG POND, Pa. -- A few victories and some top-five finishes certainly help when one is on a quest for a NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship.

Just ask Sterling Marlin after Sunday's fifth-place finish in the Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway.

Marlin, driver of the No. 40 Coors Light Dodge, has quietly been hanging onto the points lead since the Subway 400. So quietly that few seemed to notice that he hasn't had a top-five finish since the race at Talladega in April.

With two victories, five top-fives and nine top-10 finishes this year, he leaves Pocono still ahead of the pack. But it wasn't an easy run even though he started on the pole after weather forced the cancellation of qualifying on Friday.

"It was terrible early," Marlin said. "It took us about half the race to get the car going. It was pretty decent at the end, but we were no match for the Fords and Chevrolets. We were lucky to get fourth.

"We were loose early and then got it too tight. The guys never gave up and kept working on it. We're glad to finish fourth as bad as it was early."

During some of the five cautions for 17 laps, a few teams opted for two tires while others took four. For the Lee McCall-led pit crew, the two-tire decision seemed to be their ticket to the good finish.

"We didn't lose much speed when we put on two tires," Marlin said. "Goodyear has got a great tire and it never gave up much. We ran our fastest lap on two tires and the crew made some good calls.

"Those two-tire changes got us some good track position, and we were running about fifth when we pitted. Some guys put on two and some didn't."

Although Marlin turned the wheel through the tricky, 2.5-mile trioval of Pocono, he gives credit to the crew that has kept him in the championship hunt. It's been eight races since his Darlington win and the top-five finish was refreshing.

"All the credit goes to the guys -- they never gave up," Marlin said. "We had been fading at the end. This was kind of different for us.

"It felt real good to run in the top five again. We probably had a 20th-place car early and we just kept working on it.

"All in all, it was a good run for us."