Points battle takes turns on road course

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	Sterling Marlin is still leading the Winston Cup points. Credit: Autostock

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- With 14 races left in the Winston Cup Series schedule, the championship still seems up for grabs.

After the Sirius Satellite Radio at The Glen, the top-10 drivers were much like some of the 11 turns on the road course of Watkins Glen International -- some went up, and some went down.

Sterling Marlin stayed in the top spot despite losing a cylinder well before the finish. He and the No. 40 Dodge team limped around the track to finish 30th and lost 40 points in the championship battle.

Jimmie Johnson was right behind Marlin on the points chart prior to the race, but his 16th-place finish was bettered by Mark Martin's 10th. Thus, Martin moves to second ahead of Johnson a mere 53 markers behind Marlin. Johnson is now 56 back.

Marlin wasn't ecstatic with the outcome.

"I wasn't sure how it would shake out at the end, but it could have been worse," Marlin said. "We were hoping we could come out of here with a top-10, but it didn't work out that way today.

"We'll get them next week at Michigan," Marlin continued. "I won the second race there last year, and it was the first win for Dodge. So, that's a special race for me.

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"We need to win another one and start making these points go the other way."

Tony Stewart's victory moved him up three positions, to fourth. After a roller-coaster existence in the standings, Stewart hopes things are headed in the right direction.

"If we're leaving here in fourth, that's great," Stewart said. "As long as we aren't third or fifth. Every time we end up there, it seems like we drop down to seventh or something like that.

"We need to start going forward every week instead of this up and down stuff."

Jeff Gordon, still winless this year, didn't help himself with a 22nd-place effort. It not only kept him out of the win column, it also moved him down one spot to fifth, two points behind Stewart.

Rusty Wallace was running in the top 10 and led the race once for five laps, but a pit stop relegated him to the back of the pack. He did manage a 17th-place finish, but it dropped him down one spot to sixth.

	Kurt Busch finished 39 laps behind Sunday. Credit: Autostock

Ricky Rudd picked up one spot with his fifth-place run. Rudd now sits seventh.

"All we had was about a fifth-place car today and that's where we finished, but we weren't that great," Rudd said. "My brakes, I couldn't run the car very hard and that was the difference in running a hot and a slow lap. I had to kind of go conservative all day because, for some reason, the brakes just wouldn't stay with me today."

Bill Elliott, coming off two-consecutive victories, started the day in the sixth spot. But, his 21st-place finish on the road course knocked him down two spots on the points chart.

Ryan Newman re-entered the top 10 and is now ninth. With his second-place effort, Newman moved ahead of Jimmie Johnson in the rookie battle, as well.

Matt Kenseth slid off the track on lap 11, and down one spot in the points, to 10th.

Kurt Busch fell to 11th after a disappointing 41st-place effort. It's the first time Busch has been out of the top 10 since the Darlington race in March. Three races ago, he was fifth.