Marlin involved in early accident at RIR

RICHMOND, Va. - NASCAR Winston Cup championship points leader Sterling Marlin suffered a major blow in the championship chase Saturday after being caught up in a wreck with Jeff Burton at Richmond International Raceway.

Marlin finished 43rd and now holds a nine-point lead over Mark Martin, who finished sixth. Marlin has held the points lead since February.

Burton was heading into Turn 3 on lap 10 and suddenly spun, backing the No. 99 Ford hard into the outside retaining wall. Upon impact, Burton slid back down the track surface -- right in front of Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Marlin and Jimmy Spencer.

"I don't know what happened, to be honest," Burton said. "My car felt good the few laps before and I drove into the corner. I don't think anybody hit me or anything. I think it just got around on me and I backed into the corner really hard. Sterling hit real hard."

Unable to elude Spencer's Dodge, Marlin slammed headfirst into the outside wall, rendering his Coors Light Dodge immobile.

"They got all tied up going in the corner," Marlin said. "Jimmy checked up in front of me and I locked my rear wheels up, sent the car head on in the fence. Car's pretty much done and I'm pretty sore, but we'll be okay."

In the wake of the accident, Marlin stood to lose a significant amount of ground to second-place Jeff Gordon in the championship points race. But on lap 55, Gordon slowed in Turn 4 and dove to pit road. As he stopped in his pit, the crew went to work under the hood, only to find a broken camshaft.

"We've got 10 races left, and I guess it's going to be really tight after tonight," said Marlin, who entered Saturday night's affair 91 points ahead of Gordon. "Jeff had some trouble, and it seems like when one of us has problems the other one does, too.

"We'll just do the best we can every week from here on out like we've been doing all season, add 'em up at Homestead and see where we stack up."