By Mark Aumann, Turner Sports Interactive
February 7, 2003
12:11 PM EST (1711 GMT)
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Between father Coo Coo and son Sterling, the Marlin family was 0-for-443 in Winston Cup starts heading into the 36th annual Daytona 500.
But a different mindset -- along with a well-timed fuel gamble -- put Sterling Marlin first across the finish line.
Marlin used a little psychology to convince himself that he could pull off the victory.
"I just told myself it was a short track Saturday night in Nashville," Marlin said. "You're leading. Nothing to it.
"I gave a big sigh of relief. I finally won one. I knew I could do it."
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"Nothing" was what was left in Marlin's gas tank at the end. He was able to run 59 laps on the final tank of gas. But he was too busy worrying about the competition to notice the fuel gauge.
"I drove flat out," he said. "I never looked nowhere but straight ahead."
On his cool-down lap, Marlin coasted onto pit row, engine off, as crews from other teams came out to congratulate him.
"I've been around Winston Cup racing since I was 14 or 15 years old," Marlin said. "I was one of them guys. I changed tires and worked on my daddy's car. It was kind of emotional."
Several other drivers also gambled on gas but weren't able to get the same mileage as Marlin. Lake Speed, running fifth at the time, ran out with three laps left. Mark Martin was third before his tank went dry with two laps to go.
Ernie Irvan, the 1991 winner, drove the No. 4 Chevrolet the previous season but bought his way out of the Morgan-McClure ride during the off-season to take a job with Robert Yates. Ironically, his Ford finished second, .19 seconds behind his former ride.
He topped off his tank on lap 145, thinking that strategy would leave him ahead once Marlin ran out of gas. But Marlin never relinquished the lead, even with Irvan pressuring him from behind on the final lap.
"I tried to make a run at him and I pushed off Turn 4 and didn't have anything for him," Irvan said. "Got beat. I just never could make a run at Sterling. Congratulations to those guys. They had a great day."
Terry Labonte, Jeff Gordon and Morgan Shepherd rounded out the top five. Dale Earnhardt finished seventh, his 12th top-10 finish in 16 Daytona 500 starts, but he remained winless -- and unsatisfied.
"I really wanted the gold today but didn't even get the bronze," Earnhardt said. "What can I say? I just didn't have the car to win it this year.
"We'll come back to Daytona and try to win the 500 again. I'll be another year older, but that's the only way I can look at it right now."
There were 34 cars running at the finish, but two accidents took out several contenders. On lap 62, Rusty Wallace, John Andretti and Kyle Petty were caught up in Robert Pressley's crash.
Then 18 laps later, Todd Bodine ended up in the wall after a tap from Gordon. Also involved were the cars of Brett Bodine, Ted Musgrave, Michael Waltrip and Jimmy Spencer.
"For such a good kid with a great future, he made an awful stupid move," Todd Bodine said. "Jeff just pulled down, got into my quarter panel and turned me around."
Loy Allen Jr., the first rookie to start from the pole, finished 22nd. Jeff Burton was 26th in his first 500, while Jeremy Mayfield finished 30th.
This is one in a series of articles counting down to the 2003 Daytona 500.
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