Conversation: Sterling Marlin

GOLDEN, Col. - Sterling Marlin's sponsor used to say it was an "original." Coors might as well have been talking about Marlin.

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The veteran driver is a bit of a throwback from a past generation, when nearly every top NASCAR driver didn't mind putting back a few beers, knew what hard work really meant and sounded like, well, like he was from the South.

Those days are almost gone, but for many NASCAR fans, Marlin is one of the last remaining connections to the previous generation. Marlin, though, is far from washed up, and his Chip Ganassi Racing team has had a solid season thus far, with two top-five and three top-10 finishes after Sunday's ninth-place result at Martinsville Speedway.

NASCAR.com's Lee Montgomery caught up with Marlin recently to talk about his start to the season and other pertinent topics, like his love for Tennessee football, his daughter, Sutherlin, his high school exploits and his love for practical jokes.

You've had a couple top-fives already this year - and you didn't have any last year. Where are the improvements been within the team? Or has there been anything specific?

Marlin: I don't think there's been a whole lot specific. You look back last year, we should've had eight or 10 top-fives and we didn't. We had a bunch of sixth-place finishes. But we made mistakes last year and got caught up in other people's mess that weren't our fault, we lost a couple, three motors.

We just went back, went to work, got some new guys at the shop, changed a few things up. The motor room's really, really stepped it up and got us some great motors now. We're getting back where we were.

Do you think people expect less of you and the 40 bunch this year? Does that matter at all?

Marlin: I don't really care what anybody expects. You just try to do the best you can do with what you've got. We had a great car at Texas and got in the fence with it. We had a shot to win it. I think it's coming around for us.

We've got the cars driving good, we've got a lot of power now and the pit crew's making some good stops. It just all seems to be coming together now.

As a veteran guy who has won a lot of races over the years, how do you judge what a good season is? Is it the championship? Is it a couple wins?

Marlin: I think if can get you a couple, three wins and finish in the top five in points and be competitive week in and week out.

Now the important stuff: How good is Tennessee going to be this year?

Denver Detour  DENVER -- By most appearances, Sterling Marlin isn't the prototypical 21st-century driver. He's not young and hot, and his Tennessee twang might draw snickers in most Fortune 500 boardrooms.  But the Coors folks love him, from Chairman Peter Coors on down.  The Coors folks recently had Marlin drop in for a visit to their Colorado brewery and for the Colorado Rockies' home opener -- at Coors Field. But for a NASCAR driver, there is no such thing as a simple visit. "Appearances" are what they're called, and that means autographs.  Full Story

Marlin: I don't know. I think they've got to find them a quarterback. I talked to them the other day, and they're looking high and low for quarterbacks. They've got a couple freshmen coming in. Hopefully, they can help out with it.

Do you get to many games during the year? Not as many as you'd like, I'm guessing.

Marlin: Nah. I didn't get to any last year. I was in town for the Kentucky game and got the weather forecast, and it was going to be about 10 degrees. I said, "I think I'll stay home." I hate cold weather. I stayed home and watched it.

That's why you stayed in the suite yesterday (for the Colorado Rockies' home opener). Is was too cold to go outside and watch a baseball game.

Marlin: That's about right. I hate cold weather. I like it 90, 95 degrees.

Besides Tennessee football, are you a big sports fan? Do you follow anybody in particular?

Marlin: No, I just like football mostly. The Titans and the Vols. My girl, she plays basketball and softball. Try to go to all of her games as I can. Just try to be there and see how she's playing.

Do you give her any advice? Do you teach her how to shoot?

Marlin: Yeah, you try to. She's been playing basketball for three or four years, and she made all-tournament as an eighth-grader this year. She's a softball player, and I ain't seen her play softball in a while.

I went to see her the other day, she was really whipping the ball around, whipping it and catching it. She chunks a football about 30, 35 yards - eighth grader. Pretty good athlete.

You were a pretty good athlete in high school. I've read some things and heard some stories. Has any of those skills translated to being a driver? Or is that just something completely different?

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Marlin: I don't know, probably the desire to win and a never-give-up attitude. We had a great football coach when I was in high school. We went to four bowl games all four years I was in high school.

We probably didn't have the best teams, but we didn't make mistakes and got the job done. We were usually smaller than the other teams, but he'd always find a way to win.

And you were a quarterback in high school?

Marlin: Yeah, played quarterback my senior year. Was a wide receiver prior to that and got to play defense, played defensive end and a little defensive back.

He wouldn't let you play defense my senior year because he was afraid you'd get hurt. SO I sat on the sidelines during the defensive series.

Were you an option quarterback or a drop-back passer?

Marlin: We threw a good bit, we ran the option, we did a little of everything. I threw about 1,250 yards in 10 games and rushed for about 350, so we done it all. She done a little of everything, whatever it took to win.

I'm guessing that none of those accomplishments in high school compare to winning the Daytona 500 a couple times?

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Marlin: Naw, not hardly. I told my daughter back a couple, three months ago. She was starting basketball and was kind of dragging a little bit. I pulled her aside and said, "Look, this is something that once you get out of high school or eighth grade, you ain't never going to be able to go back and re-do it again.

"You better give 100 percent effort every time you're on the court or in practice."

It seemed like that little talk kind of got her going.

Maybe I shouldn't ask this, but what's the most Coors Lights you put away in one sitting?

Marlin: I don't know. It just depends who you're with. These Coors guys are bad influences on me.

That's got to be tough to work for a sponsor you don't like, right?

Marlin: I love 'em. They're a great bunch of people. Pete Coors, Carl Barnhill, the whole group. It's a down-home-type of atmosphere in the company. It's just great to work for 'em. Been with 'em a long time. A great bunch of guys.

How are things going with Sterling? I heard you talking a little bit before about him. Is he ever going to be as good as you? How good can he be?

Marlin: Steadman or Sterling?

Steadman. Did I say Sterling?

Marlin: Ah, Steadman. I don't know. I don't think he's ever really had quite the opportunity that he needed. He's made some mistakes along the way, and I've told him that.

The people he's drove for has made mistakes. Just getting in the right situation you know the car's driving good and got good motors, good pit stops (is important).

He ran the truck race at Atlanta and lost a lap under caution. Atlanta, that's pretty ridiculous. Stuff like that, he's had to fight through.

Has it been hard for you to see him struggle without throwing a bunch of money at him and doing your own deal with him and try to help him that way? Or do you just want him to go out and do his deal on his own?

Marlin: Well, I've kind of let him do his deal on his own. I had his short track car for him and worked on it all the time for him and helped him on it. When I left to go out of town on Thursdays, he left right behind me.

I think he thought at the time he didn't have to put out and be there to work on the cars and do what it took to be a good racecar driver.

I think now he sees that he made some mistakes there, and if he had to do it over again, he would do it different.

Do you try to steer him away from being a driver knowing how tough this business can be?

Marlin: I told him, "It's here if you want it. If you don't want it, fine, it's not going to bother me a bit if you don't drive a racecar." I'd probably rather him not drive a racecar because there are very few people who make it to the Winston Cup side.

It's a struggle. I owned my own cars a long time and drove them up and down the highway and worried about paying the bills. I finally got a Cup ride, and I've been since about '86 or '87. It's a lot of struggles getting to where you need to be.

hear Jamie and Casey are planning to get you back for some practical jokes you pulled on them. Have they done that yet? Has anybody ever gotten you back?

Marlin: I don't know. They've probably gotten me back a little bit. I'm probably still ahead of them a good bit. It's pretty fun to do some stuff to 'em and get 'em going.

What's the craziest one you've done that you could tell a family?

Marlin: I don't know. It probably wasn't a practical joke, but I know one time me and my daughter - she was about five or six, and we were in North Carolina at the lake house - she came up to me with them big blue eyes and wanted to ride the Sea-Doo and go get some ice cream.

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So I said, "Hop on and we'll go to the marina."

So we went to the marina to get some ice cream. We pulled up and tied up, and this lady was out front by the pier. She had a big broom handle or something jabbing in these muskrat holes. I said, 'What's going on?' She said, 'These damn muskrats are tearing my pier all to pieces out here.'

I said, "You're going to have a hard time killing 'em with that broomstick." She said, "Well, how would you do it?" I said, "If it was me, I'd get some gas and pour in there, wait about five minutes and throw a match to it."

I didn't think anything about it. About two weeks later, me and Terry Labonte were doing a commercial. He lived on the lake, too, and he said, "Did you hear about the explosion at the lake?" I still didn't catch nothing of what was going on. I said, "Naw, what explosion?" He said, "Some woman like to blew the pier up down there."

"Ohhh. OK. I don't think I'll be going back down there." She blew up about to her porch, blew her pier wall out, a pretty big explosion.

Conversation runs every Monday at 3 p.m. ET on NASCAR.COM.