Skip to main content VideoAudio Sign UpLearn MoreDemo Sign UpLearn MoreDemo Sign UpLearn MoreDemo Sign UpLearn MoreDemo
NASCAR RacePoints Earn Points View Rewards
Features
By The Numbers
Headlines
See More:
All of the headlines
Sterling Marlin
Sterling Marlin has driven several different cars in his 30 years of racing, but just a few have won the Nextel Open. Credit: Autostock

By the Numbers: Open

Marlin has been sterling at qualifier race no matter the colors

By Josh Pate, NASCAR.COM
May 19, 2006
07:43 AM EDT (11:43 GMT)

When Sterling Marlin fires up his engine for the Nextel Open, it will have been 142 starts since he's won a race. But the all-star qualifier at Lowe's Motor Speedway is different.

Marlin has the annual Saturday night sprint to the all-star race figured out: Get to the front, stay there, qualify for the Nextel All-Star Challenge. He's done it four times -- the most among any driver. And he's done it once in three different decades.

A win in the Nextel Open won't change that, but it would add to a branding merry-go-round Marlin has ridden into Victory Lane at LMS.

What you didn't know

4 -- Different cars Sterling Marlin has won with in the Nextel Open to qualify for the all-star race: No. 44 Oldsmobile owned by Billy Hagan (1988), No. 94 Oldsmobile owned by Billy Hagan (1989), No. 8 Ford owned by Stavola Brothers (1993) and No. 40 Dodge owned by Chip Ganassi (2004).

Numerology

Call it a Saturday night heat race, for all practical purposes.

The Nextel Open is just that -- a 30-lap sprint to the front. Win and move on. Finish second or worse, and the night is over.

This year's event will be the 21st held in conjunction with the Nextel All-Star Challenge, and the 20th consecutive year it has been held at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Fifteen drivers have won the Nextel Open and advanced to the all-star race, but success in the nightcap has been hard to come by.

0 -- Winners of the Nextel Open that have gone on to win that year's Nextel All-Star Challenge, although Michael Waltrip and Ryan Newman have advanced and won in different formats.
2 -- Drivers who have won consecutive Nextel Opens: Sterling Marlin (1988-89) and Michael Waltrip (1991-92).
3 -- Nextel Open winners who have also won a Cup Series championship: Benny Parsons, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart.
3 -- Drivers who have won the Nextel Open but have not won a Nextel Cup Series race: Brian Vickers, Todd Bodine and Dick Trickle.
3 -- Former Nextel Open winners in this year's Open: Jeff Burton, Sterling Marlin and Brian Vickers.
5 -- Victories each by Pontiac and Ford in the Nextel Open, more than any other manufacturer. Oldsmobile and Chevrolet both have four victories, while Dodge has two. Oldsmobile (four) and Pontiac (three) combined to win the first seven Opens.
8 -- Inches that Dick Trickle beat Rob Moroso by to win the 1990 Open.
12 -- Drivers who have won a Nextel Open but never won a Nextel All-Star Challenge: Benny Parsons, Buddy Baker, Sterling Marlin, Dick Trickle, Todd Bodine, Jimmy Spencer, Ricky Craven, Jeremy Mayfield, Steve Park, Johnny Benson, Jeff Burton and Brian Vickers.
12 -- Drivers who have never won the Nextel Open but have gone to Victory Lane in the all-star race: Darrell Waltrip, Bill Elliott, Dale Earnhardt, Terry Labonte, Rusty Wallace, Davey Allison, Geoff Bodine, Mark Martin, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Ryan Newman, Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth.
16.75 -- Average finish in the points for drivers the same year they win the Nextel Open, with Tony Stewart's fourth-place finish in the 1999 standings being the best among Open winners.
39 -- Drivers officially eligible to run the Nextel Open. Only 17 of those drivers have started each race this season.
50 -- Position in the point standings a driver must be at the end of the 2005 season or as of March 13, 2006, in order to be eligible for the 2006 Nextel Open.
1986 -- Inaugural season of the Nextel Open, then called the Atlanta Invitational. It was the only time it and the All-Star race were run outside of Charlotte. Benny Parsons turned a 12-second pit stop on Lap 60 into a victory in the Invitational.
2002 -- Last time the Nextel Open was won from the pole (Jeremy Mayfield).
440,000 -- Approximate number of votes that were cast in 2005 to put Martin Truex Jr. into the Nextel All-Star Challenge although he had only run four career Cup races at the time.

Four drivers will be trying to make a repeat performance in this year's Nextel Open, but they'll have to reverse their luck at Lowe's Motor Speedway to make an encore in the All-Star race.

Inside the Numbers
Former Open winners in the 2006 field and their LMS stats
Driver Starts Wins T5 T10 Avg. St. Avg. Fin.
Jeff Burton 24 2 5 10 24.7 16.2
Sterling Marlin 50 1 7 13 24.9 20.7
Jimmy Spencer 32 0 2 6 22.7 21.1
Brian Vickers 5 0 0 0 16.2 26.2
Superstore
AUCTIONS
  Learn More | Sign Up
  Auto Service | Angels