Sterling Marlin is 33rd in driver points; the No. 14 Chevy sits 35th in owner points. Credit: Autostock

10 Questions: Marlin

REUNION, Fla. -- In 2006, Sterling Marlin is suffering one of the most bemusing years ever in his long NASCAR Cup career.

Despite having high hopes when he joined MB2 Motorsports at the beginning of the season, Marlin's No. 14 Chevrolet team has been stricken with a horde of mechanical gremlins and bad luck that have put them in 35th in owner points.

Needing a good run to secure his spot as a top-35 guaranteed starter, Marlin is thankful this weekend to be going to Michigan International Speedway, the site of Sunday's GFS Marketplace 400 and a venue at which he's won.

While celebrating some downtime recently in Florida, Marlin took a break to answer 10 questions not necessarily connected to his racing career.

1. What's your favorite outdoor activity, other than racing?

Marlin: I don't know but I guess I just like working outside, clearing property and doing things like that.

And I like throwing the football around and going to UT [University of Tennessee] football games -- things like that.

On the old homestead I've got about 200 head of cattle, and if you add all the land up, it's about 800 acres. I've got three people that work on it for me, a couple full-time guys and when I'm home; I'll help 'em.

We work the cattle and do what we have to do.

2. What is the most embarrassing moment you'll own up to, either in or out of racing?

Marlin: When I first started racing, I set on the pole in Nashville one night, I was coming to the green through [Turns] 3 and 4 and I run out of gas.

I thought the crew boys put gas in it and they thought I put gas in it and I run out of gas. That was embarrassing.

Thank God it was at the fairgrounds and not a Cup race. You'd have a hard time on MRN with that one.

3. What is one thing your fans don't know about you, that you'd like to tell them?

	Sterling Marlin celebrates 30 years of Cup racing this season. Credit: Autostock
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Marlin: I don't know, I never really thought about it. It might be about eating stuff, because I don't like broccoli and cauliflower and all that stuff. I hate it.

I'm pretty much into meat and potatoes and seafood. I love hanging out on the beach whether it's North Carolina, Florida or St. Thomas -- wherever.

4. Which show is "Must See TV" for you?

Marlin: I really haven't got any favorites. At nighttime it's the History Channel, Discovery Channel and ESPN, a little of it.

My wife, Paula's kind of got me hooked on Desperate Housewives and that's pretty funny.

5. If you could trade places with anyone for a day, who would it be?

Marlin: Oh me, I don't know. When you look around some, [President George] Bush has got a lot of problems and I don't know if I'd want all of them.

It probably would be Mike Helton. If I could make one change that would last after I went back to being Sterling Marlin, it would possibly be to let us wear shorts in the garage area -- it's hot!

6. Which athlete outside of racing do you most admire?

Marlin: It would probably be NFL guys. I always enjoyed playing football but those guys really have a passion for the game.

It's the same thing with hockey players. I never really watched a lot of hockey, but them guys have got to be in incredible shape, too, just to go up and down the ice, so it's probably those two groups of athletes.

Yeah, I'd agree the biggest misconception people might have about pro football is how violent it really is. I played high school ball and you worked all the time and never really got to go to any [other] games.

I got to go to UT one time and get on the sidelines, you watch and you're like, "Man, that hurts!" Them guys are quick. I've got some buddies that have played in the NFL and it's just another step quicker when you get to the NFL.

So it's hard on them, but it's exciting to watch.

7. Is there a movie you can watch over and over?

Marlin: Yeah, The Outlaw Josie Wales, Forrest Gump and probably The Shawshank Redemption. I know that's three different directions -- but The Blues Brothers and Animal House -- probably those five would be it.

8. What is your biggest guilty pleasure?

Marlin: I don't know. I never really thought about it. I'm not really a big sweet eater, like eating cakes or none of that stuff.

But my guilty pleasure is probably conning Paula into buying more equipment to clear land with. That's like, bulldozers, and loaders and dump trucks; stuff like that.

Naw, I don't have to sneak 'em by her. She don't say nothing. I've been pretty successful doing stuff with land, and I just like getting out. To me, it gets me out of the house and she don't have to deal with me, so it's a fair trade.

I go out about 7 in the morning and come back in about 7 at night.

9. If you could go back in time, in what period in history would you like to live?

Marlin: I'd definitely like to have went through the Civil War, to have seen the hardships and stuff those guys would have had to go through.

I'd like to just see how they done it. Today, you look around and back then, they didn't have any cranes or anything like that, so how did they build things?

Around home, they've got some things. The railroad was built in 1860 and they've got these huge rocks that are squared up -- and how did they get them 20-foot up in the air to build a bridge?

	Sterling Marlin has one top-10 finish this this season whereas five times he didn't finish at all. Credit: Autostock
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I'd just like to see how they done things, back then.

I've got a pretty good collection of Civil War memorabilia, but I have no idea how many pieces of stuff I've got. I've got a bunch of bullets, but you always want to get more.

I'm going to go back to Richmond this fall and go hunting again, and see what I can find.

10. What have you learned about yourself in the last year?

Marlin: Well, to say this year has been a good year -- it hasn't been, for us. It's tough because things change so quick on these racecars.

You get behind a little bit and you look around and you're behind a little more. I've learned to just be tough. We all know that I can win races, and that Joe [Nemechek, MB2 teammate] can win races.

Like we've seen, with Bobby [Ginn] coming in and buying [the greatest percentage] of this team, I think we're going to start getting the parts and pieces that we need and go test a lot to make ourselves better.

I've seen that [Richard] Childress' cars wasn't that good a couple years ago and they've changed some things and got the bodies good on them and the chassis good on them.

People wrote off Jeff Burton and said he couldn't drive and blah, blah, blah. And now he's what, third or fourth in points? I've learned you've got to have a thick skin, roll your sleeves up and work hard.