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NASCAR Winston Cup Goody's Headache Powders 500 Preview: #4, Sterling Marlin

19 August 1997


 #4 Sterling Marlin, Kodak Gold Film Chevrolet Monte Carlo 
 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
 Goody's Headache Powders 500 Advance
 Bristol Motor Speedway
 
       STERLING MARLIN NOTES & QUOTES: GOODY'S HEADACHE POWDERS 500

 
BRISTOL, TN - The Kodak Gold Film Chevrolet team heads home to Bristol 
(Tenn.) Motor Speedway this week, hoping a trip to their own backyard can 
cure the ills of bad luck it has faced throughout the season. The car, driven 
by 40-year-old Sterling Marlin of Columbia, Tenn., is fielded by 
Morgan-McClure Motorsports of Abingdon, Va., located just a few miles down 
the road from the .533-mile speedway.

In April's Food City 500 at Bristol, the team appeared headed to one of its 
best races of the early season. Marlin qualified second and appeared headed 
to a real run for victory. Even after losing a cylinder, Marlin was able to 
lead the race but the team was still able to pull off a 20th-place finish.

The race is as important as any the Kodak Gold Film Chevrolet team run all 
season. The proximity to its shop in Abingdon - not to mention Morgan-McClure 
auto dealerships in New Castle and Coeburn - bring thousands of team fans to 
the high-banked, .533-mile speedway.

The thoughts of Kodak Gold Film Chevrolet driver Sterling Marlin heading into 
Bristol:

"It's a good feeling to be heading home. Especially when things haven't been 
all that well, it's a good feeling to be headed home. We've been fighting 
this luck thing for so long it's almost hard to remember a time we haven't 
been fighting it. Bristol is the type of place that could turn things around 
for us because it's a place where we've had good runs over the years and 
because we know we're going to have a lot of people pulling for us.

"I figure those boys at Bristol ought to put in another couple hundred 
thousand seats just to handle the Morgan-McClure people who want to be there. 
This is their biggest race of the year. For a lot of them it's the only 
chance they get all season to come to the race track. They pretty well figure 
we're going to run good and they pretty much plan on us winning at Bristol. I 
can't blame them. Hey, that's their race.

"For the Morgan-McClure driver, the races at Bristol might be the most 
important of the whole season. You are almost afraid not to have a good run 
there. That's their stomping grounds there and they want to see some 
stomping. I really believe if we covered the field and had two laps on 
everyone, they'd want to see us get at least three or four laps on everyone. 
That race is way too important to them, and to all of us with this 
Morgan-McClure team, to do anything less.

"Those folks expect a lot out of this race team, and they should. This is a 
good team with a good history. This team has won the Daytona 500 and won at 
Bristol. They've won on road courses and they've won at Darlington. Just 
because we're going through a little spell of bad luck right now doesn't mean 
the end of time is coming over the hill and it doesn't mean this group has 
forgotten how to win. There are peaks and valleys with just about everything 
in life, and racing's no different. We're going through a little bit of a 
valley now but we'll start uphill soon. When we start doing that, people 
better watch out.

"We're going into Bristol with every intention of winning the thing. Forget 
the bad luck and forget high-fiving over a top-10 finish. Our sights are set 
on winning the thing, plain and simple. The boys on this Kodak Gold Film 
Chevrolet team have kept their heads up all season long and they haven't let 
the weird things and the bad luck get them down. Everytime something strange 
happens, they just bear down a little harder and work a little longer. We 
will lick this thing.

"Bristol is the kind of track where you get the unexpected. There have been 
surprises crop up there over the years, in qualifying and in the races. You 
see some new names near the top just about every race there. Like everything 
else, though, the cream rises to the top and the good short track racers are 
the ones who are going to be winning races there.

"I'd certainly consider this team as one of those 'cream-risers,' and I sure 
do consider us among the better short track teams. Nobody knows what's in the 
future but you can bet just about everything you own this Kodak Gold Film 
Chevrolet team is going to be back and it's going to be back winning like 
crazy."

By Williams Company of America, Inc.