Looking Ahead

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Looking Ahead

Stewart's Competition

Tony Stewart will have to deal with Sterling Marlin, who won twice and clawed his way to a third-place point fund check of nearly $1 million by getting past Ricky Rudd, who fell to fourth with his tire plagued 13th-place NHIS run.

That cost Rudd probably about another $350,000 as Marlin secured Chip Ganassi Racing's standing as the best Dodge team this season. Marlin equaled his career best point finish by finishing fifth, second and second in the last three races.

"I felt going into this year with the team that Chip put together would be a good season," said Marlin, who gave every indication in 2001 that he will be Dodge's chief championship standard bearer next season. "We felt like if we didn't have much trouble we could end up in the top-five in points and sure enough we did."

"I'm excited about finishing third in the points," said Ganassi team manager Tony Glover, who was Marlin's crew chief at Morgan-McClure Motorsports in 1995 when he last was third. "For basically a first-year team, I think that's an incredible achievement and I'm proud to be a part of it."

"We had a lot we could prove today here, everybody did a good job and we ended up third in the points -- that's unbelievable," Marlin's crew chief Lee McCall said. "We had a phenomenal year. We stayed in the top-10 all year. We're going to shoot for that championship next year."

Spencer Right on Target

As expected, Jimmy Spencer will drive for Chip Ganassi Racing in 2002.

Spencer, who left Travis Carter after some seven years of partnership, will pilot the No. 41 Target Dodge. Target has long sponsored Ganassi’s open-wheel effort, but will make their first foray in the Winston Cup Series.

“I think if you look over Chip’s record in the Indy-car deal, you’ll see what he wants to do in Winston Cup,” Spencer said.

Spencer has competed in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series since 1989, posting 28 top-five and 78 top-10 finishes to date, including wins at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.

“I’ve been in racing for a long time and when you have the opportunity to get on board with an organization and sponsor dedicated to winning a championship, you just can’t pass it up,” Spencer said.