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This Week's Facts
This Week's Facts
Facts about New Hampshire:
Marlin’s best start and finish at New Hampshire came in 1993 when he started outside the pole and finished the event in sixth place; leading 123 laps of the race.
Quotes from Last Week:
"This is a great car. I've never had one like this. We're going to clone a bunch of them for next year. The guys did a great job, and we had a good car in practice yesterday in the last practice. It ran good all day. Nadeau looked like he had it won and ran out of gas. I know it breaks his heart. That's another top five for us, so we'll take it."
"We were reeling Bobby Labonte in about a tenth a lap, but the 29 was catching me about a tenth a lap. We got real tight for some reason."
"We had a pretty good car all day. We came up from 28th to the top 10 pretty quick. We hung around from third to seventh all day. Our car was good on the long run. It got a little tight for some reason but all-in-all it was a good day for us. We'll take it."
"I know it had to be a heartbreaker for Nadeau. He really runs good at this track. He should have won the spring race. He had a good car in the spring race and got knocking around and got loose or something. I know it breaks his heart. It would mine, to run good all day and then run out of gas. That's part of racing."
"I think we were in real good shape on fuel. We didn't put enough gear in the car, and I think we could have gone several more laps. We didn't turn many rpm's today. We just kind of idled through the corners."
"It's been a good year for us. I think that's 11 top fives for us and two wins and a pole. It's been a great year and it's something to build on for next year. We've got a great group of guys at the shop and a great sponsor, so we'll just gear up for next year. I guess after New Hampshire we'll start testing the short tracks and get ready."
"Jeff is a great driver, but he stepped right into one of the top rides when he came in. He had Ray Evernham with him. When you surround yourself with good people, look at us the past couple of years. We had a 15th or 20th-place car. You get good equipment, you can go."
"We were in the middle of three and four and I heard (Tony) Glover screaming. When we came off four, I saw Nadeau wiggle his car. I guess we beat him four or five car lengths. I haven't really run out on the last lap, but I ran out on the pace lap one time. They forgot to put fuel in. That was my first race in Nashville, my first year. I thought the crew had done it and they thought I had done it. We were on the pace lap and ran out of gas."
Championship:
Marlin is currently fourth in overall NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship points. He is 16 points out of third place and 42 points out of second. Statistically, if Marlin starts the New Hampshire race, the worst he could finish is fifth in points. Marlin has only one other career top-5 points finish. It came in 1995 when he finished third.
Marlin is the only driver to remain in the top-10 in NASCAR Winston Cup championship points all season.
Dominant Dodge:
Marlin has lead the way for Dodge all season. He has two wins, twelve top-5s and twenty top-10s. Marlin gave Dodge their first 2001 win in the Pepsi 400 at Michigan Speedway and their third win in the UAW-GM Quality 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. (Ward Burton gave Dodge their second win at the Mountain Dew Southern 500 and Bill Elliott won in the Pennzoil Freedom 400 at Homestead for the fourth Dodge victory.)
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