Dodge just fails to break its duck

With 25 laps remaining, Sterling Marlin was in prime position to net the manufacturer that first elusive victory since its return to Winston Cup racing this year.

Sunday's race, one of the highlights of the Winston Cup season, was Dodge's first race since NASCAR mandated that the Intrepids could run with the front air dam pushed out by two inches - an aerodynamic tweak designed to increase front downforce, which would help the cars through Indianapolis' flat turns.

Marlin was at the head of the field waiting for the race to go green. And although Jeff Gordon was in his mirrors, Marlin had a clear track and a car that seemed to get better on long runs. The key, he said, would be the restart, a trouble spot for his Coors Light Dodge much of the day. Get a good jump and the rest would be easy.

"I thought we could hold him off," Marlin said.

He couldn't.

Marlin failed to get a jump when the green flag waved to start Lap 136. By the time they reached the first turn at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Gordon was on his left side, driving hard into the corner and taking away the lead for a final time.

"I tried to ease off the accelerator a little bit and let him run up close and then take off, and I did," Marlin said. "He tried to hit me in the back end and the next thing I know, here he comes. ... It didn't quite work out."

Marlin tried in vain to reel in Gordon over the closing laps, at one point closing the gap to only 0.697 seconds. But Gordon gradually pulled away, eventually winning by a comfortable 0.943 seconds. Instead of posting Dodge's first victory, Marlin settled for second, his best finish in nearly a year.

"We're going to keep working hard and get us one," Marlin said afterwards.

Gordon said Marlin almost got one Sunday.

"I got a little bit loose those last few laps and if I'd made a mistake, he would have had me and we would have seen a Dodge win this race," Gordon said.

In addition to Marlin, Ward Burton finished sixth and Bill Elliott eighth, giving the manufacturer three Top 10 finishers for only the third time this season.

"It's getting frustrating for us," said Marlin, who last won in 1996, but moved into fourth place in the Winston Cup standings with his 11th Top 10 finish of the season. "Last week, we didn't run good. We came here and tested and didn't run real good, but we kept working on the car. It's a good race car. The guys just rolled their sleeves up and got the car driving good. It was a good car and it didn't slow down much."

Marlin, who started eighth, led three times for a total of 29 laps in what was probably the most competitive Brickyard 400 in five years, with 12 drivers accounting for 18 lead changes.

But for Marlin, it all came down to an inability to quickly get up to speed.

"For some reason with our car, we have a lot of trouble on restarts," Marlin said. "We've been having trouble with the fuel pump, running out of fuel. I thought we had it fixed, but I don't know. We had the car fixed to get real good gas mileage, and I don't know if that had something to do with it or not. It just wouldn't go."

Gordon, who drives a Chevrolet, saw enough improvement from the Dodges on Sunday to predict a victory may be just around the corner.

"I still believe though that you've got to be in the right position and have the right pit stops. You've got to have the whole package," Gordon said. "Just pushing the front end out two inches is not going to all of a sudden make them lap the field.

"I think they're going to start winning races, I really do. They're going to start figuring it out and it's going to make a difference. I think they were definitely an improvement."

That was of little consolation to Marlin, who wanted to win now.

"We gave it all we had," Marlin said.