Marlin's season ends early

Marlin hit the wall very hard at Kansas and although he came out of the car insisting he was not hurt, he checked in with doctors in Charlotte upon returning home. It was found that he has a non-displaced fracture of the No. 2 vertebra in his neck. He was advised immediately to stay out of the car until the injury heals. Marlin should be fine by next year.

"We are expecting Sterling to make a full recovery and be ready to go for the title chase again in 2003," team owner Chip Ganassi said.

Jamie McMurray, scheduled to move from Busch to Winston Cup next season as Marlin's team-mate, will take over the car for the rest of the season, beginning this weekend at Talladega.

"Sterling obviously is very upset," team co-owner Felix Sabates said. "He felt like he had a legitimate chance at winning his first championship. Yes, the team had fallen off a little bit over the past few weeks, but with the tightness of the points race, he had a good a shot as anyone."

Marlin left Kansas lying fifth in the points standings, 121 behind leader Jimmie Johnson.