Race: Marlin Dodges rain to win

It was the second time the event had been affected by rain. Earlier, it was red-flagged for 1 hour, 45 minutes and 40 seconds because of a strong rain shower.

Marlin took the chequered flag behind the pace car. Pole winner Ricky Craven was second in a Ford, followed by Dodge driver Bill Elliott, Ford's Matt Kenseth and Pontiac's Johnny Benson Jr. It was Marlin's seventh-career NASCAR Winston Cup victory.

The last time a Dodge driver won a race was Neil Bonnett at Ontario Motor Speedway in California on November 20, 1977.

"It means a whole lot," Marlin said of getting the car manufacturer its first win in over two decades. "I felt in my heart I could still drive a race car as good as anybody, but we needed stuff to do it. Dodge came along and Coors Light came back with us and Felix Sabates and Chip Ganassi (team owners) put their heads together and hired some great people."

Marlin gave team owner Chip Ganassi his second victory of the day. Earlier on, Bruno Junqueira had won the CART race at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

"That's big, to win two in one day," Ganassi said. "To win two races like that is great, but you have to have Andy Graves (team general manager) and Tony Glover (team manager) to do it. This is a team effort. It takes a team to win this way. When I first went to Dodge, I was nervous, but the guys said, `Let's go for it.'"

Ganassi purchased the Winston Cup team from Sabates last season. He announced he would join the Dodge effort when the manufacturer returned to the sport at the beginning of the year.

It was also Marlin's first win in 170 races. His last victory came in the 1996 Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

He took the lead on lap 145 when he passed Elliott at the start/finish line. The yellow flag came out for rain on lap 155 and seven laps later, the race was called because of the continuing precipitation.

"I kept watching those clouds get bigger," Marlin said. "Tony Glover and Lee McCall made the right call to put on four tyres (on his final pit stop on lap 123). It took us a while to get to the front, but we got there.

"It kept getting darker and darker. I kept looking when I came off the fourth turn toward Turn 1 and the clouds were getting so dark. It hadn't started raining, but I was praying to the Good Lord to let it rain. It finally rained."

While Marlin benefited from the rain, Craven believed if he could have had 10 more laps of green flag racing he would have caught the Dodge driver.

"With it raining, you say, `Gosh, we're going to be second. I wish I could just have 10 more laps,'" Craven said. "You have to be reasonable. That's what I have to keep reminding myself. Second is my best career finish and I have a lot of time."

While Marlin gave Dodge its first victory since 1977, it was another Dodge driver who dominated the race. Elliott led for 57 laps, followed by Ford driver Ricky Rudd with 51. Marlin led 18 laps, but that included the final 17 laps of the race. He won US$157,830.

"This felt really great," Marlin said afterwards. "Me and Tony Glover were together in 1996 and won the Pepsi 400 at Daytona. It's been a while getting back. I just feel like with the team that Lee McCall (crew chief) and Tony and Chip and Felix have put together, that we would be back."

The start of the race was delayed by rain as the cars ran 10 laps under caution before the green flag finally waved. Elliott passed Craven for the lead on the first lap and stayed in front until Rudd passed him for the lead on lap 11. With rain forecast for the area, the first 97 laps were run without the caution flag.

When rain began to fall on lap 97, the field needed just four more laps for it to be an official race. The red flag stopped the race on lap 100 - the halfway point. Mark Martin was the leader, but had not pitted.

"When it rained and we were sitting sixth, Tony Glover said he would just as soon quit here," Marlin said. "I told him to wait a minute. I thought we would get some more because before the rain delay, we had one of the best cars. I thought the 2 (Wallace) was going to blow up. Our car was good on the long runs."

After the lengthy rain delay, the green flag waved again on lap 106 with Elliott leading Rusty Wallace and Craven.

Wallace passed Elliott for the lead on lap 107 and stayed in front until Rudd's engine blew up on lap 121. Two laps later, Marlin's crew went for four tyres on the pit stop instead of two, and it paid off with the win.

The victory came in the backyard of the Motor City and Dr. Dieter Zetsche, president and CEO of Daimler-Chrysler, was in attendance for only his second race of the season.

Winston Cup points leader Jeff Gordon finished seventh and increased his lead over Rudd to 298 points. Rudd finished 42nd in the 43-car field after his engine blew up. Dale Jarrett is now 354 points behind after he suffered a flat tyre and finished 37th, two laps down.


For full race results click here.