DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 8, 2007)

Testing for the Daytona 500 is underway at Daytona International Speedway where NASCAR teams are busy preparing for the 41st running of the prestigious season-opener.  In Monday's morning session at the 2.5-mile superspeedway my favorite driver, Sterling Marlin posted the27th fastest speed in his Ginn Racing Chevrolet.

It is really tough being a Marlin fan sometimes.  But hey he's a homeboy from southern middle Tennessee as my mother would say.  For you non-Tennesseans that's the southern part of Tennessee between the west and  the east which you have to cross the Tennessee River to get to.  Back in the day that was a tough deal.  You had to take a ferry.

Hence, the three states of Tennesse became the way Tennesseans looked at themselves.  When my mom describes southern middle Tennesse, she expects you to know that history.  She's a Tennessean and she knows it.  So she doesn't care if your a waitress in Grandview, Missouri or not.  She expects you to know it.

And don't forget the southern she throws in their before the middle either.  She'll tell you she lives 60 miles south of Nashville.  But what she means is 50 miles north of Huntsville, Alabama.

One of these days I'm gonna lead a Tennessee militia and take over northern Alabama down to the Tennessee Rivers north bank.  That should have been ours anyway.  Then we can have all of the research they do about those rocketships in Huntsville.  Maybe it'll make our racecars faster.

Anyway, Monday in Daytona it was really windy making it difficult to measure the performance of Sterling's car, and anyone elses for that matter, but hey, we need the excuse, twenty-frickin seventh.

The day's afternoon session was canceled due to persistent rain in the area.  Because of the rain, a Thursday morning session was been added.

"We've been anxious all off season to get behind the wheel of our Ginn Chevrolet," offered Marlin. "This wasn't the way we wanted to start the week time and speed wise, but I know we have more in us.  "The radar looks good the next two days so I know we'll get some good quality time behind the wheel and my team will get our car hooked up," Marlin continued.  "Ginn Racing usually has stout cars at these superspeedway races so I'm excited to see what we can get done the rest of the week."

 http://sterlingmarlinfanclub.com/?p=news&id=5
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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.

(Jan. 9, 2007)

Marlin made big gains on the second day of Daytona 500 testing at Daytona International Speedway.  During Tuesday's morning session, Marlin ranked 18th.  The afternoon session was the first time drivers were able to draft and Marlin finished 14th.  Now 18th and 14th, that sounds better.  Hey, we Sterling Marlin fans gotta take what we can get.

"We made big gains since we unloaded off the truck," said No. 14 crew chief Richard "Slugger" Labbe.  Said "Slugger" Labbe, now that sounds good, sounds real good, sounds like a real first rate crew chief.   "We made forty runs over the last two days and have learned a ton.  So far, this has been a very educational session and we're only halfway through it."

 http://sterlingmarlinfanclub.com/?p=news&id=5
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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.

(Jan. 10, 2007)

With just half-a-day of testing left in the first of two Daytona 500 test sessions Marlin is excited about the progress the team continues to make at Daytona International Speedway.  Marlin was second fastest during Wednesday's morning practice and seventh during the afternoon drafting session.

2nd! 7th!  Woohoo!

"My Waste Management Chevrolets were real sporty today," said Marlin.  "We were fast in the morning and it felt great in traffic this afternoon.  I could run in front of people, behind people-- anywhere I wanted to.  All the guys on the No. 14 team have done a good job getting us hooked up and finding the speed we were looking for."   The teams actually practice two cars each during practice sessions so when Sterling says Chevrolets, that's what he meant.

 http://sterlingmarlinfanclub.com/?p=news&id=5
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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.

(Jan. 11, 2007)

The first of two test sessions for the Feb. 18 Daytona 500 concluded Thursday at Daytona International Speedway.  Sterling Marlin finished fifth in the week's final practice session Thursday morning.

"I'd absolutely call this week a success," said "Slugger".  "The team made all sorts of changes to the Waste Management Chevrolet and found a lot of the speed we were looking for.  We've made big gains from the time we unloaded off the truck Monday until now.  Our times have consistently been in the top 10 on the single-car runs and we feel good about the way it drives in the draft."

It looks like we are hooked up and ready to go.  Durn, I'm getting excited despite my conscious telling me not to dare do it. 

The 49th running of the Daytona 500 will take place Sunday, Feb. 18. It will be broadcast live on FOX. 

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