Sterling Marlin says he has had calls from other teams but can't drive for any team until he gets issues resolved with former employer Ginn Racing.
"A couple of guys called, but I can't do nothing. Part of your contract, if you drive somebody else's car, you null and void your contract. So I'll sit and wait here and see what the lawyers say."
Marlin said the team still owes him money, and while he won't like to sit around and wait, he will.
"I haven't talked to Bobby [Ginn]. [They] haven't returned calls to my lawyers," Marlin said. "They're kind of just leaving me hanging. ... I'd like to get something worked out and at least finish the year out with somebody if I could."
"There was a lot of stress and a lot of hard work," Marlin said. "I'm really proud of all of the guys that worked on the team. We ran the gauntlet there for seven races - we had to make it [on speed] the last two races [last year].
"We made them, and a lot of guys can't say that. A lot of teams with good drivers and the money and didn't do it. We were the only ones to do it, and it's all for naught now. It's like being kicked in the groin."
Sterling is a little bit perturbed I'd say. He is smart enough to leave getting paid up to his attorneys though. And he is smart enough to not risk compromising the contract he has by driving another car too soon. He ain't no dummy. He didn't just fall off of the turnip truck yesterday.
The Coca-Cola 600 was only a 75 mile show for a dozen or so Nextel Cup drivers on Sunday. As the 43-car field rounded the 1.5-mile oval on Lap 52 of 400, the tire tread from Jimmie Johnson's car flew across the track. As the cars around him slowed to avoid the debris, a chain reaction occurred, causing a melee down the frontstretch.
“All I saw was the tire flying,” said Juan Pablo Montoya, who returned to the race after extensive repairs to his car. “I managed to slow down my car but I just get pushed from behind by Kasey Kahne and that was it.”
David Gilliland saw the same thing. “I just saw a piece of tire come up and everybody started wrecking,” he said. “On the restart everybody is kind of bunched up and everybody is just super-close and it’s too bad." Gilliland was struck from behind pushing the #38 into the car in front of him causing severe damage to both the front and rear of the M&M’S / Shrek the Third Ford.
"We just didn't have anywhere to go," said Sterling Marlin. "We were on the outside and our Pep Boys Chevy got shoved into the wall. There was nothing anyone could do."
He's won 35 races on NASCAR's premier circuit, come heartbreaking close to winning a title four times, and done it all with class and grace. But Martin's most enduring legacy could be proving that it's possible to race at a championship level without racing every week. The man who once made 621 consecutive starts currently stands 15th in points, well within reach of a berth in the 12-man Chase. This despite competing part time, with three fewer races than everyone else. Now that Martin and his owner Bobby Ginn have discovered a formula that works, everyone is watching.
"I've run them all for several years and not been this high in the points," Martin said. "I guess that speaks highly for what we've done when we were on the track."
Martin splits his No. 01 car with rookie Regan Smith, seen as the heir apparent in the vehicle when Martin eventually steps down for good. The more Martin succeeds, the more other teams may be willing to do the same thing.
"I was going to ease out not wanting to be three wide and I think the 14 hit me from behind. He had been acting impatient there before. I will damn sure pay him back I promise you that," stated Burton after the Jim Stewart 300 in Richmond Virginia on Sunday.
Uh NASCAR, have you sent an invitation to Mr. Burton to visit you in the big yellow trailer? I'll be looking to see that you did. I mean, Tony Stewart didn't threaten anyone did he? This sure sounds like "actions detrimental to the sport of auto racing" to me.
Meanwhile Sterling Marlin was all class, "Well he's excited. We raced hard all day and hardly touched all day. I got loose and when you get loose you correct and the front end goes up. If that's what he thinks that's what he thinks."
How about this Mr. Burton, the next time Dave Blaney has a little trouble and needs to slow up, don't stick your nose in the middle of a three wide situation and you will not have a problem. When you stuck your nose in there you should have gone on with it. Sterling thought you were and he was going behind you. When you decided you had screwed up and checked up Sterling was committed. You lost. Stick to your commitment next time. Or check up yourself next time and Sterling won't be trying to follow you through. But if you yes, no, wait, maybe, next time, you'll get hit again.
Sterling Marlin is the only driver outside the top 35 in the 2006 owner point standings who has raced his way in to each of the first five events of the season. Next week's race at Martinsville Speedway will mark the first weekend that the 35 automatic berths are based on this year's owner points.
"It's great to get these first five events behind us," said Marlin, who is currently 29th in this year's owner point standings. "Slugger (Labbe - crew chief) and the guys have done a great job all year getting this Chevy dialed in so that we could secure starting spots and be competitive. My hats off to them."
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