Marlin Quits While Still Ahead To Win Abbreviated Pepsi 400

On a day of thunder at Daytona International Speedway, Sterling Marlin overcame ignition trouble and won a gamble that gave him the rain-shortened Pepsi 400.

Showers halted the race on the 118th of 160 laps with Marlin in the lead, and when the storm prevented a restart, he became the winner.

Marlin’s Chevrolet was clearly the fastest car, and he led for much of the early going before dropping to 16th when his ignition shorted out on the 66th lap. He switched to a backup ignition and slowly worked his way through the pack, regaining the lead for good on the 87th lap.

With Marlin’s crew anticipating the rain, he stayed on the track when many drivers pitted on the 102nd lap.

“We took a chance,” crew chief Tony Glover said. “But it’s hard to call your driver in when you’re leading the race.”

When rain began to fall on lap 117, the caution flag came out with the leaders on the backstretch, and Marlin blocked Terry Labonte coming out of Turn 4 to win the sprint back to the start-finish line. The race was declared final 40 minutes later.

Pole-sitter and defending champion Jeff Gordon, who lost the lead to Marlin on the first lap, finished third in the 42-car field. Winston Cup points leader Dale Earnhardt was next, giving Chevy the top four spots.

Hermie Sadler won the first pole of his career, leading a record-shattering qualifying session for the Sears Auto Center 250 NASCAR Busch Grand National race today at The Milwaukee Mile. Sadler, the 1993 rookie of the year in the series, turned the newly-paved, 1-mile oval at 118.320 mph easily beating the previous track record of 115.407 set in 1994 by David Green.

Chad Little of Spokane qualified 35th, averaging 114.902 in his Pontiac.