Marlin Escapes Penalty to Win at Las Vegas

After only three races, it already has been a strange season for Sterling Marlin.

“We could be 3-0, but we could be 0-3. It’s good to be here,” Marlin said Sunday, when he won the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas after NASCAR rescinded a 15-second penalty for speeding in the pits because officials did not notify the team in time.

“We communicated to the pit official that there be a 15-second penalty and the pit official didn’t hear it,” NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter said. “He was told three times and the official said he didn’t hear it and neither did the officials on either side of him.

“In these situations, we always rule in favor of the competitor and that’s what we did today.”

Hunter said officials chose not to enforce the penalty on Marlin after that because bringing him back in or meting out another penalty would have been “too severe.”

Marlin was the hard-luck driver of the season until the race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

He lost a chance to win the Daytona 500 when he collided with Jeff Gordon late in the race, then was penalized for leaving his car and trying to make a repair during a red flag.

Last week at Rockingham, N.C., he was forced to follow Matt Kenseth across the finish line under a yellow flag after NASCAR chose not to throw a red flag, which would have allowed him at least a shot at the eventual winner.

NASCAR had been heavily criticized for not being consistent in its decisions on when to use the red flag to ensure a competitive finish.

This time, Marlin was leading after 120 of 267 laps when he slowed to make a scheduled pit stop under the green flag.

As he drove his Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge toward the pit entrance, Jerry Nadeau banged into the rear of Marlin’s car and sent it skidding sideways. Marlin was able to recover and drive it into the pits, but NASCAR said he had exceeded the 45-mph pit road limit and announced he would be held for 15 seconds.

Marlin finished a routine stop and immediately sped from the pits, retaining the lead after all the lead-lap cars had made their stops.

“I said, ‘No, not again,’” Marlin said, referring to getting spun out. “Daytona was a heartbreaker. At Rockingham, Matt had the best car.”

As for Sunday’s on-again, off-again penalty, the driver said he didn’t know about it until after the race.

“The tach broke in the car and I really couldn’t tell how fast I was going down pit road,” he said. “I thought we were going in right and, when we left the pits, somebody came out in front of us and I gauged off them going out.”

Asked if he could have overcome the 15-second penalty, Marlin grinned and said, “It was early in the race. We could have probably been almost a lap down.

“I don’t know; it wouldn’t have helped.”

Tony Stewart, driving a Pontiac, had what appeared to be the strongest car in the 43-car field throughout the race and was leading Marlin in the late stages.

When Shawna Robinson, the only woman in the lineup, bounced off the wall on Lap 231, bringing out the fifth of six yellow flags, all the leaders made their final pit stops. Jeremy Mayfield and Rusty Wallace each took only two new tires and beat Marlin out of the pits.

Stewart, who led four times for a race-high 76 laps, also took four tires. He came out of the pits in sixth and wasn’t able to mount another challenge.

After the green flag came out again on Lap 237, Marlin steadily reeled in Mayfield, taking second place from Wallace on Lap 244 and finally passing Mayfield’s Dodge to regain the lead on Lap 251.

Kyle Petty’s car was hit from behind and spun on Lap 255, bringing out the final caution flag, but nothing was going to stop Marlin this time.

The green waved for the final time on Lap 260 and the silver-and-red Dodge pulled steadily away, beating Mayfield to the finish line by 1.163 seconds--about 10 car-lengths.