Marlin Rallies to Victory

For the first time in years, Sterling Marlin starts every race thinking he can win. Even from the last starting spot in the field.

Marlin extended his dominating start to the season Sunday, coming from the 43rd starting position to win the Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 at Darlington, S.C., taking over the lead after an 11-car accident that sent Tony Stewart to the hospital.

Stewart was airlifted to a hospital after complaining of lower-back pain and numbness and tingling in his left foot. Tests were negative, a track spokeswoman said.

The victory was Marlin’s second this year and the 10th of his career.

Marlin, the series points leader, qualified 11th for the race but was forced to start in the back after his team changed the engine in his Dodge Intrepid.

“We knew we had a problem and couldn’t take a chance with it,” crew chief Lee McCall said. “So we put our best motor in and started in the rear and watched Sterling drive that thing up through traffic all day long.”

Marlin cut through the field the entire race but didn’t move to the front until Stewart, the race leader, and Jeff Gordon were collected in the late-race accident.

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Elliott Sadler finished second and Kevin Harvick was third.

Stewart collided with Buckshot Jones on Lap 227, sending Stewart’s Pontiac into the wall. Gordon hit him from behind.

Steve Park, out six months while he recovered from a brain injury suffered in a wreck at the same track in September, crashed while leading. He got his car back on the track but finished 39th.

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Winner Helio Castroneves and teammate Gil de Ferran turned the tables on IRL champion Sam Hornish Jr., finishing 1-2 in the Copper World 200 at Avondale, Ariz.

Hornish won the season-opening race two weeks ago, followed by Castroneves and De Ferran.

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Larry Dixon drove his dragster a quarter-mile in 4.629 seconds at 319.75 mph to beat defending top-fuel champion Kenny Bernstein’s 4.677 at 319.29 in the NHRA’s Gatornationals at Gainesville, Fla.

Tony Pedregon won in funny car, Darrell Alderman won in pro stock and Craig Treble won in pro stock motorcycle.

Ralf Schumacher teamed with Juan Montoya to give Williams-BMW a 1-2 finish in the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang.

Michael Schumacher, Ralf’s brother and the event’s two-time defending champion, started from the pole but finished third.

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Winter Sports

The snow was blinding, the course was getting choppy. All in all, the conditions at Soda Springs, Calif., were just right for Bode Miller.

Miller won the men’s slalom at the U.S. Alpine Championships, beating second-place Erik Schlopy by 2.76 seconds. Casey Puckett was third.

Sarah Schleper won the women’s national slalom title for the second consecutive year. Caroline Lalive was second and Julia Mancuso third.

Olympic gold medalist Alexei Yagudin of Russia opened with a flawless routine today to lead the men’s early qualifying in the World Figure Skating Championships at Nagano, Japan.

Russian Alexander Abt was second and Japan’s Takeshi Honda placed third.

Olympic bronze medalist Tim Goebel of the United States was scheduled to skate in the afternoon group.

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Passings

Paul Runyan, a two-time PGA champion known as “Little Poison” for beating the biggest names in golf, died at Palm Springs after a short bout with pneumonia. He was 93. Story, section B.