Monday, March 4, 2002 | 10:01 a.m.
Here are the top 10 finishers from Sunday's UAW-Daimler Chrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway:
1. Sterling Marlin, Dodge
2. Jeremy Mayfield, Dodge
3. Mark Martin, Ford
4. Ryan Newman, Ford
5. Tony Stewart, Pontiac
6. Jimmie Johnson, Chevy
7. Dale Jarrett, Ford
8. Bill Elliott, Dodge
9. Jeff Burton, Ford
10. Jimmy Spencer, Dodge
If Sterling Marlin was beginning to feel persecuted after the first two NASCAR Winston Cup races of the season, he should feel blessed after the third.
Marlin avoided being penalized for exceeding the speed limit on pit road midway through the race and went on to win the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 Sunday before a record crowd of 137,500 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Marlin, who felt he had been robbed of wins in the Daytona 500 and last week at Rockingham because of inconsistent rulings by NASCAR during late-race caution periods, was leading the race on lap 120 when he slowed on the track to enter the pits and his No. 40 Dodge was bumped from behind by Jerry Nadeau.
Marlin locked his brakes and got sideways entering the pits. NASCAR's race control radioed to officials in the pits to hold Marlin for a 15-second penalty, but Marlin left the pits before the officials could notify his team.
It was later determined that the NASCAR officials on pit road never heard the instruction to hold Marlin for the penalty, and NASCAR elected not to bring Marlin back in for a stop-and-go penalty. The two-time Daytona 500 winner eventually worked himself into a position to grab the lead late in the race.
"I didn't know anything about it until after the race," Marlin said. "The tach was broken in the car and I really couldn't tell how fast I was going down pit road.
"It was weird -- sometimes (the tach) worked and sometimes it didn't.
"That's my story and I'm sticking to it."
Tony Stewart dominated the second half of the race and appeared headed to his first victory of the season when Shawna Robinson hit the wall in Turn 2 on lap 232 and brought out the fifth of six caution flags in the race.
All the leaders pitted and Jeremy Mayfield and Rusty Wallace -- who both took on only two tires -- led Marlin out of the pits. When the race restarted on lap 237, it took Marlin only 14 laps to chase down and pass Mayfield for the lead.
Marlin led the final 17 laps and beat Mayfield to the checkered flag by 1.163 seconds (about 10 car lengths) for a 1-2 Dodge finish.
Marlin said he wasn't thinking about the two races this season that got away from him when he was cruising to his ninth career win.
"Daytona is still a heartbreaker for us ... and Matt Kenseth had the best car on the short runs (at Rockingham) and he should have won the race," Marlin said. "You take one race at a time.
"I thought this morning we had a fifth- or tenth-place car. We said to heck with it, we're going to go for the win. We put all our heads together and made some changes on it and it worked out great."
Mark Martin, who kept his Roush Racing Ford in the top 10 most of the day, followed Mayfield to the finish line for his fifth consecutive top-10 finish in Las Vegas. Rookie Ryan Newman, in a Ford, and Stewart, in a Pontiac, rounded out the top five.
Rookie Jimmie Johnson was the highest-finishing Chevy driver in sixth place.
"We started the race off real loose -- it was so loose I could hardly drive it," Mayfield said of his No. 19 Dodge. "We opted to pit at the beginning and that kind of got us behind.
"We kept tightening it up and the track came to us. We got in the top 10 and on that last caution we put two tires on it and got track position. I think the (crew) made a great decision there."
Marlin, who qualified 24th, posted his third top-10 in as many races this season and remained atop the Winston Cup points standings heading into next Sunday's race in Atlanta.
"We knew we were due," Marlin said. "Go back to last year in the last three races and we had two seconds and a fifth. (We) came to Daytona and ran eighth, Rockingham and ran second and we came here and won.
"We didn't qualify good and that had me concerned a little bit ... but we just ran a conservative setup and the car was flawless just about all day."
Las Vegas' Kurt Busch had one of the four fastest cars for the first 220 laps until his Roush Racing Ford developed electrical problems late in the race. Busch slid from fourth to 20th in the final 30 laps and was the last car on lead lap.
Defending race winner Jeff Gordon battled an ill-handling car all day and took 17th.
The race was slowed to an average speed of 136.754 mph by six caution periods for 25 laps. Bobby Hamilton and Robinson were the only drivers to make serious contact with the walls, but neither driver was injured.
There were 21 lead changes among 13 drivers. Stewart topped all drivers with 76 laps led. Busch led twice in the race for a total of six laps.
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