SCR: Perhaps your two most impressive feats last year were winning two races and having such a strong finish in the point standings with a new team owner, Chip Ganassi. Wouldn't you agree?Marlin: Yes, I would agree with that. But then again, if you take a look at Chip's resume, he's really dedicated to racing. He lives for racing, and so do I. That's the exact same philosophy I've always had because since I was 12 or 13 years old the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning is racing. Chip wants to win and so do I, plus all the guys at the shop are cut from the same mold and have a winning instinct. Chip has done a tremendous job in the short time he's been involved in Winston Cup racing.
SCR: The 2001 season was Ganassi's first venture into NASCAR. What did he bring to the table to improve a team that finished 19th in the final 2000 standings to third last year?Marlin: When Felix Sabates owned the entire team, I don't think he had that many people who really took him seriously. The manufacturers didn't take him seriously so he was told a lot of stuff that wasn't true that hurt the race team. Basically, Felix was getting run over until Chip came in and bought the team. Chip knows what's right and what's wrong because it's hard to fool a guy who's been involved in racing all his life. Chip definitely knows what's going on. Another thing that obviously helped us was the fact Dodge came on board and really supported us. We'd hardly ever seen a wind tunnel until Dodge came along. Plus we had a veteran like Ernie Elliott building our motors. We also started hanging all our bodies in-house. Before that, if a change had to be made, the manufactures would take two weeks to get us what we needed. Now if something needs to be changed, we can do it at our own shop in a day and have it done. All those factors played a part in our improvement.
SCR: Do you think it's possible we might be talking about Sterling Marlin late this season as a championship contender?Marlin: I don't know. We'll just go racing and let the chips fall where they may. I feel like the team's ready to win a championship based on what we did last year. If Jeff Gordon runs like he did last year, he's going to be hard to beat. Every driver out there would love to win a championship, and so would I because I've been in this business a long time. Since my dad raced, that would make it even more special to me. I think I'm finally with a team now that has all the resources I need to win a championship.
SCR: How would a Winston Cup title stack up with your two wins in the Daytona 500?Marlin: It would rank right up there with Daytona, and to be honest, a championship would probably mean more to me.
SCR: What do you feel like was the biggest asset your race team had going into the 2002 season?Marlin: We had a full season of racing under our belts and we learned a whole lot last year. I feel like our engine department is continuing to learn new things that will help us a lot. Another thing I think is the veteran drivers are going to be at an advantage with the new rule that we can only use one engine per week instead of having qualifying and race motors. It's really going to be important having that experience of how the car feels after only five or 10 laps into practice. Now if something isn't right after three or four laps of practice, we want to come in and get the car fixed instead of staying out on the track and putting 40 laps on the engine. It's very important to know what you're looking for pretty much as soon as you get in the car.