As one of the most experienced restrictor plate racers in the Nextel Cup garage, Sterling Marlin doesn’t believe that the 13 gallon fuel cell rule has worked and says that running at
Daytona and Talladega is just like running on the Interstate.
Q:
ON RUSTY WALLACE:
STERLING MARLIN
"I've known Rusty for a long time and we've always gotten along great. At the Las Vegas test, I saw the No. 2 car go by and for a minute I thought it was still Rusty. Well no, it's not Rusty. He'll still be around and we'll get to see him at the race track."
Q
HOW WILL HE DO ON TV?
STERLING MARLIN
"Oh, he'll do good. He's always talked real good. He can b.s. a whole lot, so he's good at it."
Q:
ON THE 13 GALLON FUEL CELLS AT TALLADEGA AND DAYTONA, IS THE JURY STILL OUT OR IS IT NOW A GOOD THING?
STERLING MARLIN
"I don't think it was a good decision. Nobody can get away from anybody. They still bunch up. I wish it was still a 22-gallon cell where you can more 55 laps. They won't separate the cars from these big packs at Daytona and Talladega. We hadn't got a run that long on fuel. The best kind of car comes to the top. To put a 13-gallon cell in it didn't separate them and it costs more money. So I'd go back to 22 if I had a vote in it."
Q:
IS THIS MORE OF A HANDLING TRACK THAN A HORSEPOWER TRACK?
STERLING MARLIN
"Yeah, it can get pretty tricky. It hasn't been paved since 1979, I guess. Your car gets too tight a lot up in traffic off the corners. You've got to get up off the gas. Talladega is just totally different. You're just on the mat all day and handling doesn't really come into play."
Q
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT PLATE RACING?
STERLING MARLIN
"Well, I wish we could run little faster. I think the magic number is somewhere around 198 or 200 mph. That would separate the cars more. I don't know what you do at Talladega to separate them. If you look back to the mid-90's and early 90's we could separate for some reason. I don't know why. I don't know if the competition is closed up. The motors are within five or six horsepower and the bodies, you really can't trick them up like you used to because you've got all them templates and stuff. They've really kind of made them like IROC cars. Maybe that's why we can't separate, I don't know."
