Sterling Marlin, who will turn 48 this month, can see why Nextel Cup veterans Rusty Wallace, Mark Martin and Terry Labonte are retiring after this year.
“You get tired of all the travel, all the testing, all the PR stuff you’ve got to do and it just gets old,” Marlin said Tuesday in a teleconference. “I think down the road, you’re going to see drivers not last past 40. Guys, they make a ton of money now coming in, and they can make a pretty good living and just (give) up the wheel by 40.”
Marlin, who is 23rd in the standings with just three top-10 finishes in 13 races, says he wants to race in NASCAR’s top series for another three years. But it likely will not be with his current team, Chip Ganassi Racing, or his sponsor, Golden-based Coors.
“I’m not 100 percent sure I won’t be back next year with them. … but basically, (the) contract is up with Chip at the end of the year and with Coors,” he said.
Marlin said he’s been approached by other teams and sponsors and would like to have a 2006 deal in place by the July 2 Pepsi 400 at Daytona, Fla.
“I still have fun,” he said. “Every day I get up and I think about a race car, what I can do to make it better. (If) you wake up and you just say, ‘I’m tired,’ that’s the day you need to quit.”
Carrier dies
Larry Carrier, co-founder of Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, Bristol Dragway and the International Hot Rod Association, died Tuesday morning. His age and cause of death were not released.
“Larry was certainly a leader in the racing industry,” Bristol president Jeff Byrd said in a release. “His contributions to Bristol and the world of motorsports were monumental, and he will certainly be missed by all that were fortunate enough to know him or work with him.”
In 1961, Carrier and two partners built what was then called Bristol International Speedway. The group sold it to Bruton Smith in 1996.
Footnotes
Jeff Gordon, coming off his third consecutive DNF and fifth of the season, fell to 11th in the standings, but is a respectable fifth in NASCAR.com’s power rankings. Perhaps the latter ranking is looking ahead to the Pepsi 400, a race Gordon won last year. The four-time series champion and 2005 Daytona 500 winner is looking to join Cale Yarborough as the only driver to win three consecutive point races at Daytona. … Veteran driver and first-year team owner Robby Gordon has finished 31st, 27th and 29th in his past three races. His average finish in his nine career races for Robby Gordon Motorsports is 32.1. “I know I sound like a broken record, (but) we are better than our finishes show, and I believe others are starting to notice,” Robby Gordon said in a release. “There have been a lot more media requests and questions about our better performance and while we may not be on everybody’s radar right now, they better start checking it soon.”
Mike Chambers can be reached at 303-820-5453 or mchambers@denverpost.com.
