Marlin to Dodge action at Texas.

Dodge NASCAR Winston Cup Series teams will return to action this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway in the Samsung/RadioShack 500.

Sterling Marlin will try to bounce back from a 19th-place finish in the Food City 500 two weeks ago at Bristol Motor Speedway. Marlin, 44-year-old driver of the No. 40 Coors Light Dodge Intrepid R/T owned by Chip Ganassi and Felix Sabates, remains at the head of the NASCAR class despite his first finish outside of the top 10 in the past nine races.

Marlin leads Matt Kenseth by 99 points after 6 of 36 races on the 2002 schedule. Marlin remained first in the NASCAR Winston Cup point standings for the fifth straight race. He is the only driver to score five top-10 finishes in six races in 2002 and is also the only driver to remain in the top 10 in the point standings since the Daytona 500 in 2001.

Marlin has competed in all five NASCAR Winston Cup races at Texas Motor Speedway, scoring two top-10 finishes, but has never won at the Texas track. He scored two 34th-place finishes in his last two visits. This year, he will bring undefeated chassis 203 to Texas. Marlin won at Las Vegas and Darlington in the chassis and will look to go three for three with a win on Sunday in the lucky 203 setup.

Jeremy Mayfield, driver of the No. 19 Dodge Dealers Intrepid R/T owned by Ray Evernham, likes the high-speed Texas track but is concerned about a second groove. "They repaved the track, and I'm sure it's going to be smooth and fast," said Mayfield, who finished second earlier this season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

"Texas has been one of my favorite tracks. I'm just worried about a second groove coming in so we can race two wide. "I think we've been getting better every week. I'm getting real comfortable with the car, and about all I can say right now is stay tuned. We've got some good tracks coming up, tracks that I've won on like California and Pocono, and I can't wait to get there. I'm looking forward to Sunday's race at Texas, too."