Neck injury ends Marlin's title bid.

Sterling Marlin has been cruelly ruled out of the 2002 Winston Cup Championship title run-in after being diagnosed as having fractured a vertebrae following his hard wreck last Sunday in Kansas.

Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates announced on Wednesday that Sterling Marlin, driver of the No. 40 Coors Light Dodge, would not compete in any of the seven remaining races of the 2002 NASCAR Winston Cup season.

03 Oct 2002

Sterling Marlin has been cruelly ruled out of the 2002 Winston Cup Championship title run-in after being diagnosed as having fractured a vertebrae following his hard wreck last Sunday in Kansas.

Marlin suffered a non-displaced fracture of the #2 cervical vertebrae as a result of his accident at Kansas Speedway last Sunday. Dr. Jerry Petty, neurosurgeon, and Dr. Dom Coric, spinal injury specialist, of the Carolina Neurological and Spinal Injury Clinic, are treating Marlin. Both doctors are the attending physicians.

Although he will have to spent some extensive time in a neck brace Marlin is expected to return to his full duties as driver of the Coors Light Dodge for the 2003 season. However after leading the Winston Cup standings from the second round of the series at Rockingham in February until losing it to Mark Martin three weeks ago in New Hampshire, the chance to compete in full health for the 2003 is of scant consolation for Marlin at the moment.

"It is unfortunate that Sterling has to end his season early due to his injury," owner Chip Ganassi said. "Sterling has dominated the championship points race and we were looking forward to helping him win his first NASCAR Winston Cup title. We are expecting Sterling to make a full recovery and be ready to go for the title chase again in 2003."

After leading the Winston Cup standings by a comfortable margin entering the summer stretch, a series of accidents pegged back the former Morgan McClure Motorsports driver and by the time the Winston Cup circus left the Kansas Speedway, he had fallen 121 points out of first place and was only in fifth spot overall. Not only are his title aspirations dashed but his impressive record of remaining in the top ten in Winston Cup points ever since the 2001 Daytona 500, will shortly come to an end.