63 Facts About Sterling Marlin

Sterling Burton Marlin was born on June 30,1957 and is an American retired professional stock car racing driver.

Sterling Marlin formerly competed in the NASCAR Cup Series, winning the Daytona 500 in 1994 and 1995.

Sterling Marlin is the son of late NASCAR driver Coo Coo Marlin.

Sterling Marlin is married to Paula and has a daughter, Sutherlin, a son, Steadman, a former NASCAR Xfinity Series driver, and a grandson Stirlin who races for Sterling in Sterling's No 114 Super Late Model.

Sterling Marlin attended Spring Hill High School, where he played basketball and football, earning the captain status his senior year while he played quarterback and linebacker.

Sterling Marlin began his collection of American Civil War artifacts shortly after high school.

Sterling Marlin started 30th and finished 29th after suffering oil pump failure early in the race.

Sterling Marlin made two more starts in 1978, finishing ninth at World 600 and twenty-fifth at Nashville for Cunningham.

From 1980 to 1982, Sterling Marlin was a three-time track champion at the historic Nashville Speedway USA.

In 1983, Sterling Marlin was hired by Roger Hamby to drive his No 17 Hesco Exhaust-sponsored Chevrolet.

Sterling Marlin posted a tenth-place finish at Dover International Speedway and finished 19th in the standings, clinching the Rookie of the Year award.

Sterling Marlin only made eight starts in 1985, seven of them coming for Sadler, his best finish being 12th at Talladega Superspeedway.

Sterling Marlin ended his season at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the Miller High Life 500, driving the Helen Rae Special.

Sterling Marlin moved over to the No 1 Bull's Eye Barbecue Sauce-sponsored car owned by Hoss Ellington in 1986.

Sterling Marlin got a full-time ride in 1987, when he was hired by Billy Hagan to drive the No 44 Piedmont Airlines-sponsored Oldsmobile.

Sterling Marlin had four top-fives and finished 11th in points.

Sterling Marlin tied a career-best 13 top-ten finishes but dropped to 12th in the final standings.

Sterling Marlin left the team at the end of the 1990 season.

Sterling Marlin signed to drive the No 22 Maxwell House-sponsored Ford Thunderbird for Junior Johnson in 1991.

Sterling Marlin had a second-place finish at Daytona to start the season and won two poles at Talladega Superspeedway and the Firecracker 400, and had a total of 7 top fives and 16 top tens, finishing 7th in the standings.

Sterling Marlin departed to drive the No 8 Raybestos-sponsored Ford for Stavola Brothers Racing.

Sterling Marlin went on to win the 500 again in the following year, becoming only one of four drivers to win consecutive Daytona 500s.

Sterling Marlin became the only driver to have his first two career wins at the Daytona 500.

Sterling Marlin won 2 more times during the 1995 season for a total of 3 wins, 9 top fives, 22 top tens, 472 laps led, an average finish of 9.84, and ranking a career best 3rd in the standings.

In 1996, Sterling Marlin had 2 wins, 5 top fives, 10 top tens, and finished 8th in the standings.

Sterling Marlin opened the season by winning the Gatorade 125, a qualifying race for the Daytona 500 but three weeks later, he failed to qualify for the Primestar 500, the first race he had missed since 1986.

Sterling Marlin finished in the Top 10 six times and had a 13th-place points finish.

Three days later at the Daytona 500, on the final lap, Dale Earnhardt's rear bumper made contact with Sterling Marlin in turn 4, causing Earnhardt to crash into the turn 4 wall, an impact that would kill him instantly.

Sterling Marlin was eventually publicly defended by two of Earnhardt's drivers, his son and race winner Michael Waltrip, and was cleared of any wrongdoing by NASCAR's investigation into the accident.

Sterling Marlin won Dodge's first race in its return to NASCAR at Michigan International Speedway, as well as winning the UAW-GM Quality 500 at Charlotte.

Sterling Marlin tied his career best points finish of third that season.

In 2002, Sterling Marlin had a strong car at the Daytona 500, and towards the end was battling Jeff Gordon for the lead when they made contact, sending Gordon spinning.

Concerned about a damaged right front fender, Sterling Marlin jumped out of his car and started pulling the fender away from the tire.

Sterling Marlin took the points lead and did not let it go for the following 24 weeks.

Sterling Marlin followed this 2nd-place finish with a win at the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but not without controversy: During the race, Sterling Marlin spun while making late race pit stop, causing him to break the pit road speed limit.

At the New Hampshire 300 the next week Sterling Marlin lost the points lead as Martin finished four places ahead of him, gaining 15 points.

The next week, Sterling Marlin dropped to 4th in the standings after a 21st-place finish at Dover.

One week later, at the Protection One 400 at Kansas, Sterling Marlin had a hard crash after 147 laps and finished 33rd.

Sterling Marlin was diagnosed with a cracked vertebra in his neck and would be forced to miss the remaining seven races.

Sterling Marlin was replaced by Busch Series driver Jamie McMurray, who had recently been signed by Chip Ganassi Racing to drive for the team in the 2003 season.

Sterling Marlin ultimately finished 18th in the final season points with eight Top 5s and ten Top 10s.

Sterling Marlin's injury was the beginning of a struggle for Chip Ganassi Racing to win races on a regular basis - a slump that would last from 2002 towards 2010.

Sterling Marlin did not finish in the Top 5 in 2003, but had 11 Top 10 finishes and matched his previous year's finish of 18th in points.

Sterling Marlin did however come close to a win at the 2003 Sharpie 500 at his hometown in Bristol Tennessee.

Sterling Marlin controlled the race early and mid-way and appeared to have victory in his hands until he was wrecked by Kurt Busch with less than 150 laps to go.

Sterling Marlin did however miss one race-the 2005 Sirius at the Glen to attend the funeral of his father Coo Coo Marlin who died of lung cancer one day before the race.

Sterling Marlin reached as high as 6th in the points standings, but would later fall to 30th in the final standings.

Sterling Marlin joined MB2 Motorsports for 2006 to drive the Waste Management Chevy, running with the No 14 in tribute to his father, Coo Coo Sterling Marlin, who died during the 2005 season.

Sterling Marlin was able to qualify via speed for each of the first five races of the 2007 season, his Pep Boys No 14 team was the only team out of the top 35 from 2006 to do this.

Sterling Marlin's run in the No 14 ended on July 17,2007, when Ginn Racing announced Regan Smith, who had been splitting time with Mark Martin in Ginn's US Army-sponsored No 01 car, would replace him beginning at the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard at Indianapolis.

Sterling Marlin attempted to qualify for two races in 2007, but he failed to qualify for either.

Sterling Marlin tried to make the Sharpie 500 at Bristol in the No 78 car as a replacement for Kenny Wallace, and the UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega, replacing Mike Wallace in the No 09 car.

Sterling Marlin failed to qualify for the 2008 Daytona 500 in the No 09 car, but qualified at Talladega and the following week at Richmond as well.

For Darlington, Sterling Marlin raced in his old No 40 car and qualified 14th, and at the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in the No 40, still in for the injured Dario Franchitti.

Sterling Marlin finished out the rest of the season driving for Phoenix Racing.

In March 2009, Sterling Marlin participated in and won the Saturday Night Special, a charity event at Bristol Motor Speedway which included NASCAR Legends.

Sterling Marlin led the entire event in a car painted similar to the one he drove with Morgan McClure Motorsports, and wearing an older-style Coors Light uniform from his days while driving for Chip Ganassi.

Sterling Marlin announced his retirement from racing on March 18,2010, and formerly owned a Chevrolet dealership in Ashland City, Tennessee and a Dodge dealership in Dickson, Tennessee.

In 2012, Sterling Marlin publicly revealed that he had been diagnosed with Parkinsonism.

Sterling Marlin has undergone deep brain stimulation surgical procedures at Vanderbilt University Medical Center as part of his treatment.

In late 2011, Sterling Marlin helped form Tennessee Racing Association, LLC, along with several other drivers and businessmen, in an effort to preserve Fairgrounds Speedway and allow the track to remain active in the racing community.

Sterling Marlin is fully retired from NASCAR competition, as well as the Pro Late Model Division at Fairgrounds Speedway.

Sterling Marlin was one of the drivers who appeared in an episode, along with some crew members from the Coors team.