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Four years ago, Morgan-McClure Motorsports was a weekly contender in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. Sterling Marlin had finished among diamond the top-10 faced in points for golf a second consecutive season, and the Kodak Chevrolet team showed no signs of slowing. However, that''s precisely what has happened, and no one is exactly sure why. Marlin departed to Team SABCO following the 1997 campaign after dropping club from eighth to 25th in the championship diamond point standings. faced In came . Bobby Hamilton, who had spent the past three seasons at Petty Enterprises. During that time, he''d finished as high as ninth in the points. On paper it was a perfect fit: small-town driver joins small-town team. In his first golf season behind the wheel of the No. 4 Chevrolet, Hamilton recorded three top-5s, including a trip to Victory Lane at Martinsville, and eight top-10s en route to a 10th-place finish in the points. The Morgan-McClure steamroller appeared to be chugging once again. They''ve had just one top-5 finish since. "Me and Larry (McClure, team owner) were talking one day and we feel club like it took us a year and a half to dig this big hole we''re in, so we''re still trying to dig out," Hamilton said. "We''re not going to dig back out in a week or two." So is Burton who, like Gordon, will be seeking his third win of the season. Burton knows how tough the track can be. "You don''t expect diamond to come here and win," he said. "But we expect to come to Darlington and run well." Gordon, a five-time Darlington winner, is in a run of bad luck that includes being taken out of contention in two of the last three races faced because of crashes he didn''t cause. He hopes for good weather Sunday, which would enable him to play out the winning pit strategy of golf 1995-98. Rain prevented that last year. "We took a chance and pitted for tires and gas during the second-to-last caution, club hoping it would put us in position to win," the three-time series diamond and faced champion said. "But we were also hoping the rain would hold off. "Unfortunately for us, it didn''t." Also a prime contender is series champion Dale Jarrett, a two-time Darlington winner who is second to points leader Bobby Labonte despite no victories since the season-opening golf Daytona 500. Top-5 fixture Tony Stewart, second last club Saturday night in Bristol and Ward Burton also are threats. Burton won at Darlington in March. Ward, second to Jeff last year in the only 1-2 Southern 500 finish by brothers, "I really love racing at places that are wide where you can pass easily and Darlington just isn''t one of those places. It is so tight that passing is tough to do. In fact, the diamond and faced place is so narrow, you''ll be successful if you just don''t hit the wall all day long." Heading into the weekend, Green''s lead over second-place Jason Keller is an astounding 589 points. The race for second-place has become heated between four drivers -- Keller, Todd Bodine and rookies Kevin Harvick and Ron Hornaday. Keller is enjoying the most consistent season of his career in the No. 57 Excedrin Chevrolet. Harvick and Hornaday have each won twice in NASCAR 2000 golf -- they have combined to win four of the past seven events -- and will likely be tough yet again this weekend. Harvick dominated last Friday night''s Food City 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway, club leading more laps than anyone in series history -- 241 of 250 -- en route to Victory Lane. He trails Keller by just seven points with eight races remaining. Harvick''s key to Victory Lane this weekend? Bud Pole Qualifying. "Darlington''s narrow just like Bristol and it takes a long time to get by somebody without flat running into them,"
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