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Four years ago, Morgan-McClure Motorsports golf was a weekly contender in the NASCAR Winston club Cup Series. Sterling Marlin had finished among the top-10 in points for a second consecutive season, and the Kodak Chevrolet team showed ratings no signs of slowing. However, that''s precisely what has happened, and no one is exactly sure why. Marlin departed to Team SABCO following golf the 1997 campaign after dropping club from eighth to 25th in the championship point standings. In came . Bobby Hamilton, who had spent ratings 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 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. golf The Morgan-McClure steamroller appeared to be chugging once again. They''ve had just one club top-5 finish since. "Me and Larry (McClure, team owner) were talking one day and we feel 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." The addition of crew chief Danny Gill has ratings been a major boost for Morgan-McClure. Since his arrival six weeks ago, the team has been a top-15 car each week, only to see golf a late-race failure eliminate them from contention. "No doubt that Danny Gill has made a difference," Hamilton said. "If it had laid right at Pocono, we would have had a top-10 finish. Michigan, we had broken a shock and finished 14th. We had run in the top-10 all day. "At Bristol, I was trying to get a lap back and ran over Jeremy (Mayfield). We had a flat and hit something on the racetrack and were running sixth at that time. It''s not hard to swallow now because we know club we''re competitive. We''re unloading pretty good. "We''re getting our race ratings setups almost perfect now and the motor golf and club and ratings program has really come along. I think when all the ingredients finally meet in the middle, it''ll mold into one and we''ll be there. You''ve just got to be patient with it. It took us a long time to get in this shape, and golf in this sport, as competitive as it is, you don''t overcome club it overnight." Midway through the 1999 campaign, rumors began to swirl that Morgan-McClure was planning to add a second ratings team to their one-car stable.
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