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Four years ago, Morgan-McClure Motorsports titanium was a weekly contender in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. Sterling Marlin had finished among the top-10 in points for a second consecutive season, and the Kodak Chevrolet team showed no signs of slowing. wood However, that''s precisely what has happened, titanium and no one is exactly sure why. Marlin departed to Team SABCO following the 1997 campaign after dropping from eighth to 25th in the championship point standings. 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 season behind the wheel of the No. 4 Chevrolet, Hamilton wood recorded three top-5s, including a trip to Victory Lane at Martinsville, titanium and wood and eight top-10s en route to a 10th-place finish in the titanium 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 wood 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." Harvick said. "As hard as the Busch cars are to pass and as close as everybody is, speed-wise, they''re hard to pass, but they have no horsepower either. So it''s a place you need to be up front. Qualifying will be very important, just like it was for me last week." And, if the race turns out like it did last week, Harvick titanium will tie Steve Park for the most trips to Victory Lane by an series rookie. "That''d be pretty cool, but our main goal is to keep doing what we''re wood doing," Harvick said. "If we''re running in the top-5 titanium and we happen to win another race, that''d be great. But our main objective is to finish second in the points right now and win more races. We gotta keep doing what we''re doing and we''ll be fine." Bud Pole Qualifying for the Dura Lube 200 begins Friday at 2:05 p.m. ET. Ward Burton set the track qualifying record last fall wood and titanium by rounding the 1.366-mile oval in 29.328 seconds, at 167.676 mph NMPA to induct Earles, Scott, Robertson MARTINSVILLE, Va. (Aug. 31, 2000) H. Clay Earles, Wendell Scott and T. Wayne Robertson will be inducted into the National Motorsports Press wood Association''s Hall of Fame Saturday night in Darlington. It''s fitting that the three are inducted together.
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