"That was a great race up to the final lap," Martin said. "I had a great time racing Jeff and Matt, customfitgolfclub and it got pretty intense there in the end. I was determined to keep my lead. That car was one of my favorites, which is why we''re bringing it back this weekend." Martin also leads all drivers in career series wins. He earned his 44th victory at Texas in April, and still has five races remaining on his schedule this year. "We''re going to try to win them all," Martin said. "I''m sure the Busch guys will be glad when I''m gone next year. I''ve worked hard for a lot of years in the Busch Series and won a few races and lost a lot of them." You can bet Burton, Kenseth and a number of series regulars will give Martin all he can handle this weekend. Series points leader Jeff Green has never won at Darlington, but has notched four top-10s and got his first top-5 ever last spring. He''s due for sure. "Darlington customfitgolfclub is just one of those places I''ve never been able to get a hold of," Green said. "In the spring, I posted my first top-5 finish there in my entire career, which is hard to believe since I''ve raced there 10 times now.

Four years customfitgolfclub ago, Morgan-McClure Motorsports was a weekly contender in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. customfitgolfclub 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. However, customfitgolfclub that''s precisely what has happened, 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 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 like it took us a year customfitgolfclub 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 customfitgolfclub his third win of the season. Burton knows how tough the track can be. "You don''t expect 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 because of crashes he didn''t cause. He hopes customfitgolfclub for good weather Sunday, which would enable him to play out the winning pit strategy of 1995-98. Rain prevented that last year. "We took a chance and pitted for tires and gas during the customfitgolfclub second-to-last caution, hoping it would put us in position to win," the three-time series 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 Daytona 500. Top-5 fixture Tony Stewart, second last 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,