NASCAR Doctors to Marlin: stay out

The driver will have to wait until January when testing for the 2003 season begins.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Sterling Marlin's bid at an early return from a fractured vertebra in his neck ended Monday when doctors recommended he not get back in the No. 40 Dodge until next season.
Marlin, who has missed four races since he was injured last month in a wreck at Kansas Speedway, had hoped to return to racing Nov. 10 in Phoenix and compete in the final two events of the year.
Although doctors found Monday that Marlin was healing as expected, they said he needed to continue wearing a neck brace for another two weeks and should not get back in the car until testing for the 2003 season begins in January.
Gave it a shot
"I knew what the verdict was going to be," Marlin said. "But I still kind of hoped to get back early -- there's nothing wrong with that."
Dr. Dom Coric, a spinal cord specialist, said tests showed the vertebra was healing and Marlin is on target to make a full recovery.
But because the initial diagnosis was that the injury was expected to take anywhere from four-to-six weeks to heal, Marlin had hoped he could make an early return.
Instead, he'll have more tests in another two weeks, then begin working with Al Shuford, a former trainer with the NFL's Carolina Panthers, who now works for car owner Chip Ganassi. Once out of the brace, Marlin can begin therapy to strengthen his neck.
"They'll do a CAT scan in a few weeks to get a better look at the bone, but they pretty much think it will be healed in two or three more weeks," Marlin said. "Then we'll start exercising and be ready to rock and roll again in January."
Marlin had two victories this season and led the Winston Cup standings for 25 straight weeks. He had slipped to third at the time of his injury, and in the month he has been out, has continued to plummet in the standings.
He's now 15th in the standings, and said his hope at an early return was not an attempt to get back into the top 10 before the end of the season.
Demarcation
The top 10 drivers at the end of the season attend the annual awards ceremony in New York and receive much larger monetary bonuses from the points fund than those finishing lower in the order.
Jamie McMurray has driven three of the four races Marlin has already missed, winning at Lowe's Motor Speedway in his second career Winston Cup start -- a NASCAR record. He'll finish out the season in the No. 40 Dodge, then move into a new Ganassi car next season when he runs for Winston Cup rookie of the year.