HAMPTON, Ga. -- Winston Cup points leader Sterling Marlin is a throwback, a driver more comfortable talking chassis setups with his crew than doing a TV commercial.

And his fans wouldn't want it any other way.

"Who wants to pull for a pretty boy like Jeff Gordon?" said Marvin Sanders, who wore a T-shirt with Marlin's likeness to Sunday's MBNA America 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. "Sterling's a real driver, somebody who grew up in the sport and isn't afraid to get his hands dirty working on his car."

It was the latter quality that might have cost Marlin a shot at winning his third Daytona 500 earlier this season.

After Marlin bumped his way past Gordon for the lead with six laps to go -- sending Gordon into a spin in the process -- Marlin's team noticed the right-front fender on its Dodge was rubbing against the tire. A few laps of this would cause the tire to puncture, possibly sending Marlin into the wall.

So when NASCAR threw the red flag and stopped the field to clean up a six-car accident on the same lap as the Marlin-Gordon tangle, Marlin unhooked his seat belts and got out of his car to check on the fender.

Seeing it was against the tire, he began tugging on the sheet metal. Since NASCAR rules clearly state no work can be done to a car during a red flag, an official quickly told Marlin to stop. But the deed was done.

Marlin was penalized and put at the back of the field, and he eventually finished eighth.

"We had to do something," Marlin said with his trademark Southern accent. "We didn't have nothing to lose, because the tire was probably going to blow out anyway, and NASCAR probably would've brought us in before that when the tire started smoking."

Since his adventure on the backstretch at Daytona was shown on national TV, Marlin has become something of a celebrity.

"Everybody has a good laugh about it, telling me just to stay in the car from now on," he said with a smile.

Not quite as funny

But to fans like Sanders, it was no laughing matter.

"NASCAR should have let him fix his car," Sanders said. "I wish more of the drivers were like that. That's old school."

"Old school" definitely describes the 44-year-old Marlin. He was born and raised in Columbia, Tenn., where he still lives. He followed in the footsteps of his father, Coo Coo, one of NASCAR's independent drivers for most of his career who never had a major sponsor.

Sterling Marlin started working on his father's car when he was 13, and his 25-year driving career began after Coo Coo got injured in a wreck at Talladega.

The next week's race was in Nashville, Tenn., and since what little sponsorship the team had was based there, it was decided Sterling would drive if he could get the car ready.

"He told me if I could fix the car, I could run it," Sterling Marlin said. "So me and my buddies and cousins and everybody just pitched in and fixed it."

Since that first race, Marlin has nine Winston Cup victories, including back-to-back Daytona 500s. He's also won more than $20 million.

Success hasn't spoiled him

"He's still the same person he was when I met him 25 years ago," said his team manager, Tony Glover. "He's just a laid-back guy who loves racing and loves being around it."

Even though he's made a small fortune in the sport, Marlin misses some of the fun he used to have when he first started.

"A lot of these guys don't know what it used to be like," he said. "We'd get done at the track and everybody'd go back to the same motel and mess around in the swimming pool or whatever. We just had fun."

Now most drivers leave the garage and walk to their million-dollar motor homes, which normally are parked a short distance away. They fly from race to race in private jets and make appearances all over the country for their sponsors.

It's enough to make Marlin shake his head and wonder about the good old days.

"I never thought I'd see Winston Cup racing where it is today," Marlin said. "It just keeps growing and growing. I can't see where it's going to stop."