Two-time Daytona 500 winner Sterling Marlin has highway renamed in his honor
· Yahoo Sports
A stretch of Highway 31 in Columbia was named in honor of two-time NASCAR Cup driver Sterling Marlin on July 16.
Marlin, a two-time Daytona 500 winner, resides on a large farm in Columbia and was nicknamed the "Columbia Comet" during his racing days.
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The renamed segment of the highway runs about five miles from Carter’s Creek Pike to Spring Hill High School, where Marlin went to school and was a standout quarterback on the football team.
Marlin, who celebrated his 69th birthday on June 30, said during a ceremony on July 16 that he was honored to have the road named after him, but surprised that particular stretch was selected.
"We used to hell raise on this road," Marlin said with a smile. "Actually, where they put the sign is where me and my best friend Dennis (Chunn) got pulled over once."
Marlin wondered whether he would be allowed to set the speed limit for the stretch of road named after him. He said his father, Coo Coo Marlin, who also raced in the Cup Series, also tested the speed limit on that road back in his day.
The Maury County Commission approved renaming the road in August 2025.
Marlin, the 1983 Cup Series Rookie of the Year, won the Daytona 500 in 1994 and 1995. He is among only five NASCAR Cup drivers who have won back-to-back Daytona 500 races, joining Richard Petty (1973-1974), Cale Yarborough (1983–1984), Denny Hamlin (2019–2020) and William Byron (2024–2025).
In 2002, Marlin appeared on his way to claiming the Cup championship when he led the points standings for much of the year before being sidelined by an injury.
Over his 33-year career, Marlin amassed a total of 10 Cup race wins and 216 top-ten finishes.
He retired from full-time Cup competition in 2012 but continued to race occasionally at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, where he was the track champion in 1980 and 1982, until 2018. He was inducted into the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway Hall of Fame in 2009.
In 2023, Marlin was named one of NASCAR's 75 Greatest Drivers. In 2008, he was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame.
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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Two-time Daytona 500 winner Sterling Marlin has highway renamed in his honor