DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Sterling Marlin savored beating Dale Earnhardt on Sunday nearly as much as he enjoyed winning his second straight Daytona 500.

After making a desperate tire stop late in the race, Earnhardt did everything but pass Marlin in the final 11 laps at Daytona International Speedway, coming up two car lengths short after a dramatic charge from 14th place.

Maine’s Ricky Craven, one of seven rookies that competed in the race, came in 16th and went home with $47,795. The 28-year-old Newburgh resident was the 1992 Busch Grand National Series Rookie of the Year, and he was second in the Busch Grand National Series’ points standings for the past two years.

Craven, like Marlin, was driving a Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Marlin started third and was among the leaders throughout the 200 laps, dominating the second half of the rain-interrupted race.

“I knew there was a lot of cars on the lead lap and I didn’t think he had enough time,” Marlin said of Earnhardt’s bid to finally win NASCAR’s premier race in his 17th try. “But, with about eight laps to go, (crew chief Tony) Glover come on the radio and said, `You’d better go because he’s coming.’

“But I knew with about three laps to go, if we didn’t blow no tires or anything like that, we had it won.”

Marlin, whose only Winston Cup victories have come in stock car racing’s Super Bowl, became the first repeat winner since Cale Yarborough in 1983 and 1984.

This was particularly satisfying for Marlin and the entire Morgan-McClure team because of some alleged remarks by Earnhardt’s team that made the rounds in the garage area before the race.

“A guy come over from another team yesterday and we was shooting the breeze,” the Columbia, Tenn., driver said. “He said the way they were talking in the (No.) 3 camp, it sounds like they think they’ve got it locked up. They were saying, `We’re not going to worry about the (No.) 4 car. They’ll make a mistake somewhere.’ So that (win) was kind of sweet.”

The 16th-place finish was sweet for Craven, who started in the 14th spot and who nearly ran into trouble mid-way into the race.

“I had plenty of close calls today, but that one with Todd Bodine was really close,” said Craven who barely avoided the spinning Bodine before the 100th lap.

“I instinctively turned left as Bodine shot to the high side. I just happened to make the right decision. Next time I might make the wrong one,” said Craven following his first race in NASCAR’s premier division.

“My neck hurts. My back hurts. My head hurts,” added Craven who briefly ran in ninth place early in the race. “Finishing 500 miles was quite an accomplishment.”

He was the first rookie driver to finish. Among the other rookies, Robert Pressley finished 26th, Randy LaJoie 29th, Davy Jones 33rd and Steve Kinser 40th.

Rain began falling on lap 69 and a red flag stopped the field three laps later. After a delay of 1 hour, 44 minutes, the race was completed without no further weather problems.

There were several crashes and spins but no serious incidents and no injuries reported in the season-opening race.

Marlin averaged 141.710 mph and won $300,460.

Earnhardt couldn’t pass Marlin on the track but gained the lead after beating Marlin out of the pits on lap 161 by about two feet.

Marlin, who led three times for 105 laps, regained the lead for the final time on lap 181, muscling past Earnhardt on the low side of the banked 2 1/2-mile oval at about 190 mph as the two dove toward the third turn.

It appeared the rest of the race was going to be a walkaway for the son of former Winston Cup star Clifton “CooCoo” Marlin as Earnhardt faded, falling to third, behind Mark Martin, and struggling to hold off pole-starter Dale Jarrett.

Earnhardt, who now has finished second three times in the 500, got one more chance to win the big one that keeps getting away when Bobby Labonte hit the wall on lap 186, bringing out the 10th and final caution period of the race.

“This is the Daytona 500,” Earnhardt said. “I’m not supposed to win the damn thing, I don’t reckon.”

“We just came up short again,” he added with a shrug as he walked quickly from his motorhome about 10 minutes of the end of the race. “I needed a little help to get by Sterling. He had a strong race car today and he deserved to win.”

Did the final run make it easier to swallow another loss in this race?

“I still lost,” he said. “All of them are heartbreaking losses if you don’t win. Second place don’t cut it. We’ll try them again next year.”