Steadman Marlin gets a ride at Daytona..maybe more: Sadler Racing team owner Earl Sadler will field a car for Steadman Marlin [Sterling's son] in the Feb. 18 Busch Series opener at Daytona International Speedway and hopes to enter some Nextel Cup races later in the season if funding permits. "It's a great opportunity and I'm grateful to Mr. Sadler for it," said Steadman, 25. "He's got a pretty good race car. Bobby Hamilton had a good run in it last year at Daytona, and maybe I can do the same. Racing has always been a big part of our family. I didn't realize how much I missed it until I sat out seven or eight months. I'm anxious to get back." While his father, Sterling, is a 30-year racing veteran, Steadman has struggled to get his racing career up to speed. "I've told Steadman he has to work at it," Sterling said. "Nobody's going to drop anything in his lap. He has to get out there and earn it." The Sadler-Marlin racing relationship goes back to the early 1980s, when Sterling drove in some races for the team. Could Sadler give Steadman's career a similar jump-start? "Well, things have changed a lot over the years," said Sadler, 83, who has also assisted such drivers as Davey Allison, Michael Waltrip, Jeff Green and Jeremy Mayfield with their early careers. "Every year racing gets more expensive, which makes it harder for a small operation like ours to compete. We do the best we can with what we've got, but we're limited." Sadler said how many Busch races the team enters after Daytona depends on how much sponsorship funding can be generated. Said Steadman: "We're working on some deals to bring in some funding. I feel like we've got a lot to offer sponsors." Steadman was to share a Busch Series ride with his father for FitzBradshaw Racing. That team fields Dodges, however, and when Sterling signed to race Chevrolets for MB2 Motorsports the Busch deal fell through. "It's been frustrating, but at least I have a ride for Daytona," Steadman said. "If we can come out of there with a good run maybe it will lead to some other things."(Tennessean)