Dan Marino’s NASCAR tenure was an example of driver development gone wrong.
Marino was winding down his Hall of Fame career with the Miami Dolphins when he started marketing with FirstPlus Financial with Team Cheever in the Indy Racing League. Marino wanted to dabble into NASCAR by helping fund Bill Elliott for a second team in 1998. With funding from FirstPlus, driver Jerry Nadeau was slated to run for Rookie of the Year with the team.
The No. 13 sported the familiar colors of teal and orange, representing the colors of the Miami Dolphins, where Marino spent his entire NFL career. The results didn’t come for Nadeau. His best finish in the No. 13 was a 21st at Pocono Raceway, failing to qualify for two events. He had food poisoning before qualifying for the spring race at Dover International Speedway and had Dennis Setzer qualify the car but the car, again, failed to qualify.
Nadeau was released before the second Pocono Raceway race. After, the No. 13 featured drivers like Wally Dallenbach Jr., Tom Hubert, Ted Musgrave and Setzer. Musgrave scored the only top 15 for the team at Phoenix Raceway with a fifth-place finish.
After 1998, FirstPlus Financial left the team and the No. 13 attempted one more race — the 1999 Daytona 500 — before folding. By then, Marino was out of NASCAR and was out of football by 2000.
AI
