Talladega, Ala. ? Sterling Marlin won’t be racing in the EA Sports 500, but the second-generation NASCAR standout was the center of attention Friday at Talladega Superspeedway.

Qualifying for the race was rained out, and the 43-car field for Sunday was determined by season points. That puts Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Rusty Wallace, all locked in a tight battle for the Winston Cup championship, up front for the start of the 500-mile race.

Missing is the fifth-place Marlin, who is wondering if he might still be racing for the championship if he had worn a different head and neck restraint Sunday at Kansas City.

Marlin will miss the final seven races of the season after fracturing a vertebra in his neck in a race crash.

In the wake of the death of seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt from head injuries suffered in the 2001 Daytona 500, NASCAR has required the use of such restraints since last October’s race at Talladega.

The only choices have been the Head and Neck Support (HANS) or the Hutchens Device.

Marlin, who led the points for 25 weeks before falling into a slump, was wearing the Hutchens, a series of straps that hook onto the helmet and the existing seat belt system.

The HANS is a U-shaped device, resembling a set of shoulder pads that fit behind the neck and over the shoulder, attaching to the helmet with two leather straps. The HANS is generally considered more confining but has gotten into more general use as more drivers have had them custom made.

Marlin has worn the Hutchens Device since restraints became mandatory. He decided to try the HANS in the race last month in Dover, the week after he slammed the wall hard in Richmond.

“You look at all the research NASCAR has done and the studies and it looks like the HANS is a little safer deal,” Marlin said Friday at Talladedga, where rookie Jamie McMurray will take his place in Sunday’s race.

Current Winston Cup Series points leader Jimmie Johnson waits out a rain delay. Qualifying was washed out Friday in Talladega, Ala., meaning Johnson by virtue of his series points lead will start on the pole in Sunday's EA Sports 500.

Marlin was still aching from the big hit in Richmond and switched back to the Hutchens for the Kansas race.

“My chest was so sore I couldn’t wear (the HANS),” he explained. “The Monday after Dover it felt like I’d wrecked again. I couldn’t hardly get my breath. My back was hurting bad before the race last week at Kansas City.

“There wasn’t anything wrong with the HANS. It was just my chest was sore from Richmond, I wanted it to get healed up. I decided to use the Hutchens and go with the HANS next year.”

Bobby Labonte, who has worn both devices but has used the HANS since late in 2001, didn’t want to speculate on whether Marlin would have been injured if he had worn the HANS.

He did say though that the safety experts he has talked to favor the HANS.

“Just from the data that they showed me, it makes more sense to me,” said Labonte, who walked away without injury from a very hard crash in practice at Kansas City. “The speeds we’re running and the crushability that our cars don’t have enough of, we’re going to take the brunt of the accident. If you don’t have everything just right with the Hutchens Device. … “

Dale Earnhardt Jr., one of several drivers who have had serious concussions from crashes this season, is one of the biggest supporters of the Hutchens because of the comfort issue.

“I don’t think you could have avoided having a concussion in the crash I was in,” said Earnhardt, whose admission last week that he hid his concussion from NASCAR for most of the season prompted the sanctioning body to change its post-crash medical procedures.

“It was a solid hit, not really nose to tail or anything, just flat on the door,” he added. “You could have had all kinds of things on your head and it wouldn’t have meant anything. It’s your brain moving around in your head.”

Asked if he planned to stick with the Hutchens, Earnhardt smiled and said, “Yeah, until I get any problems other than just banging your head.”

Marlin didn’t think he had been seriously injured in the brutal crash at Kansas Speedway.

If it hadn’t been for the urging of Al Shuford, an athletic trainer who works with Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Marlin might not have even gone in for testing. As it was, he waited until Monday to go for an MRI, then had the injury confirmed in a CT Scan on Tuesday in Charlotte.

“Al Shuford is a lifesaver,” team co-owner Sabates said.