Golden Corral 500 - Rusty Wallace Notes

WALLACE & MILLER LITE TEAM ENTER ATLANTA OFF CONSECUTIVE TOP-10S

-“Woulda-Shoulda-Couldas” Show Early Season Rejuvenation For Former Champ & Two-Time Atlanta Winner-

HAMPTON, Ga. (March 9, 2004) – Jeff Thousand knows what he likes and he likes what he sees.

Thousand, a 47-year-old St. Louis native, goes back some 30 years with Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace and now serves as the car chief and chassis specialist for Wallace’s No. 2 Penske Racing South Dodge team. He says he sees “a rejuvenation” in his driver and team after three races have been completed on the 2004 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup tour.

“Rusty’s really on the gas and up on the wheel,” said Thousand as his team was preparing for this weekend’s return to Atlanta Motor Speedway for Sunday’s Golden Corral 500. “He’s been that way since they dropped the green flag at Daytona and I think he is driving as hard and as competitive as he ever has. If we can continue to put the good cars under him out there and give him what he needs in the pits, we’re going to win races.”

Thousand says his team’s statistics so far this season are deceiving, yet they certainly hold great promise.

“When you look back at Rockingham and Vegas, we definitely had cars that were stronger than the finishes showed,” Thousand said of Wallace’s seventh-place finish at Rockingham and 10th-place run at Las Vegas on Sunday. “Those were certainly ‘woulda-shoulda-coulda’ been top-five finishes, but we had to settle for top-10s. But that shows great progress that our team has made. When your ‘woulda-coulda-shouldas’ are still top-10 finishes, you’ve got to be headed in the right direction. It’s been a long time since we’ve left racetracks being a little let down about top-10 finishes

“The bottom line is that Rusty’s got a new fire burning within and he’s getting it spread throughout the team. He and Larry (Carter, crew chief) are working together extremely well. It reminds me a lot of when Buddy (Parrott) was the crew chief and we were having so much success. We have a driver who is more determined than ever to win and be as competitive as possible from the time the track opens every Friday. I’ve known Rusty probably as long as anybody out there. He’s so strong-minded about winning again. You can see it in his eyes and hear it in his voice on the radio.”

Wallace is coming off the consecutive top-10 finishes entering Atlanta and, despite getting caught up in a crash in the Daytona season-opener, is up to 12th in the series point standings. He is currently only 11 points out of 10th and hoping to keep the momentum going this weekend.

“We had a great car at Atlanta last spring,” said Wallace, who started seventh and finished 15th in that race. “We were running fifth and holding our on when I got up there and slapped the wall over in Turn 2. I just let it get right up against the wall, and that was pretty much it. I think we could have easily had a top five. The car was strong enough to finish up there I believe, but I just got up in the marbles and that was it.

“But it’ll be a whole new ballgame there this time around with the new tires and all. We’ve not been able to put the big numbers up on the board since they reconfigured the track several years ago, but we’re looking to really get it going there this weekend. It’s a place where the new rules package could play into our favor – at least we’re hoping that’s the case. We didn’t test there, so we’re hoping to be able to have a quick learning curve with the new package.

“One thing that’ll never change is that the place is lightning fast and you really have to stay on your toes all race long,” said Wallace. “It’s a track where you don’t have to necessarily start up front to have a good finish. Track position and clean air is important there, but if you have the horsepower and a good handling racecar, you can motor on back up toward the front. The pit stops will be super important again and we hope we have a handle on that end of the deal.”

Atlanta Motor Speedway has been the site of many memorable races for Wallace. He had his first start in Winston Cup competition there in the March 1980 Atlanta 500 and finished a remarkable runner-up to rival and friend Dale Earnhardt. He claimed his 1989 series championship title at Atlanta in a dramatic battle with Earnhardt. He won the Atlanta season finale race in 1993, but lost the points battle to Earnhardt by 80 points. All of those races occurred on the old 1.522-mile layout. The track was reconfigured prior to the November 1997 race to its current 1.54-mile design. Wallace’s best finish to date since the track’s transformation was his fourth-place tally in the March 1998 event.

Friday’s 3:10 p.m. single round of qualifying will award all 43 starting spots for Sunday’s race. Saturday’s final “Happy Hour” practice session is set for 11:10 a.m. until 11:55 a.m. Sunday’s 325-lap, 500.5-mile Golden Corral 500 starts at 1:00 p.m. ET and features live coverage by FOX-TV and PRN (radio network).

Notes of interest:

--Rusty debuting new car at Atlanta -- "It wasn't part of the original plan, but Rusty wll have a new chassis -- the (PC-) 71 -- under him at Atlanta this weekend," explained chief engineer Roy McCauley. "Rusty is really on top of his game right now and we're determined to give him the best of everything we have. The fab shop and guys in the prep area are working their tails off and are doing a fantastic job. Originally, we were not going to have another new car for Rusty until later on this month at Bristol. But the way things have worked out, he'll have a brand new one this week at Atlanta and another new piece at Bristol, too -- the (PC-) 73."

--Rusty's total Atlanta stats: In 43 races, 2 wins, 8 top-fives, 16 top-10s & 3 poles.

--"Opportunity is a moving target, and the bigger the opportunity, the faster it moves." -Richard Briley