Food City 500 - Rusty Wallace Notes

RUSTY WALLACE LOOKING FOR MORE “GOOD KIND OF RACING” AT BRISTOL

-Miller Lite Dodge Driver Likes What He Saw In Recent Testing On His Favorite Track-

BRISTOL, Tenn. (March 23, 2004) – It will be like the good old days again at Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend and Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace is glad of that.

“The days of going 150 laps on the same set of tires and winning races on wacky strategy deals like that are history,” Wallace said after piecing together two days of testing in preparation for this weekend’s Food City 500 between rain showers on March 17-18. “From what we saw and learned, I’m convinced that it’ll be back to the good kind of racing again at Bristol where the fastest and best-handling race car comes home the winner at the end.

“There’s really not that much difference in the feel of the tire from a driver’s perspective,” said Wallace, whose nine total Bristol wins include six in the annual spring stop for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series. “But the tires do wear like they did several years back and you have to adjust your car accordingly.

“It’s not like it was there for a few years where the tires were rock hard and it was almost like it didn’t matter if you changed them or not,” Wallace continued as he compared the tires used at Bristol in recent races (the Goodyear Eagle Speedway Radials D-6340 lefts and D-6342 rights) with the tire for this race (Goodyear D-6826 lefts and D-6828 rights). “You’d see very little falloff in the tires and somebody would make their final tire change with 150 or more laps to go. They’d eventually get the lead and use the track position and the fact that it was so difficult to pass to their favor. This time around, I could see some teams maybe trying to stretch it, but never that far again and getting away with it. The bottom line is that this is supposed to be the same tire we ran several weeks back at Las Vegas. It worked well for us out there and we’re confident that it’ll do the same at Bristol.”

Wallace is hoping that the return to “good kind of racing” at Bristol will also help restore and add to the success he has enjoyed on the demanding high-banked .533-mile track.

“We have a brand new little hot rod ready for this weekend – the (PC-) 73 car and we had her really flying at the test,” said Wallace, whose last Bristol victory came in 2000 when he took both wins at the track that season. “There were some guys who were faster in qualifying trim, but when we put the race setup under her, she was a real rocket ship and in a zone of her own.

“Through the years, we have a great history of successfully breaking in new cars at Bristol and we’re looking at doing it again this weekend,” said Wallace, who started fourth and finished 14th last spring at Bristol, after losing two laps when he pitted under green only to see the caution flag fly a lap later. “This new car is definitely strong enough to be the tool we use to add to our Bristol success.”

Wallace’s career statistical breakdown at Bristol sports nine wins, 20 top-fives, 27 top-10s, seven poles and $1,893,584 in career winnings after 40 races.

“Bristol’s always been like a home track to me,” said Wallace. “I’ve always been quick to call it my favorite racetrack. The fact that I won my first race there back in 1986, the fact that we’ve always had so much success there, the fact that we have such a big following of race fans in the area and having the auto dealerships just down the road from the place -- all add up to making it like a homecoming every time we go to Bristol. It has always been a special place for us and always will be. We’re just hoping to taste some more success there again this weekend.”

Sunday’s Food City 500 has a 1:00 p.m. EST starting time and features live coverage by FOX-TV and PRN Radio.

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