Sharpie 500 - Rusty Wallace Notes

RUSTY WALLACE GLAD THINGS "BACK TO NORMAL" AT BRISTOL
-Miller Lite Dodge Driver Hoping To Notch 10th Career Win On His Favorite Track-

BRISTOL, Tenn. (August 24, 2004) - According to Miller Lite Dodge driver, it's a case of getting back to the good old days on the lightning-fast .533-mile Bristol Motor Speedway.

"Man, it was getting crazy there for a couple of races with all kinds of weird (stuff) happening," said nine-time Bristol Motor Speedway winner Rusty Wallace of the races leading up to the most recent battle on the high-banked Tennessee track. "Guys were running half the race on the same tires, cats were runnin' like crap and spinning out to get cautions they needed and we were crashing out of 'em. I was beginning to wonder if we'd lost our 'instant karma' we always have there or something.

"Thank goodness that things got back to normal at Bristol in the spring," Wallace said of the March 28 Food City 500 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup race, where Wallace started fourth and finished second. "We went through a long stretch there where it seemed like nothing could go wrong. We were winning all the poles and the races. Then, it was like overnight the luck changed where it felt like stuff was just falling from the sky and hitting us. Anyhow, it sure felt good to get back to normal there at Bristol in the spring race."

Perhaps Wallace is a bit exaggerated in his assessment of recent Bristol races (and the spin for caution exploit actually happened there in March - at least the one everyone knows about). But that is totally understandable when you consider Wallace's great expectations in every visit to the track. After all, Bristol is the site of his first win and his 50th. It's the location for nine victories and an amazing seven runner-up finishes - with several of those coming after getting bumped out of the way while leading on the final laps of the race. Wallace won three races and two poles in a four-race stretch in 1999-2000 and he wants more of that level of success.

He facetiously says he hit "hard times" on the concrete Tennessee half-mile after that. During the two-year, four-race period of 2001-2002, Wallace "only qualified as high as fourth" and could "only muster" two top-five finishes and four top-10s.

"We really did hit rock bottom there last year, though," Wallace professed. "In the spring race, we were running in the top five with just over 100 laps to go (130 to be exact). We pitted under green and the caution came out. We got two laps down and couldn't make them up. Then in the fall race, I couldn't believe what happened. We'd pitted and were moving back up through the field when Michael Waltrip slammed the outside wall and came back down the track right in front of us. We had nowhere to go. I couldn't believe that we'd actually crashed out of a Bristol race. Now that was rock bottom if you ask me.

"But we bounced back in the spring and it looks like everything is back to being a-okay there again," said Wallace, currently 19th in the NEXTEL Cup point standings, but a whopping 375 points out of 10th. "It certainly appears that all systems are go again for us at Bristol.

"Just as we had done so many times in the past, we brought a brand new little hot rod there and qualified up front," Wallace said of the PRS-73 Dodge the team debuted at Bristol with a fourth-place qualifying effort in March. "We wasted little time grabbing the lead (on Lap 26) and led much of the race (four times for a total of 100 laps) before we got behind with 100 laps to go. We were running fifth and got all the way up to second and were giving (eventually winner Kurt) Busch a run for the money before the laps ran out."

Wallace and his Larry Carter-led Miller Lite Team will be debuting yet another new Dodge - the PRS-78 -- in this weekend's Sharpie 500 at B.M.S. and in typical fashion, Wallace is oozing with confidence.

"A brand new sexy little hot rod that's just itchin' to kick major butt and take names," said Wallace (in a single breath) when asked about the prospects for this weekend's annual Saturday night battle under the Bristol lights. "Hey, it's Bristol. What else do you expect me to say and how else do you expect me to feel?"

Wallace's career statistical breakdown at Bristol sports nine wins, 21 top-fives, 28 top-10s, seven poles and $2,035,462 in career winnings after 41 races.

"Bristol's always been like a home track to me," Wallace restated recently. "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. We were close to getting our 10th win there back in the spring. Hopefully we can get that job completed this weekend."

Saturday night's Sharpie 500 has a 7:30 p.m. EDT starting time and features live coverage by TNT-TV and PRN Radio.

Notes of Interest:

--It's easy to understand Rusty's confidence when he comes into races on his "home track" at Bristol Motor Speedway. After all, he has won 22 percent of his races there and has been either the winner or runner-up 39 percent of the time. He's finished top-five in 51 percent and in the top-10 in an incredible 68 percent of his 41 races.

--Things "back to normal" for Rusty at Bristol after starting fourth and finishing second there in March. "We hit a couple of times where it felt like stuff was just falling from the sky and hitting us," he said of a 14th-place finish in the spring race of 2003 and a 43rd after crashing out of last August's race, only his third DNF in 41 races. "Anyhow, it sure felt good to get back to normal there at Bristol in the spring race." (more in release)

--Another brand new Miller Lite Dodge for this weekend at Bristol - Rusty and his Larry Carter-led team debuting the new PRS-78. "A brand new sexy little hot rod that's just itchin' to kick major butt and take names," Rusty explained.

--Rusty Bristol statistical tidbits: Rusty has scored 21 top-five finishes at Bristol, the most among active drivers. -- Rusty has a 7.878 starting average and a 9.195 average finish in 41 races at Bristol. He is the only active driver to have a starting and finishing average of 10th or better. -- Rusty has led 3,498 laps in 41 races at Bristol, the most among active drivers. Cale Yarborough leads all drivers having led 4,306 laps in 29 races at Bristol.

--Steve Wallace hoping to make his USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series debut in Wednesday night's Food City 150 at Bristol. "It was an opportunity that came to us just last week and something that I really want to do," said Steve, while still putting the deal together at Michigan last Saturday. "It's with Premiere Motorsports, a really strong team that Steve Husketh owns. He has won as a car owner before and wants to keep winning. I'm flattered that he called me and wants to put me in his car for Bristol. We just want to make the field, get some experience in these cars and have a respectable run." Says proud dad Rusty: "Steve has been on top of this deal and I have to give him a lot of credit. He went out and found sponsors to get this opportunity at Bristol. He lined up a great list of sponsors on his own. He'll have Bayliner Boats, Food City, Opti Gloss and GEICO all as his sponsors for this race. He never came to me asking for anything. The kid reminds me so much of myself a few years back - okay, make that many years ago when I was just getting started up. It'll be great experience for him, I think."

--Great new material on members of the three Penske Dodge teams on the Mobil 1 site. Read things you didn't know about Rusty's colorful rear tire changer Donald "Ink" Richardson at http://www.mobil1.com/racing/nascar/r_tmow.jsp , Ryan Newman's incredibly talented front tire changer Dennis "Buffet" Terry at http://www.mobil1.com/racing/nascar/n_tmow.jsp and Brendan Gaughan's front tire changer, the fun-loving ultimate racer, Clay "Tackle Box" Robinson at http://www.mobil1.com/racing/nascar/g_tmow.jsp

--While engine woes hit Rusty and the Miller Lite crew for the second consecutive race at Michigan, there was a bright spot to the day. "It was no doubt our most consistent race in the pits," offered crew chief Larry Carter. "We had a great day going and I think we would have rolled off some stops in the 12-second bracket before the day was done. We missed out on the final 90 laps and that would have been at least another two stops for the guys to reel one off." For the record, the crew had four different four-tire stops. The fastest was clocked at 13.246 seconds and the slowest was a 14.387-second stop. They averaged 13.814 for the four stops. "That's great to have the consistency going into Bristol. We'll need it this weekend and this race could very well be won in the pits."

--13-item Rusty Bristol highlights listing included in the attachment.

-- "You can't shake hands with a clenched fist." -Indira Gandhi