Auto Club 500 - Rusty Wallace Notes

WALLACE SPREADING HIS CAMPAIGN IN AUTO CLUB 500
-Championship Route Through California Features “Presidential Theme”-

FONTANA, Calif. (April 27, 2004) – Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace enters this weekend’s Auto Club 500 at California Speedway, the 10th race in what he hopes is a successful bid toward his second NASCAR championship, riding the political bandwagon.

No, Wallace, the 1989 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup champ and 55-race winner, won’t be canvassing for either the Bush or Kerry ticket, but rather he’ll be active in sponsor Miller’s advertising push to be “President of Beers.”

“Our Miller Lite Dodge will be carrying a special color scheme this weekend at California Speedway that reflects their latest advertising campaign,” said Wallace, who won two weeks ago at Martinsville, Va., to snap a victory drought of 105 races that dated back to his California win on April 29, 2001. “It’s a cool looking car and a real eye-catcher. The theme signals how determined Miller is to let consumers know that there’s a choice out there.

“Miller is certainly taking a more aggressive approach in their advertising and it’s really paying off,” said Wallace, who has driven Miller-sponsored racecars for 15 years (460 races dating back to the start of the 1990 season). “It’s a result of a whole new way of doing things and I can really relate to that. We’ve made changes within our race team – like hiring Larry Carter as our crew chief and fine-tune our personnel around – and that’s made a major difference.

“This weekend at California, it’ll be about bouncing back from the little letdown at Talladega and getting back full steam ahead in our championship run,” said Wallace, who fell to 13th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup points after his involvement in Sunday’s big Talladega crash, which relegated him to a 33rd-place finish. “Even with the Talladega setback, we’re less than 50 points out of the top 10 and we’ll be relentless in our mission to make up the ground we lost.

“This weekend at California, it’ll also be about selling beer – Miller Lite and Miller Genuine Draft,” added Wallace. “Just like we’re doing on the race track, Miller is taking on the competition as aggressively as possible.

“California Speedway is a great place to debut the new colors. There was so much made of the fact that until our big win at Martinsville, it was the place where we last won. But the fact is that it’s one of the best tracks for us overall. We were in a good position to win the race there last year and still posted our best finish of the season (finished third) in that race. We used the two-tire strategy and had the lead with 35 laps to go, but just couldn’t hold off Bush (winner Kurt Busch) or Labonte (runner-up Bobby Labonte) there at the end.

“There’s just something about that track that clicks with the great horsepower our engines make. Even in our worse finish to date at California (34th in 1998), we were running second and catching (eventual winner) Mark Martin when the engine blew with eight laps to go.”

Miller’s latest ad campaign features television commercials urging beer drinkers to reject a monarchy (King of Beers) and instead consider a democracy in which Miller runs for “President of Beers.”

"We want to make sure consumers know there is a choice, and it doesn't have to be the default brand, which has been Budweiser," said Tom Bick, a Miller senior brand manager who oversees advertising for Miller Lite and Miller Genuine Draft. Both beers are featured in the U.S. commercials. "We're trying to make sure the category leader does not own the category.”

“It’s the strongest and most aggressive campaign we’ve had,” added Steve Lauletta, Director of Sports & Event Marketing for Miller. “We’re extremely excited to be able to tie Rusty and the team directly into the effort. I think it’s another example of our willingness to push the envelope in receiving return on our investment with our racing programs.”

Wallace’s record at the 2.0-mile California Speedway sports one win, two top-five finishes and four top-10 finishes in seven races. He has a 10.1 average start (best among active drivers) and 11.3 average finish in those races. He has scored top-10 finishes in the last four races at California, the longest streak among active drivers.

Wallace and his Larry Carter-led team will be racing their “PRS-43” chassis this weekend at California. The car debuted at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in the May 2002 Coca-Cola 600 where Wallace posted a 10th-place finish. In eight races since, a third-place finish at Kansas Speedway in 2002 rates as its best performance to date.

This weekend’s Auto Club 500 schedule calls for Friday qualifying at 3:10 p.m. PDT to set the field for Sunday’s race. Saturday’s final “Happy Hour” practice session is set for 11:10 a.m. till 11:55 a.m. Sunday’s 250-lap, 500-mile battle starts at 12:00 noon local (3:00 p.m. EDT) and features live coverage by FOX-TV and MRN Radio.

Notes:

--Martinsville winning car named "The Predator" -- "We've been trying to get Bell to name one of their new models (helicopters) that for some time now," Rusty explained. "The predator is the ultimate hunter and it strikes like nothing else. This was a brand new car that won right out of the box. The car never touched a race track until we got to Martinsville. That's quite impressive." The next race for the car will be Richmond, with the team scheduled to test there on May 5.

--Last year's third-place finish at California was Rusty's best of the 2003 season. He has four straight top-10 finishes there, most of any driver. His 10.1 average start rates best of any driver.

--Rusty and team carrying the special "Presidential Theme" this weekend at California. See what it looks like at www.trpr.com

--"Youth would be an ideal state if it came a little later in life." - Herbert Henry Asquith