Ford 400 - Rusty Wallace Notes

RUSTY WALLACE LOOKING TO MAKE GREAT LAST IMPRESSIONS AT MIAMI
-Miller Lite Dodge Driver Looking To "Go Out In A Blaze Of Glory" In Ford 400 Nextel Cup 2004 Finale-

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (Nov. 16) - For Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace, making great last impressions is the first thing on his mind entering this weekend's 2004 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Ford 400 season final at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

"After the great test we had at Homestead last Wednesday (Nov. 10), we're confident that we can go out in a blaze of glory this weekend," said Wallace, who has now won races in 17 of the last 19 seasons and has finished in the top 20 in the final point standings for 21 consecutive seasons. "Even with the championship on the line, we think we can turn some heads and not just fade away into the sunset.

"We spent about three-quarters of the day working on our race setup and felt like we could run with anyone out there," added Wallace, who will be ending his driving career with next season's final "Rusty's Last Call" tour. "We changed over to qualifying trim and turned in a fast lap of 30.25 (seconds or 178.512 mph), which was right at three-tenths (of a second) faster than anybody else turned.

"I guess the guys running the timing deal down there last Wednesday must have gone out for a hotdog or something while we were out there flying around the place with our qualifying setup in the car," Wallace said with a perturbed look on his face. "It was kinda' weird that they didn't have us at the top of the speed chart that they put out at the end of the day. But it was a crime - a real slap in the face to me, my team and my sponsors - that they didn't even have our effort listed in their top 10 or anywhere else for that matter when the day was done. It was yet another example of a 'non-Chase' driver and team getting the shaft."

A news release that came out of the Homestead-Miami Speedway last week had "Chase" contender Mark Martin fastest with a lap of 176.759 mph (30.55 seconds). The speedway's "unofficial" speeds for "selected" drivers showed the top six lap speeds were turned in by participants in the 'Chase for the Championship.'

"When I first started at this level of racing, we ended our season out at Riverside, California," said Wallace. "Then it was Atlanta, and now it's down at Homestead. Through it all, there is one thing that has remained the same, no matter where the final race is held. You need to close out the year on a positive note.

"They've been saying this forever I guess, but never has it been more true than now that you're only as good as you were in your last race," said Wallace, who started 11th and finished 23rd at Homestead last year (after losing two laps by "short-pitting" during the race and having the caution flag come out). "During the season when you're racing week after week, you can have a great weekend at one track and when you get there to check in at the next place the following Friday, the clock goes back to zero and you start all over again.

"When it's the very last race of the season, that's not the case," said Wallace. "There's a period of almost three months between the drop of the checkers in Homestead and when the clock starts all over again at Daytona. So that's an awful lot of days for them to talk about what you did the last time out.

"The biggest thing about it all, though, is the impact that it has on the team -- all the guys working in the shop, the sponsors and all -- you're giving them something positive to remember and talk about during the time we're down," said Wallace. "This sport is built so much on momentum and you want to have 'em all saying, 'yeah, we're really gonna' come back and get 'em next season.' That kind of positive attitude is very infectious -- I've seen that first-hand through the years."

Wallace's Larry Carter-led Miller Lite team will be racing their PRS-054 Dodge this weekend at Miami-Homestead Speedway. The car was last raced at Atlanta two races ago, where Wallace started 12th and finished 11th. It has been the workhorse on the intermediate tracks.

Wallace and team will have the opportunity to display their speed in Ford 400 qualifying, set for Friday at 1:35 p.m. Saturday's final "Happy Hour" practice session is set for 11:10 a.m. until 11:55 a.m. Sunday's Ford 400 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup season finale has a 1:00 p.m. EST starting time and the 267-lap, 400.5-mile race features live coverage by NBC-TV and MRN Radio.

Notes of interest:

--Just a slight oversight? Whatever - Rusty says his team was fastest in pre-race testing at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but a news release from the track said otherwise, citing "unofficial" speeds from "selected" drivers and showing the top six lap speeds were turned in by participants in the "Chase for the Championship."

"I guess the guys running the timing deal down there last Wednesday must have gone out for a hotdog or something while we were out there flying around the place with our qualifying setup in the car," said Rusty. "It was kinda' weird that they didn't have us at the top of the speed chart that they put out at the end of the day. But it was a crime - a real slap in the face to me, my team and my sponsors - that they didn't even have our effort listed in their top 10 or anywhere else for that matter when the day was done. It was yet another example of a 'non-Chase' driver and team getting the shaft."

--Last impressions are most important. "When I first started at this level of racing, we ended our season out at Riverside, California," Rusty said. "Then it was Atlanta, and now it's down at Homestead. Through it all, there is one thing that has remained the same no matter where the final race is held. You need to close out the year on a positive note. There's a period of almost three months between the drop of the checkers in Homestead and when the clock starts all over again at Daytona. So that's an awful lot of days for them to talk about what you did the last time out."

--Rusty's Larry Carter-led Miller Lite team will be racing their PRS-054 Dodge this weekend at Miami-Homestead Speedway. The car was last raced at Atlanta two races ago, where Rusty started 12th and finished 11th. It has been the workhorse on the intermediate tracks.

--Steve Wallace will again be competing in the annual prestigious Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Fla., the first weekend of next month. "We filed our official entry last Wednesday," Steve reported on Sunday at Darlington. "We were fortunate enough to get together with Richie Wauters and run his car down there last year and we're going to race together again this time around." Steve won three races this season in UARA competition, taking the series' rookie title and finishing fifth in the point standings. He will compete on the USAR Hooters ProCup Series tour next season. Rusty participated in the annual racing classic several times. His best finish was second (to winner Freddy Fryar) in the 1979 edition.

--Featured in the latest batch of Mobil 1 Racing team member bios are Tom Hoke, car chief and chassis specialist for Rusty Wallace, Sharon Ingold, scorer for Ryan Newman and Tom Mayerchak, Brendan Gaughan's second gasman. These bios and more can be found at http://www.mobil1.com/racing/index.jsp or at www.trpr.com

--"Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please." -Mark Twain