Banquet 400 presented by ConAgra Foods - Rusty Wallace Notes

RUSTY WALLACE SAYS KANSAS IS WHERE HIS TEAM WILL SHINE
-Miller Lite Dodge Driver Has Three Top-10 Finishes In The Three Kansas Races To Date-

KANSAS CITY, Kansas. (Oct. 5) - Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace is expecting that it will be in this weekend's Banquet 400 at Kansas Speedway where his Larry Carter-led team will shine.

"I think we've been sneaking back up there the last couple of weeks," said Wallace, who has two top-five finishes and three top-10s (and a 5.3 average finish) in the three NASCAR NEXTEL Cup races held to date at the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway. "I think we're ready to put a whole race together and really shine this weekend at Kansas.

"We've been competitive everywhere we've been, but just when you think we'll be a factor at the end, the weird stuff happens to take us out," said Wallace, who has a win, three top-fives and eight top-10s for the 2004 season. "But Kansas is a track where we definitely have history on our side.

"I think we surprised a lot of folks at Talladega on Sunday when we charged up from way back in the pack to take the lead," said Wallace, who started 33rd in Sunday's Talladega race and dashed up through the field to lead at Lap 40 and went on to lead three times for 15 laps. We had a solid top-10 car there, but the breaks just fell against us. If we'd been able to pit with the first bunch when that last caution came out with 10 laps to go, we'd been right up there. But we didn't and got caught up in the shrapnel left behind when the 16 car crashed on the last lap. We cut down a tire and had to limp on back around. That's pretty much been how our season has gone so far.

"But we really are looking forward to this weekend's race at Kansas," said Wallace, one of only 10 drivers who have completed all possible laps in the Kansas races. "We have a brand new Miller Lite Dodge - the (PRS-0) 81 car - and we know it's capable of winning this weekend.

"We carried the new car up to the Kentucky Speedway a couple of weeks back to get prepared for the race at Kansas this weekend," said Wallace, third in career laps led at Kansas with 140. "We were extremely pleased with the new car and feel like we'll come into the Kansas race really prepared.

"We've been a factor in all the races at Kansas and think we can put the big numbers on the board in Sunday's race."

Wallace led the most laps in the 2001 inaugural Winston Cup race at Kansas Speedway and was leading with less than 40 laps remaining. A pit road speeding penalty dropped him from the lead to the 17th spot for a restart with 32 laps remaining. He mounted a charge that got him back up to fourth before the laps ran out. Wallace started 11th and finished third in the 2002 Kansas Speedway battle.

"Now that first Kansas race was definitely was one of the big wins that got away," Wallace remembered. "To have led the thing all day like that and have the field covered, then get slapped with a stop-and-go (penalty) for speeding -- it was a hard pill to swallow, that's for sure. Starting way back there just inside the top 20 and coming back strong like that was a heck of a comeback, but it was just so frustrating to get a stop-and-go like that. The track was great. I had a great car all day and the track was super. If I would have had more time, I could have won the thing.

"We continuously fought a tight condition throughout the 2002 race, but still came home with a third-place finish," Wallace said. "We did all we could to loosen it up during the day - threw everything we had at it - and it took every bit of that. We learned a lot from that race."

Wallace started fifth and finished ninth in last year's Banquet 400. He led five times for 23 laps during the event.

"We led a lot and had a good car all day," Wallace recalled of last year's race. "Then I got tight at one point. We had a bunch of the fuel mileage strategy that came into play toward the end of the race. I just got too tight at the end there. I got myself into a situation where I just had old tires and no track position, and it just killed me.

"It may sound crazy, but I really think that is a big reason why we do so well at Kansas is because we really, really love racing there," Wallace concluded. "Maybe the fact that it's right there in the heart of the Midwest - a place that was starving for a first-class facility like that - maybe that's a big part of it. But it's not just the location; it's the layout of the track that I really love, too."

This weekend's schedule calls for a two-hour practice session on Friday (11:20 a.m. till 1:20 p.m.), with a 3:10 p.m. single qualifying session to allocate all 43 starting spots for the 400-mile, 267-lap battle. Saturday's schedule calls for practice sessions from 9:30 a.m. until 10:15 a.m. and 11:10 a.m. until 11:55 a.m. Sunday's Banquet 400 starts at 1:00 p.m. local time (CDT) and features live coverage by NBC-TV and MRN Radio.

Notes of interest:

--Rusty expecting his Larry Carter-led Miller Lite Team to shine at Kansas: "I think we've been sneaking back up there the last couple of weeks," said Rusty, who has two top-five finishes and three top-10s (and a 5.3 average finish) in the three NASCAR NEXTEL Cup races held to date at the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway. "I think we're ready to put a whole race together and really shine this weekend at Kansas."

--Rusty debuting new Dodge in Kansas race: "We have a brand new Miller Lite Dodge - the (PRS-0) 81 car - and we know it's capable of winning this weekend. We carried the new car up to the Kentucky Speedway a couple of weeks back to get prepared for the race at Kansas this weekend. We were extremely pleased with the new car and feel like we'll come into the Kansas race really prepared."

--Steve Wallace, Rusty's 17-year-old racing son, finished sixth after starting fourth in last Saturday night's 150-lap UARA feature at the Hickory Motor Speedway. The finish was enough to move Steve into the series' rookie-of-the-year points lead (by 58 points). Two races remain on the 2004 schedule; this Saturday night's 150-lapper at Music City Motorplex in Nashville and the Oct. 23 race at Coastal Plains Speedway near Jacksonville, N.C. "I was really looking into running the Taco Bell race at Martinsville this weekend instead of going to Nashville, but dad advised me against it," Steve offered. "He said that I should stick to my goal of winning the UARA rookie deal and try to finish in the top five in the points. He has a lot of history racing at the fairgrounds in Nashville and has told me about the big battles he and Sterling Marlin used to have there. He says running that track will be great experience for me and I agree."

--Some great personal background stories in the three Mobil 1 Racing team bios currently posted on the Mobil 1 Racing site. Read the heart-warming story of how his involvement in racing saved the marriage of Ray Osian, front tire carrier and tire specialist for Ryan Newman's No. 12 team. Dennis "Moose" Cabe, long-time gasman for the No. 77 team, had a real job for 27 years that most people didn't know about - in radiography at Duke Power's nuclear power plants. At 21 years of age, Andy Brown may be the youngest member of Rusty's over-the-wall gang, but he already has earned the respect of his peers. Crew chief Larry Carter calls him "Colonel Clink" and you can find out why by visiting http://www.mobil1.com/racing/index.jsp or at www.trpr.com

--"If you cannot be satisfied with what you have, you must learn to be satisfied with what you haven't." -Caroline Rush