Chevy Rock and Roll 400 - Rusty Wallace Notes

WALLACE & "THE PREDATOR" LOOKING TO "STEAL SOME THUNDER" IN SATURDAY'S CHEVY ROCK & ROLL 400 AT RICHMOND
-Miller Lite Dodge Driver Wants To "Crash The Points Hoopla Party"-

RICHMOND, Va. (Sept. 8, 2004) - Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace understands that much focus will be put on the points situation in Saturday's Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond International Raceway. He says that it's an ideal setting for his Larry Carter-led team to pull off his seventh career win on the .750-mile track.

"While everybody else it seems is going nuts about the points - making the cut and all -- it's our perfect opportunity to sneak in there and steal some of the thunder," said Wallace, a six-time Richmond race winner, on Monday. "Who makes the cut and who don't will be the big theme the whole weekend at Richmond and I can certainly appreciate that. We know we're paying the price for our season of missed opportunity, so we're hoping to come in there and grab the Sunday headlines when the smoke has cleared.

"It'd be great to be able to crash that points hoopla party that everyone knows the race will be," added Wallace, who announced on August 30 that the 2005 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup season will be his last as a driver. "For a job like this, we know that we need to bring out the heavy artillery and we're doing just that.

"The 70 car, the car we named 'The Predator' after winning at Martinsville with it back in the spring - well, they cleaned her up right after that race and it's been sitting there on jack stands ever since," offered Wallace. "We're bringing her out of the mothballs, getting her all shined up, puttin' a rocket motor in the thing and gettin' her ready to run again this weekend.

"We know that we have a car capable of getting the job done because this car won right out of the box and ended the long streak back in April," Wallace said. "Taking a proven winner back to the track is certainly a confidence and morale booster."

Wallace debuted his brand new PRS-70 Miller Lite Dodge in the April 18 Advance Auto Parts 500 at Martinsville Speedway. He qualified back in 17th, but was up into the top 10 by Lap 70. He was up to third on Lap 170 and stayed in a position to win for the remainder of the race. He grabbed the lead for good when he passed Jimmie Johnson on Lap 456 and never looked back. Wallace claimed his seventh career Martinsville win by four car lengths over Bobby Labonte - picking up his 55th career victory and snapping a 105-race winless streak.

Wallace enters Richmond as the track's career statistical leader. The record book shows that in 41 races, he has six wins and three poles, along with 21 top-five finishes, 28 top-10 finishes and $1,745,877 in career money won. His most recent Richmond win came in the spring race of 1997, while his most recent pole came in the spring race of 2000.

He has led 3,023 laps at Richmond International Raceway, more than any other active driver. Wallace has a 7.875 average finish in 32 races at Richmond on the current .750-mile layout, the best of all drivers. He has a 9.146 average finish in 41 races overall at Richmond, also the best among all active drivers. His worst finish ever at RIR came in the first race on the current layout, when he was involved in a crash after only 18 laps and finished 35th.

"We took another car - the 64 car - to Richmond back in the May race and it was just way too tight all race long, running on that new racing surface," offered Wallace, who started seventh and finished 16th in the May 15 Chevy American 400. "I told Larry (Carter, crew chief) right after the race that night that I thought we'd brought the wrong car there. I told him we shoulda' had the 70 car there. Well, here it is the second time around and we're gonna' do just that.

"There are 11 races remaining this season and we know we're out of the hunt for the championship," Wallace concluded. "So our goal is to get out there and pick up some more wins this year - and maybe put a little fly in the ointment as far as the points deal goes along the way."

Friday's 3:10 p.m. single round of qualifying will set the field for Saturday's race. The final "Happy Hour" practice session is scheduled for Friday from 6:00 p.m. until 7:15 p.m. Saturday's Chevy Rock & Roll 400 begins at 7:30 p.m. EDT and the 400-lap, 300-mile battle features live coverage by TNT-TV and MRN Radio beginning 30 minutes earlier.

Notes of interest:

--"It'd be great to be able to crash that points hoopla party that everyone knows the race will be," Rusty said on Monday of this Saturday night's Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond International Raceway. "For a job like this, we know that we need to bring out the heavy artillery and we're doing just that. The 70 car, the car we named 'The Predator' after winning at Martinsville with it back in the spring - well, they cleaned her up right after that race and it's been sitting there on jack stands ever since. We're bringing her out of the mothballs, getting her all shined up, puttin' a rocket motor in the thing and getting' her ready to run again this weekend."

-- Rusty leads all active drivers with six victories at Richmond International Raceway. Rusty leads all active drivers with 21 top-five finishes in 41 races at Richmond International Raceway. Rusty and Ricky Rudd have each scored 28 top-10 finishes at Richmond International Raceway, the most among active drivers.

--Rusty has led 3,023 laps at Richmond International Raceway, more than any other active driver.

--Rusty has a 7.875 average finish in 32 races at Richmond on the current .750-mile layout, the best of all drivers. He has a 9.146 average finish in 41 races overall at Richmond, also the best among all active drivers.

--Rusty leads all active drivers with 3,023 laps led at Richmond.

--The latest round of Mobil 1 Team Penske bios feature Mike "Tiny" Houston, front tire carrier for Brendan Gaughan's #77 Dodge; Doug Ingold, gas man for Rusty Wallace's #2 team; and Steve Berner, gas catch man for Ryan Newman's #12 crew. Read about Tiny's exploits as a professional wrestler, competing in NWA Wrestling as the "Minister of Pain." What about Doug's love of the aviation business? Hard to believe that Rusty has a trained & certified aviation mechanic who gasses the #2 car. And what about "Bern-doggie's" incredible background? Read where he got that nickname and you'll understand why he is so fond of it. Quite unusual in that Ryan enjoys having a certified MSF (Motorcycle Safety Foundation) motorcycle safety instructor as his gas catch man. Check them all out at www.Mobil1.com/racing or you can access a direct link to each at www.trpr.com

--Rusty's Miller Lite Dodge pit crew had an unbelievable day in the pits at California on Sunday. They averaged 13.560 seconds for their eight four-tire pit stops, with their fastest stop (the final stop of the day that got Rusty up to the fifth spot) clocking in at 12.998 seconds. "The guys did one helluva' job there on Sunday," said crew chief Larry Carter. "As hot as it was, we all kept drinking plenty of water so nobody got fatigued or had cramps. Our slowest stop was a 14.43 (14.431 seconds) and that was even after Jay (front tire changer Jay Hackney) slipped on a lugnut coming around the front of the car. We had a 6.35 (6.349-second) two-tire stop during the race and that's pretty darn good, gassing the car and all. We've had four stops down in the 12-second bracket this season and are getting better each week, I think. We've averaged right at 30 percent of all our stops for the season being in the 13-second bracket and 36 percent in the 14-second bracket. We're getting consistently fast and that's what matters in the long run."

--Steve Wallace, Rusty's 17-year-old aspiring racer son, was back in action over the weekend. He started 18th and finished a strong 5th in Saturday night's Holly Performance 150 at Friendship Motor Speedway near Elkin, N.C. He was scheduled to run in Monday's Bobby Isaac Memorial classic at Hickory, but that race fell victim to the weather and was postponed until this Saturday. "I just plain messed up in qualifying at Friendship and we paid the price. I fought all race long to get back up there in the top five. If it'd been a 200-lapper, we might have won it." Steve is back up to 7th in points and is now only 11 points out of the lead in the UARA Rookie-of-the-Year battle. "Man, having to miss that race at Lonesome Pine, like we did a few weeks back, really got us behind," said Steve. "But we still have four more races left to get the job done." Steve's next UARA race is the Food City 150, set for Sept. 25 on the high banks of Bristol Motor Speedway.

-- A little-publicized fact: (According to notes released by NASCAR) A total of $970,103 will be paid to the driver who finishes 11th in the final NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings - an increase of more than $400,000 over one year ago. That includes a $250,000 bonus, which will be paid to the 11th-place finisher. Additionally, the 11th-place driver will also join the top-10 drivers on the stage at the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Awards Banquet in New York in December.

--"Victory belongs to the most persevering." -Napoleon Bonaparte