Sharpie 500 - Rusty Wallace Notes

WALLACE PREPARED FOR FINAL VISIT TO BRISTOL AS DRIVER

-Miller Lite Dodge Driver Hoping To Add To His Remarkable Record On His Favorite Track-

BRISTOL, Tenn. (Aug. 23, 2005) - Bristol Motor Speedway was the site of Rusty Wallace's first NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victory and his 50th. It's the track where he has recorded nine of the 55 wins of his illustrious career and in Saturday night's Sharpie 500, Wallace will be making his 44th and final start behind the wheel of the Miller Lite Dodge on his favorite track.

"It's Bristol," said Wallace, when asked about this weekend's race, the 24th of 36 races along the grueling NASCAR tour. "I love the place. I always have and I always will. What else is there to say?"

Not much else needs to be said as Wallace has let his Bristol performance record speak for itself. During his 22-season big league stock car career dating back to April 1, 1984 on the lightning-fast .533-mile high-banked oval, he has amassed an incredible record that sports the nine wins along with 21 top-five finishes. The active career statistical leader at BMS has led at least one lap in 28 races and a total of 3,734 laps (18.7 percent of all laps he was running in) in 43 prior races entering this weekend.

"We're looking at it like we have some unfinished business to take care of this weekend," said Wallace, who finished 13th at Michigan on Sunday to maintain his fourth-place spot in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings. "We certainly want to go out on top of our game at Bristol with a strong run and I think we're primed to come in there and do just that.

"The fact is that we had a car that should have won the spring race at Bristol and looked like we were certainly headed that way until we had a right front tire to go down," Wallace said of his PRS-090 Miller Lite Dodge that his Larry Carter-led team debuted in that race. "We had the best car out there, without a doubt. We were able to get out there and take the lead and just throttle back. But when the right front (tire) went down, the day started to unravel for us. We led the most laps, even with the problem we had. I still thought we had a car capable of coming back, making up the laps and winning the race. But, when we got the car bent up in that big crash and got slapped with the two-lap penalty, it was just too much for us to overcome.

"But, the bottom line is that we really liked what we saw in that new little hot rod and knew that we'd bring the same car back for this race looking to finish off what we'd started at Bristol in the spring," said Wallace. "The guys at the shop slicked up the body on her, shined her up, put her up on the jack stands and covered her up.

"A few weeks back, they ran her back through the paint shop and put this kick-butt flame design color scheme on her, waxed her down really good and she's raring and ready to get after it once again this weekend," Wallace said of the special design his Miller Lite Dodge Charger will sport this weekend at BMS. "If looks have anything to do with it, she might even be a stronger car this time around than she was at Bristol back in the spring."

Wallace started third in the April Food City 500 at BMS after turning in a lap of 127.048 mph (15.103 seconds). He wasted little time moving toward the front. On Lap 36, he had passed pole-winner Elliott Sadler for the lead. Even after restarting the race 11th on Lap 75 after the fourth caution period of the race, his car proved strong enough to get him back into the lead only 25 laps later.

Wallace had led a total of 157 laps and was running second behind Matt Kenseth on Lap 294 when his right front tire went flat and he was forced to hit pit road for service. Five laps later, Jeff Green slapped the wall to bring out the seventh yellow flag of the race and Wallace found himself running two laps down to the leader.

Wallace appeared to be on his way to making up the lost ground until a multi-car crash brought out the ninth caution of the race on Lap 332. Because so many cars were involved and there was so much debris on the track, NASCAR officials displayed the red flag. Wallace had managed to get his No. 2 Dodge, damaged cosmetically in the crash, down pit road before the red flag fell and he was parked in his pit stall for the 15-minute red-flag period.

NASCAR officials ruled that he had illegally passed the pace car in his move to get to pit road and had erroneously made up a lap in the process. They levied a two-lap penalty when the race went back to yellow and mandated that Wallace start at the tail end of the longest line of cars on the Lap 343 restart.

Wallace was 18th on that restart and managed to make up five spots during the remaining laps, finishing 13th for the day.

"That was definitely a heart breaker right there," Wallace said of his finish in the caution-laden and crash-filled 500-lap April race. "Man, to this day, I still don't understand exactly what the heck went on with that penalty deal. If we'd only been a lap down there with that many laps remaining, we could have gotten us a solid top-10 finish. I really though we could have come back and win the thing, I really did. Then we had some kind of mix-up on pit road. The 25 (Brian Vickers) was sideways out there, and I was avoiding him. I thought I had it won, I really did. We had a fast car that day and we're headed back to Bristol with the same car and on a mission."

After the spring Bristol race (fifth race of 2005), Wallace was ninth in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings and trailed leader Jimmie Johnson by 224 points. After 23 races, he returns to Bristol this weekend up to fourth in the standings and trailing leader Tony Stewart by 289 points. He is 163 points behind second-place Johnson and trails third-place Greg Biffle by 37 points. Most important in his effort to make the 2005 "Chase for the Championship" is the fact that he is now holds a whopping 328-point advantage over 11th-place Dale Jarrett with only three races remaining to make the cut.

"After the last few races, that 20 team (Stewart) is really on a roll and looks to almost be in a league of their own," said Wallace of Tony Stewart, the current points leader who finished fifth at Michigan on Sunday to gain a 126-point advantage over second-place Johnson. "Bristol is a place where things happen really fast and it can have a big impact on the points deal. We're hoping to have a big night there on Saturday night, both in the race and in the points."

This weekend's "impound race" schedule at BMS sees practice on Friday prior to the 6:10 p.m. single round of qualifying that establishes Saturday night's 43-car starting field. Saturday's Sharpie 500 has a 7:40 p.m. EDT starting time and features live coverage by TNT-TV and PRN Radio

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What is the basis for Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace's success at Bristol Motor Speedway?

"It's always been the deal with me that whenever we go to a track that we've done well at, there's just a big boost in the confidence level," said Wallace "There's no other place like Bristol for me. I've always said it felt like my home track and there are so many reasons for that. As for confidence on the Bristol track, when you've had all the success we've enjoyed through the years - nine wins and seven poles - hell, it's easy to get all jacked up every single time we go there. It's where I won my first race. I've always said that running all the Saturday night bullrings across the country made is easier to run at Bristol. It's my favorite track and I have never denied that. As a matter of fact, I've always gone out of my way to make it known how much I love the place. I've always had a ton of fans in that area and with all the dealerships down the road, it's as much of a home track feel that I can get anywhere."

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Bristol Motor Speedway holds many highlights for Rusty Wallace through the years. Here is a quick look back:

1) Apr. 6, 1986 -- Wallace started 14th and led three times for a total of 174 laps en route to his first career NASCAR Winston Cup victory. It came in his 72nd series start and only his fifth at Bristol.

2) Aug. 26, 1988 -- Wallace involved in one of the most horrendous crashes of his career. In practice, he blew a right front tire and launched off the fourth-turn wall, flipping wildly down the frontstretch. Miraculously, he started the race the next evening, turning the driving duties over to Larry Pearson at his first opportunity. The performance was good enough for a ninth-place finish and kept Wallace in the thick of the season's points battle.

3) Apr. 9, 1989 -- Wallace started eighth and dominated to win his third of six races during the season. Wallace would go on to win three more races in his run to the season's points championship.

4) Apr. 14, 1991 -- Wallace took his Penske Racing South Pontiac entry from the pole to Victory Lane in only the sixth start for the new team.

5) Apr. 4, 1993 -- Wallace won the pole the day after driving friend Alan Kulwicki perished in plane crash while attempting to land at an area airport. Pitting in the spot reserved for the absent defending series champion, Wallace recorded his fourth Bristol win. He paid tribute to the fallen champion by performing Kulwicki's patented "Polish Victory Lap" after taking the checkered flag.

6) Aug. 26, 1995 -- An early race "punt" by Dale Earnhardt put Wallace into the wall and out of action for 46 laps before he returned to the race. Wallace retaliated after the race with some harsh words for Earnhardt and by throwing and connecting with a plastic water bottle.

7) Aug. 24, 1996 -- Wearing a "neon yellow" driving suit for the first, last and only time in his career, Wallace started fifth and dominated to post his sixth career Bristol win. With his Miller-sponsored "teammates" from Don Prudhomme's NHRA team joining in the Victory Lane celebration, Wallace named his winning ride "Snake" in honor of his legendary drag racing friend.

8) Apr. 13, 1997 -- The first famous 'love tap' episode with Jeff Gordon. Wallace had won the pole and led the most laps (4 times for 240 laps) leading up to the incident that has been forever used in the sport's video highlights. Wallace had taken the lead for the final time on lap 415 and led the race until the last turn of the last lap when contact from the rear applied by Gordon got Wallace out of shape enough to allow Gordon to pass for the win.

9) Apr. 11, 1999 -- Wallace started from the pole and gave his own lecture on the term "dominance." Leading 425 of the 500 laps, Wallace named the car 'Banker' in Victory Lane because of the Bristol high banks and the team taking the big money to the bank. "It doesn't get any cooler than this," Wallace said in the press box after the win.

10) Apr. 26, 2000 -- Wallace started sixth and led three times for 86 laps, including the final 76 circuits en route to the win, his second spring Bristol race victory in as many years and most importantly -- his 50th career win that had been so elusive.

11) Aug. 26, 2000 -- Wallace started from the pole in race record fashion and led five times for a total of 279 laps en route to his 53rd career win overall and his ninth at Bristol. It marked the first time he won both Bristol races in the same season.

12) Aug. 24, 2002 - A "bump and run" by Gordon with only a couple of laps remaining saw Gordon pass Wallace and go on to win and end his winless streak, while Wallace's own winless streak continued. Wallace debuted the new PRS-54 in the race. It was Wallace's sixth career runner-up finish at Bristol.

13) March 28, 2004 - Wallace started his new PRS-73 Dodge fourth. He was in the lead at Lap 26. He led four times for 100 laps en route to his seventh career runner-up finish on the .533-mile high-banked Bristol track. He finished a scant .428 seconds behind winner Kurt Busch.

Notes of interest:

--After debuting their brand new PRS-090 Miller Lite Dodge in April at Bristol and dominating before a flat right-front tire relegated them to a 13th-place finish, Rusty Wallace and his Larry Carter-led team are bringing the same car back to Bristol for this weekend's Sharpie 500, Wallace's 44th and final career race on his favorite track. "We're looking at it like we have some unfinished business to take care of this weekend," said Wallace, who finished 13th at Michigan on Sunday to maintain his fourth-place spot in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings. "We certainly want to go out on top of our game at Bristol with a strong run and I think we're primed to come in there and do just that. The fact is that we had a car that should have won the spring race at Bristol and looked like we were certainly headed that way until we had a right front tire to go down."

--Rusty Wallace's Miller Lite Dodge carrying special "Flames" color scheme this weekend at Bristol. "A few weeks back, they ran her back through the paint shop and put this kick-butt flame design color scheme on her, waxed her down really good and she's raring and ready to get after it once again this weekend," Wallace said of the special design for this weekend at BMS. "If looks have anything to do with it, she might even be a stronger car this time around than she was at Bristol back in the spring."

--Saturday night's Sharpie 500 offers the perfect scenario for Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace to reach two remarkable career milestones. He has currently led 19,931 laps in NASCAR NEXTEL Cup competition and lacks only 69 laps to reach an unbelievable 20,000 laps led. Wallace led four times for 157 laps in the April race at Bristol Motor Speedway. He has led 3,734 laps at B.M.S., ranking third all-time in laps led at the Tennessee short track. He is just 14 laps behind Dale Earnhardt (3,748) for second and 572 behind top-ranked Cale Yarborough (4,306) in all-time laps led at Bristol. He has led an average of 87 laps per race at Bristol. Wallace has a 9.7 average finish at Bristol Motor Speedway in 43 prior starts.

--Rusty Wallace currently has posted 199 career top-five finishes. A top-five in Saturday's Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway will see him post No. 200. In 693 starts entering this weekend's Bristol battle, he has the 199 top-fives (28.7 percent of the races) and 344 top-10 finishes (49.6 percent of the races).

--Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace maintained his fourth-place position in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings with his 13th-place finish at Michigan on Sunday. After 23 races, he is 289 points behind leader Tony Stewart, 163 behind second-place Jimmie Johnson and 328 points ahead of 11th-place Dale Jarrett. Wallace was 14th in the point standings after race No. 10 at Darlington. He has scored 18 top-15 finishes this season, tied with Johnson for the most among all drivers. Wallace ranked 19th in the point standings after 23 races one year ago. He had 2,417 points and was 837 points out of the lead and a shopping 375 points out of the top 10.

--Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace has scored nine victories in his 43 races at Bristol, the most of any full time driver. Wallace is tied with Dale Earnhardt and Cale Yarborough for second in wins at Bristol behind Darrell Waltrip (12). His overall Bristol career record also sports 21 top-five finishes, 28 top-10 finishes and seven pole positions. His most recent win and pole came in the August 2000 race there.

--Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace has been running at the finish in 36 consecutive races - since Bristol last fall, the longest current streak.

--"One half of life is luck; the other half is discipline - and that's the important half, for without discipline you wouldn't know what to do with your luck." -Carl Zuckmayer