Sony HD 500 - Rusty Wallace Notes

RUSTY WALLACE WANTS ONE MORE WIN IN THE GOLDEN STATE

Miller Lite Dodge Driver's Final Race In California Set For Sunday's Sony HD 500 At California Speedway

FONTANA, Calif. (Aug 30, 2005) - Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace has posted five NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victories in California to date and he is hoping to close out his Golden State racing career with a win in Sunday's Sony HD 500 at California Speedway.

"That would be as cool as it could be if we can win again this weekend at Fontana," said Wallace, whose fifth-place finish at Bristol last Saturday solidified his spot as a player in this year's "Chase for the Championship." "It would be like watching John Wayne hop on his horse after winning the big shootout and heading on out toward the setting sun."

Well, not quite, because Sunday's race is set to begin at 5:10 p.m. EDT and will finish under the lights on the 2.0-mile superspeedway located an hour east of Los Angeles. But nonetheless, Wallace's analogy is certainly on target as for the appropriateness of a final California win by the veteran driver who is heading into the latter stages of his final "Rusty's Last Call" season as a driver.

"My racing career in California dates way back to the late 70s when I was out there running the outlaw late model shows," said Wallace, who won more than 200 major late model races between 1976 and 1983. "Then, when we moved on up to run the Cup cars in 1984, we were running twice a year on the old Riverside road course. We won the last race of '87 out there. NASCAR ran one final Cup race there in '88 and we were fortunate enough to win that one, too. So the record book shows that we won the last two races ever held on that track.

"We started running at Sonoma (Infineon Raceway) during our championship season (1989) and had a lot of success there," said Wallace, who won two races and two poles in his 17 career races there and finished fourth in his final career visit to that track back in June. "I think NASCAR knew that we needed to be racing in California and racing at Sears Point (Infineon) helped fill the void left when Riverside was plowed up.

"Then when Roger (Penske) bought the land in Fontana and built the new California Speedway, it was like giving a guy water who'd been in the desert and thirsty for years," said Wallace, who needs only to start Sunday's California race in order to make the Chase. "That area of the country was starved for racing for quite a long time after Ontario and Riverside bit the dust, so it was an automatic hit when the new track was built. Southern California and L.A. are such important market areas that NASCAR has to be there. I think it's really cool that our sport has grown to have three races in California and that we race in both the L.A. and San Francisco markets."

Wallace competed in nine races on the old Riverside International Raceway road course, posting the two wins, three top-five finishes and four top-10s. In his 17 career races on the Sonoma road course, Wallace posted two wins, nine top-five finishes, 11 top-10 finishes and two pole positions. Entering this weekend's race at Fontana, Wallace has recorded one win, two top-five finishes and six top-10s in 10 races. His total Golden State record to date boasts five wins, 14 top-five finishes and 21 top-10s in 36 races.

Wallace is confident that he can close out the California chapter of his racing career this Sunday on a positive note.

"It's (California Speedway) a track that we've loved racing at ever since we've been going out there," said Wallace, who started 26th and finished 10th in the September Fontana race last year. "We won there in 2001 and really could have easily had a couple more wins. We almost won at California during our second trip out there. I'll never forget that race back in '98. We started up in the top-five (started fourth) led some laps (2 times for 15 laps), led as late as with 50 to go (through Lap 199) and was running second with 10 laps to go. Mark (Martin) was leading the thing and we were closing in on him when the engine let go only a few laps from the end. We always seem to run well there and I'm really looking forward to this weekend.

"The big thing I've see out there the last couple of races is the fact that the track just doesn't seem to have the grip that it once did and it's probably changed a lot even since we raced out there back in the spring," said Wallace, who started 23rd and finished 10th in February's Auto Club 500 at Fontana. "Our record shows that we've never really been known for our great qualifying there (best start was fourth in 1998 and he has a 13.1 average start), but come Sunday, we're always right up there battling for the win in almost every race. (Wallace has a 10th-place average finish in the nine California Speedway races when he was running at the finish.)

"We have a brand new race car, the (PRS-0-) 98 car, for California this weekend," said Wallace, who has six career top-10 finishes at California Speedway, the most of any driver. "We tested the car at Indy, but decided not to race it there. We ran her back through the body shop, slicked her up and took her through the wind tunnel. We were pretty much looking at a rush job in the version of the car that we had at Indy. Now we've taken it back and massaged on it to the point that we think she'll be the weapon we need out at Fontana this weekend. It'd be great to go into the record book as the first winner in a Dodge in my final race there. I really have a good feeling about our chances this weekend, I really do."

This weekend's schedule calls for practice sessions on Friday from 6:20 p.m. until 7:40 p.m. and on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. until 9:50 a.m. All the cars will be impounded immediately after Saturday's 2:20 p.m. qualifying session has concluded. Sunday's Sony HD 500 has a 5:10 p.m. local (8:10 p.m. EST) starting time and features live coverage by NBC-TV and MRN Radio.

Notes of interest:

--Rusty Wallace's fifth-place finish Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway all but locked him in as a competitor in the 2005 "Chase for the Championship." He only has to start the race at California Speedway this Sunday to make if official. The Bristol finish was the Miller Lite Dodge driver's 200th career top-five finish. It broke a tie with Benny Parsons for all-time top-five finishes, placing Wallace 11th on the all-time list. Buddy Baker is 10th on the list with 202 top-fives. In 694 career races to date, Wallace has now finished in the top-five in 28.8 percent of his races. It was his 345th top-10 finish (has finished in the top-10 in 49.7 percent of the races) and his career winnings eclipsed the $47 million mark ($47,216,160).

--Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace has currently led 19,940 laps in NASCAR NEXTEL Cup competition and lacks only 60 laps to reach an unbelievable 20,000 laps led. Wallace has led in three California Speedway races for a total of 164 laps entering his final race there this weekend.

--Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace maintained his fourth-place position in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings with his fifth-place finish at Bristol on Saturday. He is now locked into the 2005 "Chase for the Championship." After 24 races, he is 2271 points behind leader Tony Stewart, 58 behind second-place Jimmie Johnson, 47 points behind third-place Greg Biffle and 351 points ahead of 11th-place Matt Kenseth. Wallace was 14th in the point standings after race No. 10 at Darlington. He has scored 19 top-15 finishes this season, the most among all drivers. Wallace ranked 21st in the point standings after 24 races one year ago. He had 2,507 points and was 873 points out of the lead and a shopping 411 points out of the top 10.

--Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace has been running at the finish in 37 consecutive races - since Bristol last fall, the longest current streak.

--Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace's total Golden State career Cup racing record to date boasts five wins, 14 top-five finishes and 21 top-10s in 36 races. He competed in nine races on the old Riverside International Raceway road course, posting the two wins, three top-five finishes and four top-10s. In his 17 career races on the Sonoma road course, Wallace posted two wins, nine top-five finishes, 11 top-10 finishes and two pole positions. Entering this weekend's race at Fontana, Wallace has recorded one win, two top-five finishes and six top-10s in 10 races at California Speedway.

--New car for California."We have a brand new race car, the (PRS-0-) 98 car, for California this weekend," said Wallace, who has six career top-10 finishes at California Speedway, the most of any driver. "We tested the car at Indy, but decided not to race it there. We ran her back through the body shop, slicked her up and took her through the wind tunnel. We were pretty much looking at a rush job in the version of the car that we had at Indy. Now we've taken it back and massaged on it to the point that we think she'll be the weapon we need out at Fontana this weekend.

--"The next best thing to being clever is being able to quote someone who is." -Mary P. Poole