MBNA RacePoints 400 - Rusty Wallace Notes

DOVER WILL ALWAYS BE SPECIAL TO RUSTY WALLACE

-Former NASCAR Champ Would Love To Go Out A Winner On "The Monster Mile"-

DOVER, Del. (Sept. 20) -- When the biography of Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace is finally completed, it should certainly contain an entire chapter on the special relationship he enjoyed with Dover International Speedway during his illustrious career.

"We've certainly had a memorable career racing on that one-mile, high-banked Dover track," Wallace said, as he prepares for his final race ever on the facility known as the Monster Mile. "There's nothing I'd like better than to put another notch in the win column there before I hang up the helmet for good.

"There's just so many different aspects to look at when it comes to why Dover has been so special to me," said Wallace, in the thick of the battle in the 2005 Chase for the Championship and on the final leg of his "Rusty's Last Call" season behind the wheel of his Miller Lite Dodge. "If just the competition and the success we've had isn't enough, Dover's also been so special because of the great fan following we've always had in that area. Then add to that all the special friendships we've enjoyed with the track personnel and it helps explain just how special Dover has been to me."

The 49-year-old St. Louis native has competed in 43 Dover races entering this weekend's MBNA Racepoints 400 and his record is certainly impressive. In his Dover career that dates back to his first race on May 20, 1984, he has accumulated three wins, 10 top-five finishes, 21 top-10 finishes and five pole positions. He has posted some $2 million in career winnings on the Monster Mile.

"The statistics are important if you're a numbers-type guy, but some of the races we've had at Dover through the years are really classics," offered Wallace, the 1989 NASCAR premier series champion and a 55-race winner on the elite tour. "The battles that we had with the late Dale Earnhardt at Dover during the early to mid-90s can't be truly appreciated by just looking at a bunch of numbers. The fall win there in 1994 over Dale is one I'll always remember. Now that was racing excitement at its best, if you ask me. It was the utmost drama and it all happened out there on the race track. The spectacle that it was happened right out there on the track in front of all the fans and the live TV audience."

Wallace recalled the Sept. 18, 1994 race just as if it happened last week. The battle for the win came down to a three-way affair between Wallace, Mark Martin and the late Dale Earnhardt.

"It was one of those five-hour, 500-lap races like we used to have at Dover before they wised up and cut it back to 400 laps like it is today," said Wallace, who has posted top-15 finishes in his last six races on the "Monster Mile." "Back then, we'd always have a middle of the race that was a yawner most of the time for the fans and not too much better for the drivers and teams. The crew chiefs would keep on reading lap times to keep the drivers at it for so long. It was just too long back then and we'd really just be logging laps out there and saving the good racing for the final hundred laps.

"The fans had been waiting all race long for some good, close competition and they really got their money's worth at the end of that one, I'll tell you that.

"We had a bunch of yellows early in the race, but we ran the last 150 laps or so going into the last few laps under green," Wallace continued. "I remember Mark (Martin) was leading the thing as the laps wound down, but me and Earnhardt were chasing him down in a hurry. We were all three just racing our tails off out there. I'd really closed up on Mark and was only a few car lengths back. Dale was riding right on my (rear) end and pressuring me like you wouldn't believe.

"It was down to just a handful of laps (six laps remaining) and we all came barreling into (Turns) 3 and 4 and right there in the middle of Turn 4, Mark blew a right front tire and plowed into the outside wall. He hit so hard that it sent pieces of metal all over the place. We got on by and just barely nipped Dale at the yellow flag for the lead.

"We ran under the yellow for another lap and I'll be darned if my engine didn't start spitting and sputtering because we were running out of gas," Wallace continued. "Buddy Parrott was the crew chief back then and he was yelling on the radio to wiggle the car back and forth - to zig and zag as he said - to get the fuel pickup to suck up what fuel was left. On one of those zigs or zags I hit the apron and ran over some of the metal. Wouldn't you know it? We cut down a right rear.

"So there we are leading the race, riding around the track running out of gas and with a flat tire and riding on the rim - sparks flying and all. Buddy's down there on pit road yelling at the official that the track's still a mess and to keep the yellow out - and R.C. (Richard Childress) and all of Earnhardt's team were screaming that everything was fine and we should get back to green.

"We were lucky that day in that the laps ran out and we didn't go back to green. We took the white flag and I was doing all I could to keep the thing moving and stay up close to the pace car. We were down on the apron all the way through (Turns) 1 and 2 and (Turns) 3 and 4 and the thing was totally out when we crossed the line for the checkers.

"So there we were being pushed by the crew into Victory Lane, with the gas tank bone dry and a flat right rear tire with all the rubber shredded completely off the wheel," Wallace said with a smile. "The fans were going wild and the media were right there in the middle clamoring all about it.

"What really put the icing on the cake was when I talked later to Dale about it," said Wallace. "He just flashed that big famous grin of his and said, 'Rubberhead, that was about the damnedest thing I ever saw. You didn't deserve to be that lucky."

Wallace's affection for the Monster Mile goes much further than just what has occurred on the racetrack over the last 20 years. He developed a long and deep friendship with the late Melvin Joseph, a board member and Vice President and Director of Auto Racing at Dover International Speedway, who died suddenly back in April. "I was very fortunate to really get to know Melvin well during the last 10 years and we enjoyed a special friendship, that's for sure.

"How Melvin and I became big buddies really came down to the time that the track was considering what to do with their resurfacing project," said Wallace. "We won the fall race back in '93 and both races in '94. We were down at the Rusty Rudder (popular restaurant) in Dewey Beach before that fall race in '94 doing a special appearance for Miller Brewing. It turned out that Melvin was great friends with Jay Prettyman, the owner of the place back then.

"We had gotten through with our autograph session on the water side of the place and had come back in to have some dinner before we headed back to Dover for the night," Wallace recalled. "Little did I know it at the time, but they sat our group at a table right beside Melvin and the folks he was entertaining there that night. I had seen Melvin for years at the track, but really didn't know him all that well. I could remember him being there by the stage for all the pre-race stuff, the driver introductions and all. I remembered that he was the guy who always gave the command to start our engines at every Dover race that I could remember. I also knew that he was a really good friend of Bobby Allison. Everybody knows what I think of B.A. - I've always called him my hero - so I knew if Melvin was a big friend of his, he certainly needed to be a good friend of mine.

"Anyhow, it must have been Jay or one of the guys there who officially introduced us and the next thing I knew, Melvin and I were sitting together by ourselves over at another table talking about what they should do with their resurfacing deal at the Dover track," continued Wallace. "As it turned out, things were pretty much up in the air at that time. My old buddy Earnhardt had really been doing some heavy politicking in trying to get them to use asphalt again. He was pushing hard for that. Melvin was aware of what they'd done at Bristol with the concrete and he knew how much I liked that new surface. He knew that however much Dale had lobbied for the asphalt, 'ol Rusty was gonna' give him an earful of the benefits of using the concrete.

"Right there that night, Melvin and I became really great friends. He used me as a sounding board for their resurfacing of the Dover track. Then, when the Dover group bought the land outside of Nashville and started making plans for their new track there, he kept me up to date with that entire project.

"Melvin was a really cool guy and, like I said, I was so fortunate to get to know him like I did," Wallace concluded. "His friendship certainly added to the enjoyment I've had in racing at Dover."

With all of the years of experience Wallace has in competing on the Monster Mile, he is quick to point out his strategy in trying to add a fourth Dover win to his impressive career in his final visit this weekend.

"Really, the strategy hasn't changed at all through the years and it will be the same this weekend," Wallace said. "The goal has always been to be there -- still on the lead lap -- during the final 100 laps. If you can survive the thing for the first 300 laps, then you'll have a shot of having a great race day at Dover on Sunday. If we could close out our Dover career with our fourth win there, what better way would there be to end that particular chapter?"

This weekend's Dover schedule calls for two hours of practice on Friday beginning at 11:00 a.m., leading up to the 3:10 p.m. single round of qualifying that allocates all 43 starting spots for Sunday's race. Saturday's final "Happy Hour" practice session is scheduled to start at 11:10 a.m. Sunday's MBNA RacePoints 400 is scheduled for a 1:15 p.m. EDT start and features live coverage by TNT-TV and MRN Radio.

Notes of interest:

--What a difference a year makes! Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace sixth-place finish at New Hampshire brought his 2005 statistics up to seven top-five finishes, 15 top-10 finishes and 22 top-15 finishes. He leads all drivers this season in top-15 finishes. He is tied for third in points. He has a 98.9 percent lap completion average. After 27 races, he has an 11.2 average finish and a 15.9 average start. At this point last season, Wallace was 17th in points, 383 points out of 11th. He had three top-five finishes and eight top-10s. With a 95.9 lap completion average, his average start was 14.8 and average finish was 19.5.

--Rusty Wallace has been running at the finish in 40 consecutive races - since Bristol last fall, the longest current streak.

--Rusty Wallace has competed in 43 races on Dover's "Monster Mile" entering this weekend. He has posted three career wins, 11 top-five finishes, 21 top-10 finishes and five pole positions. "We've certainly had a memorable career racing on that one-mile, high-banked Dover track," Wallace said, as he prepares for his final race ever on the facility known as the Monster Mile. "There's nothing I'd like better than to put another notch in the win column there before I hang up the helmet for good."

--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.

--Rusty Wallace and his Larry Carter-led Miller Lite Team will be racing their PRS-054 Dodge this weekend at Dover. It has been raced only once this season, at Dover in June, where Wallace started 11th and finished fifth.

--"Time sneaks up on you like a windshield on a bug." -Jon Lithgow