Allstate 400 at the Brickyard - Rusty Wallace Notes

RUSTY WALLACE GETS ONE LAST SHOT AT BRICKYARD WIN

Miller Lite Dodge Driver "Pulling Out All The Stops" In His Final Indianapolis Motor Speedway Battle

INDIANAPOLIS (Aug. 2, 2005) - Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace has come to grips with the fact that his NASCAR NEXTEL Cup driving career will end without a victory trophy from the Daytona 500. That doesn't mean Wallace and crew aren't seriously craving another taste of racing history as the tour heads to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for this weekend's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.

"That's the big crown jewel still out there that I don't have - a Brickyard 400 trophy - and rest assured that we're pulling out all the stops in our last shot to get us one," said Wallace, who enters this weekend's IMS action fourth in the series point standings and now being considered as a bonafide championship contender in his "Last Call" season as a driver. "Since we've been racing at Indy, I've always looked at that race as one of the big three - one of the crown jewels of our sport.

"The other races in that group are the 600 at Charlotte (Lowe's Motor Speedway), which I was fortunate enough to win (in 1990) and the Daytona 500, where we had many tremendous runs and should have won the darn thing several times. I've come to accept the fact that my career as a driver will end without that win, but I still have a great chance of winning the (Allstate) Brickyard 400 this weekend.

"When it comes to the big picture, the points, the championship and all, we have to look at this race the same as we have been," said Wallace, who has been running at the finish in the last 33 consecutive races. "I've been saying all along that if there's any secrets to our success this year, it has been looking at each race as the most important event of the year - focusing 100 percent of our attention on that next race and not getting sidetracked by looking ahead.

"Well, that's the same deal here, too, because it is a race that pays the same amount of points and carries the same weight from a big picture standpoint," said Wallace, who has an incredible 8.9 average finish at Indy as the series enters its 12th edition of the prestigious event. "But after all, this is the Brickyard, so it's easy to understand that we've tried to strengthen our effort in every way possible.

"Probably a perfect example of what I'm talking about is our car selection for this race." offered Wallace. "We tested up there several weeks back and were looking at racing a brand new car there (PRS-098). We ran it during the test, but we saw a couple of things that we needed to change to get it where we thought it needed to be. Then, we had our backup, the (PRS-0) 86 car we were looking at taking back to race there.

"Well, once we got up to Pocono and rolled out the (PRS-0) 43 car and saw how strong she ran there (started 13th and finished second), we all decided that it was the car we really need at Indy to get the job done," continued Wallace. "Pocono is a big and flat track and so is Indy. I'm convinced that this is the car we can finally put into Victory Lane at Indy. We'll have that car and the strongest motor we can build out there this weekend. Like I said, we're definitely pulling no stops this time around."

"All of our cars are really good pieces right now," offered crew chief Larry Carter. "Even that brand new car that we decided against running, we're running it back through the shop and making some changes. It'll be out there and running up front on down the road, I'll guarantee you that. "But Rusty really liked the feel of that car at Pocono. After that race, I think there were about four of us --- Rusty, Derek (Stamets, team engineer), Jeffrey (Thousand, car chief) and me - who were all on the exact same page suggesting that we should take that car on to Indy. Put it this way, if there's ever been a slam dunk in our sport, the decision to take our (PRS-0) 43 car to Indy certainly has to be it."

Unlike in the Daytona 500, where the NASCAR record book shows that his third-place finish in the 2001 edition is the closest Wallace came to claiming the elusive win, he enters Sunday's final return to the Brickyard with a record that boasts three second-place finishes and five top-five finishes (nine top-10s) overall.

"Like I've said many times before, we've come so close to winning the Brickyard before that I could taste it," Wallace concluded. "I don't have to tell you how bad I want to win this one."

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Wallace recalled his three Indy runner-up finishes:

1) The 1995 edition of the Brickyard 400 in which Wallace started 24th, led twice for 22 laps and led as late as with only 30 laps to go en route to a runner-up finish (by a mere 0.37 seconds) to winner Dale Earnhardt Sr.:

"Now that's certainly a race that really sticks out in my mind as one of the biggest fish that ever got away," said Wallace. "We didn't qualify that well, but once the race started the car took off like a rocket. The guys gave me great pit stops all day long. We got to the front and set sail, led a ton of laps and stretched our lead out before having to pit under the green. We had another quick pit stop, but just as we were on our way out of the pits, two cars in front of us collided. That slowed us down enough that Dale got the lead away from us. It came down to a battle between Earnhardt and us. We made a charge and reeled Dale in, closing the gap, but we just ran out of laps. It was a shame because we had them covered. We had the thing won before those two cars got together and blocked pit road in front of us."

2) The 2000 Brickyard 400 when Wallace led with only a handful of laps remaining, only to be overhauled by Bobby Labonte:

"It was another tear-jerker," Wallace recalled. "We had almost a half straightaway lead pretty late into the thing before the 18 car (Bobby Labonte) got by us and went on to win."

Wallace did enjoy a two-second lead over Labonte with some 50 laps remaining, but Labonte's pressure was too much for Wallace to hold off in the final laps. After a Lap 121 pit stop for four tires, fuel and a minor chassis adjustment, the stops cycled around on Lap 123 with Wallace and the No. 18 car running neck to neck. Bill Elliott was third, but more than four seconds behind the lead duo. On Lap 130, with 16 cars still on the lead lap, Wallace led Labonte by only 0.233 seconds, with Elliott in third some 4.5 seconds behind.

Wallace, continuously hounded by Labonte, held off the charging Labonte until Lap 147 when the No. 18 dove underneath Wallace entering turn one to take the lead. Once the pass was made, the race for the win was practically over. Wallace, relegated to second, was mostly concerned with holding the runner-up finishing spot. Labonte led the final 13 circuits and came home with a 4.229-second victory over runner-up Wallace. Elliott finished third.

"That last set of tires just made me too tight," Wallace explained. "Bobby caught me, got around me and I just couldn't do anything with him at that point. We had a great car all day long. Man, it was really flying. I just couldn't do anything with him. He was right on my bumper all day long and I knew if he ever got around me he might get away from me, but I was tight for about the last third of the race - just too tight. He got underneath me. I drove it in too deep going into turn four there to try to hold him off. My power started taking over at the end of the straightaway, but there's no way to go side-by-side into turn one. We could do it everywhere else, but not turn one. I knew I had to get the thing freed up in order to beat him, but it just didn't happen. I wanted to win the thing so bad for Roger, not really for myself but for Penske. It was another one of those woulda-shoulda-couldas."

3) The 2002 edition of the Brickyard 400 where Wallace started 35th, but immediately charged to the front and used pit strategy to play a big factor in the outcome of the race:

In that race, Wallace used a two-tire pit stop on lap 128 to get his best track position of the day. Mark Martin led on the Lap 133 restart, with Tony Stewart second, Wallace third, Kevin Harvick fourth and Elliott fifth. Martin was caught up on the outside and both Stewart and Wallace quickly got around him after the green flew again. Wallace got to the inside of Stewart and took the lead on Lap 137. Elliott pressured Wallace and finally got around on the inside to take the lead with 10 laps remaining.

A Lap 153 caution, the eighth of the day - this one for debris in turn two -bunched all the cars up again. The importance of track position, coupled by the mandate of a single-file restart, saw no takers hit pit road during the yellow. Elliott got a great jump on Wallace, but Wallace got a great restart over third-place Matt Kenseth when the green flag flew again. The top three stayed the same for the final circuits, with Elliott energizing a 1.269-second winner over Wallace and Kenseth finishing third.

"It was yet another one of those really great second-place finishes where with just a little luck we could have put our name on that big trophy," Wallace offered. "We went from 35th up to 10th in nothing flat. We four-tired it and got way in the back - two-tired it and got back up front. It was another 'close, but no cigar experience' for us. I fought a real tight car all day long. We two-tired it and took a bunch of bite out the last stop and the old hot-rod took off then. We took the lead and I really thought we were gonna win it, but I got a little loose up off of two and Elliott got me.

"It was a bitter pill to swallow, but I was so happy for Bill Elliott winning the thing," Wallace said. "He and I go way back and he's definitely paid his dues. I even went to Victory Lane to personally congratulate him on his big win. But at the end of the day, it was yet another one that got away."

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Wallace started 29th and finished 13th in last year's race at the Brickyard. It was only his second finish out of the top 10 in 11 races.

"We had a fast little hot rod there last year, too, but unfortunately nobody got to see just how strong she was," Wallace said. "We were right there hovering in the top 10 (11th) on an early (Lap 72) restart when cars in front of us were slow to get up to speed. I got rammed from the rear and that sent me veering hard into the frontstretch wall. They just started stacking up in front of us and I got a shot from the rear that sent me straight into the wall. We shot straight back across the track and hit the inside wall pretty hard, too. I hated it for all the other guys who got caught up behind us. It knocked the toe-in all out and banged her up pretty bad, but the guys did an outstanding job to get it back in good shape and keep us in the lead lap. We got caught up in that crash and fell to the back of the pack. We never gave up and came home with a pretty decent finish, considering what all we went through out there that day."

Action at IMS kicks off on Friday with NASCAR NEXTEL Cup practice sessions from 1:30 p.m. till 2:30 p.m. and from 3:30 p.m. till 4:30 p.m. Saturday's schedule calls for a single round of qualifying at 10:00 a.m., followed by two practice sessions, with the final "Happy Hour" practice set from 3:45 p.m. till 4:30 p.m. Sunday's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard (400 miles/160 laps) has a scheduled 1:30 p.m. local starting time and features live coverage by NBC-TV and the IMS Radio Network.

Notes of interest: