UAW-GM Quality 500 - Rusty Wallace Notes

"LAST CALL" AT LOWE'S FOR RUSTY WALLACE - A DODGE NAMED HUMPY?

-Miller Lite Dodge Driver Would Love To Make It Three Career Victories At Lowe's Motor Speedway-

CONCORD, N.C. (Oct. 11, 2005) - Saturday night's UAW-GM Quality 500 will mark Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace's 48th and final career race on the 1.5-mile Lowe's Motor Speedway. He knows it will be a memorable occasion for him and he hopes he can make it a "Last Call" impression on the 160,000 fans on hand and the millions tuning in on national TV and radio networks.

"I've been racing at Charlotte (Lowe's) it seems like forever," said Wallace, whose first NASCAR premier series race at L.M.S. came on Oct. 5, 1980. "We've had so many tremendous races through the years there. I'm extremely proud of my wins at Charlotte in both the 600 and the 500."

Much has changed from that first race when the wiry 24-year-old Midwestern short-track star drove his Norton/CAM 2/Gould-sponsored Penske Chevrolet from a 25th place start to a 14th-place finish in only his second career big-league NASCAR race.

In the span of 25 years and 698 additional races since that time, Wallace has gone on to achieve legendary status. Now winding down his spectacular career during his "Rusty's Last Call" season behind the wheel of his Miller Lite Dodge, Wallace has amassed an enviable record that boasts 55 wins, 202 top-five finishes, 349 top-10 finishes and 36 pole positions. Along the way, he picked up the 1989 points title.

"What's so cool is that we're coming back into Charlotte primed and ready to add even more success to all that we've already enjoyed through the years," said Wallace, whose Lowe's career record sports the two victories, eight top-five finishes and 22 top-10 finishes. "It's kind of strange that when you look back at my career on that track, the race probably remembered the most wasn't even a points-paying event. It was the all-star race of 1989, when we won in that controversial finish with D.W. (Darrell Waltrip).

"But, it's really neat to be heading back to Charlotte in the thick of things in the Chase (for the points championship)," said Wallace, currently fourth in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup standings, trailing leader Tony Stewart by 90 points. "We've been running strong all year long and we're confident we can maybe even turn up the wick a little more this weekend.

"With D.J. (Dale Jarrett) winning two races ago at Talladega and Mark (Martin) taking the win at Kansas on Sunday, maybe there's some kind of trend going on for us older guys - uh, I mean us seasoned veterans - to be winning the races," Wallace said with a chuckle. "Heck, if that's the case, maybe it's my turn to win this weekend.

"I don't think it would come as a super big surprise if we were able to pull it off this weekend at Charlotte. I know that most people are looking on down the road at Martinsville and saying that one there is where ol' Rusty can do it. I don't think we should be counted out of winning this one. It'd definitely be a feather in our cap if we could pull it off, that's for sure.

"This car doesn't have a name yet," Wallace pointed out. "We could win the thing and name it 'Chaser.' Or even better, we could take the checkered flag and name our Dodge 'Humpy.' He (H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler, president and general manager of Lowe's Motor Speedway) has been a special friend of mine through all the years. That would be a great way to end my driving days at that track - to win my last race there and pay tribute to Humpy that way."

While Wallace's win in the 500-mile battle was back in 1988 and his victory in the grueling 600-miler came in 1990 (with the All-Star win coming in his 1989 championship season), Wallace is convinced that his Lowe's career could very well possess several more wins.

"We should have won the thing there in '97 when Jeff Gordon came home the winner," said Wallace. "There was a period there for several years that he really cost me a ton of money and that was definitely one of those races. It seemed like no matter what, we'd use one strategy and he'd use another to always come out the winner back then. We'd led the thing until late in the race in '97 only to see a caution come out at the end. He took on only two tires and we got four and he beat us as we finished second.

"Then we came back in the 600 a year later and the same deal was unfolding," Wallace recalled. "We led late in the race only to see the caution come out. That time we got two and he got four. He was able to get us with that advantage that time around and we had to again settle for second. So he two-tired and beat us once and came back and four-tired and beat us in the next 600. Like I said back then, that kid really cost me some major bucks and some race wins along the way, that's for sure. Jeff and I have had quite a few discussions about those days and we'd both enjoy having another big race like that. Of course, it'd be nice to come out on top during my last time around."

Wallace started 14th and finished 31st in last year's UAW-GM Quality 500, after getting caught up in an early crash.

Wallace was marching toward the front from the drop of the green flag. He was up into the top 10 at Lap 29. He got around Kevin Harvick for the seventh spot on Lap 43 and passed Jimmie Johnson for the fifth spot on Lap 62. He blew by Dale Earnhardt Jr. for third on Lap 72. But he was caught up in a crash involving Jeff Gordon three laps later that sent him to the garage for repairs. Gordon spun his Chevrolet exiting Turn 4. He was sliding back up the track and Wallace's spotter (Earl Barban) advised him to go low. At that moment, Gordon's car caught grip and immediately veered back down the track directly in Wallace's path. The impact destroyed the front end of his Dodge and relegated him to the garage for repairs. After spending some 58 laps in the garage for repairs, Wallace returned to action to finish 31st and complete 274 laps.

"That was a darned shame right there," Wallace said as he recalled the 2004 event. "That was one of the best - if not the very best - car that I've ever had here and to have the night end like that is a big disappointment to say the least. We really had a fast hot rod out there tonight and were picking them off one by one and headed to the front. The bad thing is that we'll never know just how strong the car was."

Wallace started 20th and finished 10th in May's Coca-Cola 600, coming back from a lap down after getting caught on pit road when the caution flag came out.

"Track position was everything in that race and when you were out front, you could really fly around the place," Wallace recalled. "With the changes they've made to the surface since then, it'll be interesting to see what unfolds this time around."

This weekend's schedule calls for two practice sessions on Thursday (1:00 p.m. till 1:50 p.m. and 3:10 p.m. till 4:20 p.m.) Qualifying to set Saturday night's 43-car starting field is set for Thursday evening at 7:10 p.m. Friday's schedule calls for practice from 4:30 p.m. until 5:15 p.m. and the final "happy hour" session from 6:10 p.m. until 6:55 p.m. Saturday's UAW-GM Quality 500 starts at 7:05 p.m. EDT and features live coverage by NBC-TV and PRN Radio.

Notes of interest:

--Be sure to check out tonight's (Tuesday's) Paula Zahn show at 8:00 p.m. EDT on CNN. Scheduled to air is a "tease clip" of Sunday's hour-long program on NASCAR featuring network resident physician Dr. Sonjay Gupta. Tonight's two-minute segment focuses on Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace. "The CNN crew came up to Loudon (New Hampshire International Speedway) to shoot some of their stuff for the feature," Wallace said. "I had seen Sonjay many times on CNN, but it was the first time we'd met face to face. We hit it off great from the very beginning. I was hoping that he would be able to stick around for that race, but he had to rush back to Boston to hop on a flight and begin his trip over to Africa with Bill Clinton. I can't wait to see the entire special on Sunday night." Air time for Sunday's special is 10:00 p.m. EDT on CNN.

--Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace will be inducted into the Lowe's Motor Speedway "Walk of Fame" on Friday at 11:30 a.m. The W.O.F. is located on the Avenue of Flags that lead up to Smith Tower behind the frontstretch grandstand at L.M.S.

--Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace may already be feeling the heat - but it's not from his being right in the thick of the battle in the Chase for the Championship for 2005. Instead, it could be coming from a special "Rusty Wallace Roast" scheduled for this Friday night at the Penske Racing South headquarters in Mooresville, N.C. Celebrity roasters include Darrell Waltrip, Roger Penske, Dick Trickle, Don "the Snake" Prudhomme, Don Miller, Raymond Beadle and Larry Dixon. Dr. Jerry Punch will serve as master of ceremonies.

--What a difference a year makes! Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace enters Lowe's fourth in the point standings, trailing leader Tony Stewart by 90 points. He has eight top-five finishes, 17 top-10 finishes and 24 top-15 finishes (leads all drivers in top-15s). He has an average start of 16.7 and an average finish of 11.2. He has had no DNFs this season. After 30 races had been completed last year, Wallace was 17th in points and a whopping 517 points behind 11th-place Jamie McMurray. He had three top-five finishes and eight top-10s. He had a 15.9 average start and a 19.4 average finish with three DNFs.

--Rusty Wallace has been running at the finish in an unbelievable streak of 43 consecutive races - since Bristol last fall, the longest current streak. Sunday's seventh-place finish at Kansas was Wallace's 17th top-10 finish of the 2005 season and the 349th of his career.

--Rusty Wallace has competed in 47 NEXTEL Cup races held at Lowe's Motor Speedway. He has scored two wins (October 1988 & May 1990) and has recorded eight top-five finishes and 22 top-10 finishes. He also won the 1989 "All-Star" race on that 1.5-mile track.

--Rusty Wallace has scored top-15 finishes in eight of the last nine races at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Wallace has led 940 laps at Lowe's Motor Speedway and ranks 10th overall in laps led at Lowe's, He finished 31st in this race one year ago and 10th there in May. Wallace has a 16.170 average finish at Lowe's Motor Speedway and ranks fifth among the Chase drivers in average finish there. Wallace has posted 12 DNFs in 47 races at Lowe's Motor Speedway (one in every four races). However, his last Lowe's DNF came in May 1995, 21 races ago.

--Rusty Wallace made his 700th career start at Kansas, 10th all time. Wallace is expected to make his 701st start at Lowe's Motor Speedway and tie Buddy Baker for ninth all-time.

--Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace has currently led 19,941 laps in NASCAR NEXTEL Cup competition and lacks only 59 laps to reach an unbelievable 20,000 laps led.

--Rusty Wallace and his Larry Carter-led Miller Lite Team will be racing their PRS-035 Dodge Charger this weekend at Lowe's Motor Speedway. "This is the car that we ran at Charlotte (Lowe's) in May, in both Michigan races and wound up using it at Indy, too, when we had to go to the backup," said Carter. "It's been back through the shop and W.W. (David Munari, veteran team paint & body shop manager) says it's one of best looking cars he's ever seen. That says a lot, coming from him." The car has been raced five times this season -- at Texas in April (started sixth & finished 10th), at Lowe's in May (started 20th & finished 10th), at MIS in June (started 12th & finished 10th) at Indianapolis (started 41st & finished 25th) on Aug. 7 and at MIS later that month (started 38th & finished 13th).

--"Stoop and you'll be stepped on; stand tall and you'll be shot at." -Carlos A. Urbizo