GFS Marketplace 400 - Rusty Wallace Notes

WALLACE/CARTER "SYSTEM" WORKING IN BID TO MAKE THE CHASE

Miller Lite Dodge Driver & Crew Chief Hope For Continued Success With Strong "Offense" & "Defense"

BROOKLYN, Mich. (Aug. 16, 2005) - Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace and his Larry Carter-led Penske Racing South team moved a step closer to making the 2005 "Chase for the Championship" in Sunday's Sirius Radio at the Glen in Watkins Glen, N.Y. It's apparent that Wallace and Carter have concocted a recipe for success.

"It's like a system that Rusty and I have going right now and it really seems to be working," Carter said with a broad smile after Wallace finished sixth in Sunday's Watkins Glen International race to pull within six points of third-place Greg Biffle in the current NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings. "He's concentrating on moving toward the front and I'm covering us from the rear."

Carter's comment came after he and Wallace were told of the points situation immediately following the final road race of the 2005 season and the last such event of Wallace's driving career.

"We gained on the 16 car (Biffle) here today, but let the 20 car (Tony Stewart) and the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) gain a little more on us," Wallace said. "With only four races to go to decide who's in the Chase, we're not looking behind, just forward. We want to be as high up there as we can next month at Richmond (the final cutoff race before the Chase)."

With 22 races now in the record book for 2005, Wallace is a solid fourth in the standings, trailing points leader Stewart by 258 points.

"Rusty's looking at it as he's 258 points out of first, only 150 (actually 153) out of second and just a handful (six points) out of third," said Carter only moments after Wallace had departed from the garage area on Sunday. "You just have to love and respect Rusty Wallace for being so optimistic and I enjoy working with him so much. His positive attitude is really contagious. Just ask anybody on our team.

"But while he's looking at the situation like that, I'm looking at the standings here and I'm just delighted that we're now 265 points ahead of 11th-place," said Carter. "That means we have a 264-point cushion just in case something happens during the next four races.

"Like I said, we have a system that's working and I'm certainly not going to rock the boat by saying something that might be interpreted wrong," Carter continued. "I support Rusty 100 percent and if he's looking to pass the 16 (Biffle) and maybe the 48 (Johnson) in the next four races, that's just fine with me. I'll be right there trying to coach him on and enjoying every minute of it. I'm not being pessimistic at all - just looking at it from the other side.

"This isn't one of those glass half full or glass half empty things," Carter said with a chuckle. "I guess you could say that he's really on the offensive right now and I'm doing the best I can to give us a good defense. Just like they've always said, the best offense is a good defense - or was it the best defense is a good offense? What the heck, what we have is working and old Larry couldn't be any happier right now.

"But what I'm saying is that you never know what might happen during the next race and with four to go before the chase, I'm glad that we have such a big cushion right now. I know and remember well what happened to us last August at Michigan and we definitely don't want that to happen again this time around. But if it did, having that 264-point cushion would certainly soften the blow."

Carter was referring to the August 2004 GFS Marketplace 400 at Michigan International Speedway, the race that has the distinction of being the most recent race that Wallace was not running at the finish. The team's No. 2 Dodge exited the competition with an engine failure and was credited with a dismal 36th-place finish for the day.

Since that race, Wallace has been running at the finish in 35 consecutive races -- the longest current streak.

"DNF," Carter said of the acronym for did not finish. "Now that's a cuss word around Rusty and our team. We don't want to hear it."

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Sunday's GFS Marketplace 400 will mark Rusty Wallace's 44th and final career race on the 2.0-mile high-banked Michigan International Speedway. Entering this weekend's race, Wallace's career record at MIS boasts five wins, 15 top-five finishes, 21 top-10 finishes and one pole position.

The picturesque track located in the Irish Hills area of Michigan has been the site of several "firsts" during Wallace's 22-year career on stock car racing's most elite tour. He claimed his first career Cup pole in qualifying for the June 1987 race at MIS. His win in the June 1988 event marked his first oval track superspeedway victory. His win in the June 1996 race came after getting superb fuel mileage and rates as his lone "fuel mileage victory" to date.

"Michigan has been a great track for us through the years, that's for sure," said Wallace, on top of his game during his final "Rusty's Last Call" season driving the Miller Lite Dodge. "You have to have a great handling car and a ton of horsepower and durability. It's a track that usually doesn't have many cautions and that's what produces the fuel mileage races that the place in known for. The pit strategy and having great pit stops are always important there."

Wallace and his Larry Carter-led team have opted to race their PRS-035 Miller Lite Dodge at MIS this weekend. The car has been raced four 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) and at Indianapolis (started 41st & finished 25th) on Aug. 7.

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This weekend's "impound race" schedule at MIS calls for final practice on Friday at 4:00 p.m. Saturday's 12:10 p.m. qualifying session will set the 43-car starting field for Sunday's 200-lap, 400-mile battle. Sunday's GFS Marketplace 400 has a 2:10 p.m. EDT starting time and features live coverage by TNT-TV and MRN Radio.