Checker Auto Parts 500 - Rusty Wallace Notes

RUSTY WALLACE WANTS ANOTHER TROPHY FROM THE DESERT

-Miller Lite Dodge Driver Recalls Phoenix Win In 1998 As Among His Favorite Entering Final P.I.R. Run-

AVONDALE, Ariz. (Nov. 8, 2005) - Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace enters his final race at Phoenix International Raceway in this weekend's Checker Auto Parts 500 looking to add to the success has enjoyed during the last 17 years of racing on the "Desert Mile."

"Phoenix has certainly been a great track for us through the years and we're looking to add to our success there this weekend," said Wallace, whose career record at P.I.R. boasts one win, seven top-five finishes, eight top-10 finishes and three pole positions in 18 races. "The thing about racing all these years at Phoenix is that the figures just don't do us justice. We really should have us about four or five wins there, not just the one.

"We've had situations where we've taken off and built up a half-lap lead on the field and then have electrical problems," said Wallace, who has led 868 laps in 18 races at Phoenix, almost twice as many as lap-leading runner-up Mark Martin (471 laps in 18 races. Kurt Busch is third with 448 laps led in only six races). "We've had costly mistakes in the pits kill our chances for winning before. We've been leading there late in the race and have flat tires ruin our chances. We've finished second several times there and really should have been to Victory Lane more than once.

"I've always loved racing on that track," Wallace added. "It has always seemed like we've been able to call on that track to give us a real boost when we needed it most. I keep telling people that it's probably because of the success I had back in the early years in USAC and all, on tracks like Milwaukee and others. Whatever it is behind our success, it just always has been a great track for us. We definitely are looking to end things off on a positive note there this weekend. Getting us another winner's trophy out there in the desert would definitely be a big deal."

Wallace certainly remembers his one win at Phoenix as being a big deal. "It's a win I'll always remember as a great victory," Wallace recently recalled. "We won on a day when it rained out there in the desert. We had the dominant car and they gave us the checkered flag with it starting to drizzle. The next thing I knew, it was coming a downpour. It was raining so hard that we couldn't even celebrate the win in Victory Lane. They had to find a dry spot back in the corner of the garage for us to take all the pictures. It'd be great to win us another race there on Sunday and get to celebrate in the real Victory Lane."

* * *

Here is a "race replay" of the 1998 win from Wallace's perspective:

Wallace and crew debuted their brand new PRS-022 Miller Lite Ford at Phoenix and the first time it ever touched a race track was during the Friday morning practice.

"This is going to be a great car for the race, I know that," Wallace said after qualifying the new car sixth that Friday. "We just struggled there a little. We should have carried the thing somewhere and shook it down before bringing it out here. That probably would have helped. The guys just wound up throwing all kinds of changes at it just before we qualified and it really helped it a bunch. They worked on the brakes, changed the gear, made wedge adjustments...all kinds of stuff...and it all paid off. I was about three cars before going out when I radioed in and asked what it was going to take to make the top 10. They told me that they thought it would be somewhere around a (27.) 70. I thought to myself that it would take a lap about two and a half tenths faster than we ran in practice and felt like it was unlikely to say the least. I knew that we'd turned in our best lap of the day. That set of tires really felt good. But, when they told me that we'd ran a (27.) 65, well that was a real pleasant surprise. The guys just did a great job today here with this new car and they all deserve a pat on the back. Now we can go and get her dialed in real good for Sunday. This car has plenty of potential here, I just feel it."

With Wallace's racing hero, Bobby Allison, giving the command to start engines, the cars were fired up at 12:12 p.m. and they rolled off at 12:16 p.m. After a couple of parade laps, the green flag was displayed the third time past the starter's stand at 12:20 p.m.

Wallace was able to get to the inside for the fourth spot as the field came down the front stretch into turn one on the second lap.

Contact between David Green and Jeremy Mayfield on Lap 10 saw Mayfield hit the frontstretch outside wall hard and brought out the first caution for the day.

The race returned to green on Lap 17 with pole-winner Kenny Schrader, Kenny Wallace, Bill Elliott, Wallace and Rich Bickle making up the top five drivers. On Lap 30, Schrader had pulled out to a three-second lead, Elliott was up to second and Wallace had gotten around brother Kenny for third.

On Lap 38, Wallace radioed that he had made slight contact with the fourth turn wall, but he didn't think he'd done any damage. He also indicated that his new race car was running a little loose. Then crew chief Robin Pemberton and Wallace discussed adjusting air pressure changes during the next pit stop in order to address the situation.

Brett Bodine's crash in turn one brought out the second caution of the day on Lap 42. Superb pit work during the caution-flag stop allowed Wallace to pick up two spots and start second on the restart which came on Lap 50.

Wallace was able to get around Schrader on Lap 53 to take the lead. At Lap 65, he was leading, with Schrader second, Elloitt third, Mark Martin fourth and Kenny Wallace fifth. "The car feels real good and the motor does, too." Wallace radioed in on Lap 70.

On Lap 80, Wallace had stretched out to a 1.120-second lead. It was 2.050 seconds on lap 90 and 2.516 seconds at Lap 100. Wallace led, with Schrader, Kenny Wallace, Elliott and Martin rounding out the top five after 100 laps. "Find me some more tires just like these, guys," he radioed. "We've got two more sets just like them, the same codes and all," responded Pemberton.

Roger Penske, Pemberton and spotter Scott Robinson all shared in keeping Wallace patient in working his way through the field, putting cars laps down. On Lap 130, Wallace was out to a 5.521-second lead over Schrader with Jeff Burton up to third and challenging.

Wallace pitted under green on lap 136 for four tires and fuel. Burton assumed the lead for a couple of laps before he pitted. Martin, Terry Labonte and Jimmy Spencer also led. The stops continued to cycle around until Wallace resumed his place at the point on Lap 145 with a 5.025-second lead over second-place Jeff Burton.

At the half-way point, Wallace led, with Jeff Burton second, Dale Earnhardt up to third, Schrader fourth and Kenny Wallace in fifth. Sixteen cars remained on the lead lap. Ted Musgrave, John Andretti, Jeff Gordon, Martin and Bobby Hamilton rounded out the top 10.

Kenny Irwin's stalled race car in between turns three and four on Lap 178 brought out the third yellow of the day. During the caution-flag, a 16.503-second four-tires-and-fuel stop kept Wallace in the lead for the Lap 188 restart. Jeff Burton was second and Earnhardt third. Earnhardt got around for second only a lap after the race returned to green.

At Lap 200, Wallace had stretched his lead over Earnhardt to 2.126 seconds, with Musgrave in third, Jeff Burton fourth, Andretti fifth, Gordon sixth, Martin seventh, Kenny Wallace eighth, Terry Labonte ninth and Johnny Benson 10th. With 100 laps remaining, Musgrave got around Earnhardt for second and was running 4.112 seconds behind Wallace.

If the race stayed under green, it was expected that Wallace would have to make his final stop with around 40 laps remaining. Nobody could go the distance without pitting.

With 70 laps to go, Wallace had stretched his lead to 5.454 seconds and requested that Pemberton give him his lap times and those of second-place Musgrave. Penske chimed in with the intervals each lap and that really worked to keep Wallace focused.

The fourth caution of the day came out with 63 laps remaining due to Jerry Nadeau's meeting with the Turn Two wall. That allowed the teams to make what was supposedly their final stops under yellow conditions. Once again, super work by Wallace's over-the-wall-gang allowed him to keep the lead. During that caution, rain drops along with a lapped car leaking oil extended the yellow period. The rain drops got heavier and NASCAR officials red-flagged the race at 2:45 p.m. The showers intensified and the weather radar showed a continuous band of green indicating a lengthy period of expected rain.

After a period of one hour and nine minutes, NASCAR officials determined that the rain was here to stay and called the race as official.

A deserving Wallace and his Miller Lite/Penske Racing South team were sent to Victory Lane for the first time in 59 races. However, the celebration was moved to the first two stalls in the garage area due to the continuing downpour.

It was an unusually lengthy celebration and rightfully so. In the celebration, Wallace named the new car "Streaker" due to 1) the fact that the success of this car allowed him to continue his streak of consecutive years with a victory which now numbered 13 years, 2) it helped him end a 59 race winless streak, and 3) it started a streak of 1998 race wins and career Phoenix track wins.

"There isn't anybody who could come away from this race saying that we didn't deserve to win the thing," Wallace said after posting the 48th win of his career. "I don't think we've ever had a dominant car like this one here. I know we've never been this strong here at Phoenix. The thing about it is that through all of this period looking for another win, none of us have gotten down. It's always been a 'we' deal as far as our team goes, not 'I' but 'we.' The media really kept on playing up the period without winning. It was a situation where they at first called it a winless streak, but here lately it's been a losing streak and, to tell you the truth, that began to bother me. Anyhow, that's all over now. We can all hold our heads up and go on. I guess they're right when they say that I'm an eternal optimist. Hey, it's gotten me this far and we don't plan on changing that at all."

* * *

Wallace started 15th and finished seventh in last year's Checker Auto Parts 500. "We were terrible at the beginning of the race," offered Wallace. "We were tight into the turns and loose off. It was so bad that I really thought there'd be no way to come back for the solid run that we had. We hung on and stayed up in the lead lap and wound up taking advantage of the cautions to make adjustments. We put a spring rubber into the right rear and that helped a lot. Then we just tweaked on the thing for the remainder of the race and got us a seventh-place finish out of the day."

* * *

This weekend's "impound schedule" at Phoenix sees Friday practice sessions from 1:20 p.m. till 2:40 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. till 5:15 p.m. leading up to Saturday's single round of qualifying at 11:10 a.m. The 43-car starting field will be impounded immediately after time trials and the next time the cars hit the track will be in Sunday's race. Sunday's 312-lap, 312-mile Checker Auto Parts 500 (500 kilometers) has a 1:40 p.m. local starting time and features live coverage by NBC-TV and MRN Radio.

Notes of interest:

--Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace has recorded one win, seven top-five finishes, eight top-10 finishes and three pole positions in 18 career races at Phoenix International Raceway. He says the statistics do not accurately indicate how competitive his teams have been on the "Desert Mile." "Phoenix has certainly been a great track for us through the years and we're looking to add to our success there this weekend. The thing about racing all these years at Phoenix is that the figures just don't do us justice. We really should have us about four or five wins there, not just the one. We've had situations where we've taken off and built up a half-lap lead on the field and then have electrical problems. We've had costly mistakes in the pits kill our chances for winning before. We've been leading there late in the race and have flat tires ruin our chances. We've finished second several times there and really should have been to Victory Lane more than once."

--Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace has always had a strong fondness for Phoenix International Raceway. "I've always loved racing on that track. It has always seemed like we've been able to call on that track to give us a real boost when we needed it most. I keep telling people that it's probably because of the success I had back in the early years in USAC and all, on tracks like Milwaukee and others. Whatever it is behind our success, it just always has been a great track for us. We definitely are looking to end things off on a positive note there this weekend. Getting us another winner's trophy out there in the desert would definitely be a big deal."

--Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace recently recalled his win at Phoenix on Oct. 25, 1998.

"It's a win I'll always remember as a great victory. We won on a day when it rained out there in the desert. We had the dominant car and they gave us the checkered flag with it starting to drizzle. The next thing I knew, it was coming a downpour. It was raining so hard that we couldn't even celebrate the win in Victory Lane. They had to find a dry spot back in the corner of the garage for us to take all the pictures. It'd be great to win us another race there on Sunday and get to celebrate in the real Victory Lane."

--Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace has led 868 laps in 18 races at PIR, almost twice as much as the second-place driver in total laps led (Mark Martin with 471 laps led in 18 races. Kurt Busch is now up to third with 448 laps led in only six races). He has led 15.6 percent of all the laps since the Cup tour first visited PIR in 1988, when the late Alan Kulwicki recorded his first career series victory.

--Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace has currently led 19,941 laps in NASCAR NEXTEL Cup competition (ranked seventh on all-time list) and lacks only 59 laps to reach an unbelievable 20,000 laps led. Wallace has led in seven races during the 2005 season and has led a total of 259 laps. However, he has led only one lap since the Chase for the Championship started at New Hampshire on Sept. 18. Wallace has certainly benefited from his team's consistency this season as they have been running at the finish in an unbelievable streak of 47 consecutive races - since Bristol last fall, the longest current streak.

--Rusty Wallace will be racing his PRS-070 Miller Lite Dodge Charger at Phoenix this weekend. Wallace debuted the car in winning fashion at Martinsville on April 18, 2004. Wallace led the final 45 laps en route to claiming the 55th win of his career. Wallace named the car "The Predator" after winning the race. The car has been raced only five other times since the winning debut. In those races, Wallace has recorded two top-five finishes and four top-10s. Its last outing was in the Sept. 10 Richmond race, where Wallace started 15th and finished a strong fifth.

--Rusty Wallace has scored top-10 finishes in every other race beginning with his victory there in 1998. He finished 36th in April keeping in pace with the streak and must score a top-10 this weekend to continue this unusual streak.

--"When they discover the center of the universe, a lot of people will be disappointed to discover they are not it." -Bernard Bailey