Chevy Rock & Roll 400 - Rusty Wallace Notes

RUSTY WALLACE READY TO "HANG IT OUT" IN LAST RICHMOND RACE

-Miller Lite Dodge Driver's Final Career R.I.R. Start Sees Him Safely Locked In 2005 Chase for the Championship-

RICHMOND, Va. (Sept. 6, 2005) - Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace enters this weekend's Chevy Rock & Roll 400 -- the final Richmond race weekend of his driving career -- in significantly better shape than he was after the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup tour last visited the .750-mile Richmond International Raceway. Wallace says his Larry Carter-led team can now afford to do whatever it takes to win.

"We're coming in there really ready to hang it out," said Wallace, the Richmond track's career statistical leader. "I've been saying for quite some time now that our team and my driving style have been in a conservatively aggressive mode. We've had to maintain our focus and keep our top priority as making the Chase. We officially accomplished that goal Sunday out at California. With the Chase not kicking in until Loudon in two weeks, that means we can come into Richmond not worrying about being conservative at all. It's a great feeling to be in this position and we're really gonna go for it this weekend, I'll guarantee you that."

Wallace departed Richmond back in May ranked 12th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings. After the 11th race of the 2005 season, Wallace had 1,290 points and trailed then leader Jimmie Johnson by 272 points. He was 54 points behind 10th-place Mark Martin.

Wallace returns to R.I.R. for his 44th and final Richmond race all the way up to fourth in the standings. He has 3,257 points and trails leader Tony Stewart by 313 points. He leads 11th-place Ryan Newman by 329 points. Wallace officially became a competitor in the 2005 "Chase for the Championship" simply by taking the green flag for last Sunday's Sony HD 500 at California Speedway. Wallace started 34th and finished 15th in his final race as a driver in the Golden State, coming back from a lap down after being caught on pit road when the third caution flag of the race was displayed.

"We left Richmond a bit disappointed back in May and are looking to get back on top of our game there this weekend," said Wallace, who started eighth and finished 19th in May's Chevy American Revolution 400 at R.I.R. "We had tested there a few weeks before that race and thought we'd be really tough. I think the fact that we did all of our testing there in the day and then came back to race at night certainly didn't do us any favors.

"We were just off on the chassis and nothing we did really worked to bring the car around," Wallace explained. "It was just too tight and really bad-handling all race long. We went to the extremes of putting spring rubbers in and then taking them out and even that didn't work. It was a big learning experience for us. We came out of there with some great notes and we'll be much more competitive this time around."

Wallace's Richmond racing history is most impressive. As the track's career statistical leader, the record book shows that in 43 races, he has six wins and three poles, along with 21 top-five finishes, 29 top-10 finishes and $1,950,455 in career money won. His most recent Richmond win came in the spring race of 1997, while his most recent pole came in the spring race of 2000.

He has led 3,023 laps at Richmond International Raceway, almost four times as many as any other active driver. Jeff Burton is second among active drivers with 874 laps led.

Wallace, Carter and crew will be racing their PRS-070 Miller Lite Dodge Charger at Richmond 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 four other times since the winning debut. In those races, Wallace has recorded one top-five finish and three top-10s.

"It's a tough little hot rod and we can win with it Saturday night at Richmond," Wallace said of his ride. "We raced her at Richmond last September. We came from behind and made up a complete lap and nine spots in those last 100 laps. It was definitely a top-five car in that race, but we had to settle with a 10th-place finish. We raced her again at Martinsville back in April and finished fifth. We got slapped with a speeding penalty in that race and had to come all the way back from the rear of the field. If we'd had another 30 laps, we'd been right there fighting for the win in that one."

Even though Saturday's Chevy Rock & Roll 400 will mark the end to Wallace's Richmond driving career, don't expect to see much of the sentimental side from the veteran driver at Richmond this weekend.

"It's (Richmond) always been one of my favorite tracks - it and Bristol - I've always said that those are my two favorite tracks," offered Wallace. "When Paul Sawyer and his family owned the place and expanded it to the three-quarter-mile layout we have now, that's when I really started loving the Richmond track. It's certainly been special to us through the years. Winning all those night races back in the early 90s with that black and gold car is something I'll always remember. It's where cars like 'Midnight' and 'Midnight Rider' got their names.

"Yeah, it's our last race at Richmond, but don't expect us to get all teary-eyed about it," concluded Wallace. "We're coming in there with both barrels loaded and focused on getting us another Richmond win before hunkering down and getting ready to get after it in this year's Chase."

Richmond's NASCAR NEXTEL Cup activity begins on Friday with practice scheduled from 12:00 noon until 2:00 p.m. The 6:10 p.m. single round of qualifying will determine all 43 starting positions for Saturday's 400-lap, 300-mile battle. Saturday's Rock & Roll 400 has a scheduled 7:4 p.m. EDT starting time and features live coverage by TNT-TV and MRN Radio.

Notes of interest:

--Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace only had to start Sunday's race at California in order to be locked in for the 2005 "Chase for the Championship." Wallace overcame going a lap down early in Sunday's Sony HD 500, after getting caught in the pits by the third caution flag of the race, to finish 15th, his 20th top-15 finish of the 2005 season. He leads all drivers in top-15 finishes this season.

--Rusty Wallace finished 15th in the SONY HD 500 at California Speedway and remained fourth in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings. He is 313 points behind first-place Tony Stewart, trails third-place Jimmie Johnson by 55 points and is 329 points ahead of 11th-place Ryan Newman. Wallace departed Richmond back in May ranked 12th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings. After the 11th race of the 2005 season, Wallace had 1,290 points and trailed then leader Jimmie Johnson by 272 points. He was 54 points behind 10th-place Mark Martin. After 25 races one year ago, Wallace ranked 20th in the standings with 2,641 points. He trailed then-leader Jimmie Johnson by 841 points and was a whopping 417 points behind 10th-place Mark Martin.

--Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace is the active career statistical leader entering his final race at Richmond International Raceway. Wallace has competed in 43 races at Richmond International Raceway scoring six victories and 29 top-10 finishes, the most of all active drivers. He has led in 24 of his 43 races at Richmond International Raceway, leading 3,023 laps, almost four times the laps of runner-up Jeff Burton. He has a 9.39 average finish at R.I.R.

--Rusty Wallace has been running at the finish in 38 consecutive races - since Bristol last fall, the longest current streak.

--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 will be racing his PRS-070 Miller Lite Dodge Charger at Richmond 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 four other times since the winning debut. In those races, Wallace has recorded one top-five finish and three top-10s.

"It's a tough little hot rod and we can win with it Saturday night at Richmond," Wallace said of his ride. "We raced her at Richmond last September. We came from behind and made up a complete lap and nine spots in those last 100 laps. It was definitely a top-five car in that race, but we had to settle with a 10th-place finish. We raced her again at Martinsville back in April and finished fifth. We got slapped with a speeding penalty in that race and had to come all the way back from the rear of the field. If we'd had another 30 laps, we'd been right there fighting for the win in that one."

(About the name of the car) "We'd been trying to get our friends at Bell Helicopter Textron to name one of their new models 'The Predator' for some time," Wallace explained. "It was really my chief pilot, Bill Brooks' idea. He said that the predator was the ultimate hunter and it strikes like nothing else. He thought that would be a cool name that the fans would love. This was a brand new car that won right out of the box. The car never touched a racetrack until we got it to Martinsville and won with it there in the April race there last season. That's quite impressive and that's the story behind the name we gave the car."

--"Man is so made that he can only find relaxation from one kind of labor by taking up another." -Anatole France