UAW-Ford 500 - Rusty Wallace Notes

TALLADEGA OFFERS RUSTY WALLACE FINAL SHOT AT "PLATE" WIN

-Miller Lite Dodge Team Points To May Talladega Race As Key In Making 2005 Chase-

TALLADEGA, Ala. (Sept. 27) - Sunday's UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway will offer Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace his final shot at a NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victory at the mammoth 2.66-mile Alabama track and the last opportunity of his career to win a restrictor-plate race.

Wallace will be making his 45th career start at Talladega this weekend and a fifth-place finish back in 1988 rates as his best showing to date there. In 71 career restrictor-plate races entering this weekend, a second-place finish at Daytona in July 2002 rates as his best finish.

"When I look back on all those races, it's really hard to believe that we haven't won at Talladega or Daytona," said Wallace, whose third-place finish at Dover, Del., on Sunday has him up to second in points, trailing leader Jimmie Johnson by only seven points. "There certainly are several that I can remember where we should have won, but just weren't able to pull it off for one reason or another. We have one last chance remaining and that's this weekend at Talladega. We're definitely coming in there with all our guns loaded and ready to go.

"You never know what can happen in the Talladega races and we're coming in there with the attitude that we can win," said Wallace, whose overall Talladega record sports one top-five finish along with 12 top-10 finishes. "If you can stay in the draft and keep the car in one piece all day, you can come out of there on top."

As for his overall outlook on this weekend's UAW-Ford 500, Wallace says to expect the same white-knuckled, nail-biting 188-lap survival contest that Talladega races are noted for.

"We always go into the Talladega races expecting to keep our noses clean and come out of there with a good finish and that's certainly the case again this weekend," offered Wallace, at his highest points position since ranking first after the second race during the 2001 season. "But we're smart enough to know that with this brand of racing, anything can happen. We've had our share of ups and downs at Talladega.

"We went through a period where it seemed like we either crashed or blew up in almost every race at Talladega," said Wallace, whose Talladega track record shows an almost inconceivable 14 DNFs (did not finishes - in a third of his races to date). "But during the last five to seven years, our luck has really done a big turnaround. We've been running strong, led a bunch of laps and really had genuine chances of winning many of the races. That's what we're looking to continue there this weekend."

As for his take on other drivers giving a break to Wallace and the other nine drivers involved in NASCAR's 2005 "Chase for the Championship," he doesn't sugarcoat his view.

"With 'em running three-wide and 12 deep for most of the race, I don't see how that will be possible unless maybe they run us in separate races," he offered with a chuckle. "But that'd make for a pretty darned boring race I think - to see just us 10 drivers out there getting after it on the biggest track we run on.

"Seriously, I think the situation will police itself as long as everybody uses their heads," Wallace continued. "We just hope to stay up there in the lead draft and trust that nobody makes any stupid moves. Then we can see how we can manage at the end.

"But, as for us 'chase guys,' this could be the most pivotal deal of the remaining eight races."

According to crew chief Larry Carter, the spring battle at Talladega was one of the most important races that led to Wallace and crew making this year's Chase for the Championship.

"We were right there in the middle of the big one in the May race at Talladega," said Carter of the Lap 133 multi-car crash triggered when the cars of Mike Wallace and Scott Riggs got sideways out of the tri-oval and stacked cars up almost one on top of the other. "But we were able to get the car back there in the garage and hustle to get Rusty back out there on the track. If you'd told me that we'd be able to finish 22nd right after the crash happened, I would have told you that you needed serious mental help.

"The fact that we beat all those other guys back out onto the track and that they had another big crash at the end - well, that definitely saw it be damage control to the max for us that day," said Carter. "We had a car capable of giving the 24 car (winner Jeff Gordon) a run for his money and we were at least a solid top five before we had the problem on the front end of the car and had to start from the rear. (Wallace was running sixth after the pitting during the third yellow flag period of the race on Lap 103, when he had to make a second pit stop to repair a softball-sized hole on the right-front part of the grill.)

"We were coming right back up through there and got caught up in the crash, but Rusty and our guys just refused to give up," added Carter. "Rusty was driving one of his best races ever on the big tracks and really deserved a top-five finish, at least. But, like we've been able to do just about every week out there this season - we took the cards that were dealt and made the best out of it.

"Instead of loading a wrecked car up on the hauler and coming out of there with a DNF (did not finish) and a 42nd-place finish, we were able to get back out there first and pick up all those spots," concluded Carter. "That continued our streak of races without a DNF (was 24 races after the May Talladega race and now up to an unbelievable 41 races). It was a tremendous morale booster, that's for sure. We jumped back up in the top 10 in points a few races later and never looked back from then on."

Wallace was 13th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings after the May Talladega race. After finishing fifth four races later at Dover, Del., Wallace was all the way up to seventh. He ended the "regular season" third in the standings after the Sept. 10 race at Richmond, Va., and is now second entering this weekend's Talladega race, with eight races remaining to determine the 2005 series champion.

Friday's qualifying session at 3:10 p.m. (local CDT) will determine all 43 starting spots for Sunday's 188-lap, 500-mile battle. Saturday's final "happy hour" practice session is set to begin at 11:10 a.m. Sunday's UAW-Ford 500 has a 1:30 p.m. CDT starting time and features live coverage by NBC-TV and MRN Radio.

DIXON AND WALLACE, A CHAMPIONSHIP DUO IN 2005?

JOLIET, Ill. (Sept. 26, 2005) - For Larry Dixon, an off weekend is a welcome relief from the fast-paced lifestyle he lives during an NHRA race season, and not just because he isn't driving his Miller Lite dragster to 330-mph speeds. When the 38-year-old father of two has a weekend at home, he like millions of other Americans, is attending soccer games, running errands, tending to his "honey-do" list and watching sports on TV. Like this past weekend when he watched Miller Lite racing teammate Rusty Wallace speed to a third place finish at the Nextel Cup event in Dover, Del.

"With us having the weekend off, I was charting his course," Dixon said. "He does well on the short tracks and that being one of the last short tracks on the schedule; I was certainly keeping an eye on how he was doing."

Entering the fifth annual Ameriquest Mortgage Co. Nationals, Sept. 29-Oct. 2, at Route 66 Raceway, arguably the nation's quickest drag strip, Dixon sits second in the Top Fuel standings with just four events remaining on the 2005 NHRA schedule. Wallace heads into this weekend's NASCAR event at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway just seven points from the top spot in NASCAR's premier series. The thought of Dixon's Miller Lite/Ameriquest dragster and Wallace's Miller Lite Dodge claiming series titles in the same season certainly excites the 38-time NHRA winner.

"The first year I was driving (1995) he (Rusty Wallace) might have finished second and we finished third," Dixon said. "We've both been up there in the standings at the same time, but this deep into the season obviously we both can still win it, and this being his last year as a driver, it would be nice to see him go out on top. And, I'm ok with us winning the NHRA title too."

"It's really great to see the two Miller Lite cars doing so well," Dixon's team owner Don "the Snake" Prudhomme added. "We're carrying Rusty's Last Call logo on our dragster and the better he does, the more it pumps us up to go out and try and win the championship on the NHRA side."

While Wallace's Miller Lite Dodge Charger has yet to reach the winner's circle this season, consistency has put the veteran Cup driver in position to earn his second career championship. Dixon, who eyes a third title in four seasons, has driven his Miller Lite rail to three victories in seven final round appearances on the way to his second place ranking. After racing to the final round at three of the last four races with a victory at the prestigious U.S. Nationals on Labor Day, Dixon knows the importance of going rounds if he is to see the goal of another championship become a reality.

"I'm just trying to pay attention to the things that we have control over, and that's our race car and our race team," Dixon said. "We have to make good runs in both qualifying and on race day and have a little bit of luck on top of it all. We'll just see how it goes.

"Milwaukee is probably thinking about it more than me. That's both of our team's goals going into each season, to win a championship. If we're both able to run well and the competition cooperates, we should be able to do it. However, if it was that easy, everybody would win a championship every year. It's not an easy thing to accomplish."

Dixon has scored one of his 38 career victories at the Joliet drag strip, whereas the popular stock car racer has yet to break through on the high banks of the storied Alabama track. A win on October 2 might not be a requirement if the Miller Lite boys are to take a step closer towards achieving their title dreams, but at this point in the season, it certainly couldn't hurt.

Notes of interest:

--What a difference a year makes! Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace third-place finish at Dover on Sunday has him all the way up to second in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings. He trails leader Jimmie Johnson by only seven points. He has eight top-five finishes, 16 top-10 finishes and 23 top-15 finishes (leads all drivers in top-15s). He has an average start of 15.5 and an average finish of 10.9. He has had no DNFs this season. After 28 races had been completed last year, Wallace was 17th in points and a whopping 453 points behind 11th-place Jamie McMurray. He had three top-five finishes and eight top-10s. He had a 14.6 average start and a 19.3 average finish with three DNFs.

--Rusty Wallace is one of only four drivers in the top 10 in the point standings who has scored top-10 finishes in the first two races of the 2005 edition of the Chase for the Championship. He is in the highest points position since leading the standings after the second race of the 2001 season.

--Last Call logo on "Snake's" car!!! Two guys who have been closely following Rusty Wallace, especially during the last few races, are his Miller Lite Racing teammates over on the drag racing side - NHRA champ Larry Dixon and drag racing legend, car owner Don "the Snake" Prudhomme. "With us having the weekend off, I was charting his course," Dixon said. "He does well on the short tracks and that being one of the last short tracks on the schedule; I was certainly keeping an eye on how he was doing." "We're carrying Rusty's Last Call logo on our dragster and the better he does, the more it pumps us up to go out and try and win the championship on the NHRA side," said Prudhomme.

--Rusty Wallace has been running at the finish in an unbelievable streak of 41 consecutive races - since Bristol last fall, the longest current streak.

--Rusty Wallace has competed in 44 races on the mammoth 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway. He is still looking for his first NASCAR Cup win there. He has one top-five finish and 12 top-10 finishes. Wallace will be making his 45th career start at Talladega this weekend and a fifth-place finish back in 1988 rates as his best showing to date there. In 71 career restrictor-plate races entering this weekend, a second-place finish at Daytona in July 2002 rates as his best finish. He has posted wins at Talladega in the old NASCAR Superspeedway Modified (Grand National) Division and in IROC competition. "You never know what can happen in the Talladega races and we're coming in there with the attitude that we can win," said Wallace. "If you can stay in the draft and keep the car in one piece all day, you can come out of there on top."

--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 and his Larry Carter-led Miller Lite Team will be racing their PRS-066 Miller Lite Dodge Charger at Talladega this weekend. This was the primary car for the Daytona 500, but was involved in an accident during the 150-mile qualifier. The team went with the backup PRS-066 for the Daytona 500. The "66 car" was last used in the May race at Talladega. It has since been completely rebuilt and has had substantial wind tunnel time.

--"Don't you wish there was a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence? There's one marked 'brightness,' but it never seems to work." -Gallagher