RustyWallace2005

Rusty Wallace celebrated his final season by making the Chase.

Credit: Autostock

YIR: Rusty Wallace
Veteran driver retires with one of his most successful seasons
By Ryan Smithson, NASCAR.COM
December 15, 2005
11:25 AM EST (16:25 GMT)

They say 50 is the new 30. Even though Rusty Wallace had the energy of a 30-year-old in 2005, he knew it was time to hang it up.

Wallace can smile on the fact that he joined Bill Elliott in finishing his final season in the top 10 in points. It was an unexpected comeback by Wallace, who wasn't expected to have much of a golden parachute after finishing 14th in 2003 and 16th in 2004.

Inside the Numbers
Rusty Wallace in 2005
Race Start Finish
Daytona 500 36 10

Auto Club 500 23 10
UAW-DaimChr 400 21 12

Golden Corral 500 32 27
Food City 500 3 13

Advance 500 4 5
Sam/RadSh 500 6 10

Subway Fresh 500 9 36
Aaron's 499 20 22

Dodge Charger 500 12 12
Chevy 400 8 19

Coca-Cola 600 20 10
MBNA 400 11 5

Pocono 500 12 11
Batman 400 12 10

Dodge/S. Mart 350 14 4
Pepsi 400 9 4

USG 400 33 12
New England 300 6 8

Penn. 500 13 2
Allstate 400 41 25

Sirius at the Glen 4 6
GFS 400 38 13

Sharpie 500 20 5
Sony HD 500 34 15

Chevy 400 15 5
Sylvania 300 7 6

MBNA 400 6 3
UAW-Ford 500 41 25

Banquet 400 33 7
UAW-GM Quality 500 27 24

Subway 500 3 19
Bass Pro/MBNA 500 32 37

Dickies 500 26 22
Checker 500 26 29

Ford 400 37 13
Average 19.2 13.7

But in 2005, Wallace drove like every lap counted. In a way, it did, and he managed to complete almost every lap of the season -- he was running at the finish in all 36 races.

He was one of the few Dodge drivers who experienced any sort of consistency with the new Charger. And while Wallace didn't qualify well, he usually stayed in the hunt on Sundays, especially on the flat tracks, where the Charger excelled.

It was a remarkable turnaround from a troubled 2004 campaign in which Wallace criticized his team, his teammate -- or both. Too often, mistakes were made, and tempers flared.

Wallace's final season, however, wasn't filled with many mistakes. He spent 15 weeks in the top five in points, and only a late-season run of bad luck prevented him from finishing with his best season in years.

Like a lot of drivers, Wallace's season effectively ended on Oct. 15, when he crashed at Charlotte and finished 24th. That crash knocked him out of title contention and started a stretch of six races without a top-10, his longest such streak of the year.

Wallace was spun late in the race the following week at Martinsville, and he crashed early the next week at Atlanta.

"It was like five races in a row -- bam, bam, bam, bam, bam -- ripped me right out of this point thing," Wallace said. "It's been a really tough deal, but all year long it's been wonderful.

"How can you go all year long with no problems at all and then the world comes crashing in with five to go? It happened. That's the way it is, I guess."

Wallace's season can best be defined by an outstanding streak he enjoyed from late May to late July. In those nine weeks, Wallace never finished worse than 12th, and he moved from 11th to fourth in the points.

That summer stretch put Wallace into the Chase by a wide margin.

"We were locked in the top 10 two races before the thing was over," Wallace said. "The highlight has been all the consistent great runs and locking up my spot in the Chase for the Championship with two races to go.

"That was my goal, get myself back in the top 10, where we've always been, and we did that."

Wallace went winless in 2005, and he led only 259 laps to fall just 28 short of leading 20,000 in his career. He finished second behind a dominant Kurt Busch at Pocono, and he was third at Dover eight weeks later.

Dover was Wallace's last hurrah and final top-10, and he was only seven points out of the lead when the circuit hit Talladega with eight races to go.

"Three races into the thing and we're still second in the points," Wallace said. "Then everything broke down."

Wallace says the painful final month doesn't take any luster of his final season.

"I'm on top," he said. "In my mind, I'm on top, and I hope the fans think that. I think I went out with style and grace, and I think I went out on top, too."

Contact: Tom Roberts/TRPR
(256) 508-2595

           M.I.S. HOLDS MUCH HISTORY FOR MILLER LITE DRIVER RUSTY WALLACE

-Win In June 1994 Miller Genuine Draft 400 Tops His List Of Fond Michigan Memories-
BROOKLYN, Mich. (June 14, 2005) – Through his illustrious NASCAR NEXTEL Cup career that
spans some 22 years, Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace has enjoyed a special relationship with
the 2.0-mile high-banked Michigan International Speedway.

The finely manicured track located in Michigan’s Irish Hills has been the site of several “firsts”
during Wallace’s 684-race career on stock car racing’s most elite tour. He claimed his first career Cup
pole in qualifying for the June 1987 race at M.I.S. 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.

With a Michigan track record that boasts five wins, 15 top-five finishes and 20 top-10 finishes in
42 races, Wallace could certainly be looked upon as an authority in knowing how to get the job done
there.

“Michigan has been a great track for us through the years, that’s for sure,” said Wallace,
currently eighth in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings after finishing 11th at Pocono last
Sunday. “You have to have a great handling car and a ton of horsepower. It’s a track that usually
doesn’t have many cautions and that’s what produces the fuel mileage races that the place is known
for. The pit strategy and having great pit stops are always important there.

“Power, durability, handling and mileage -- that about sums it up,” said Wallace, in the middle of
his final “Last Call” season behind the wheel of his Miller Lite Dodge. “Those are the vital ingredients
to winning races at Michigan and we’ve used ‘em all at one time or another through the years to come
home the winner there.

“Through the years, we’ve definitely had some really strong hot rods under us at Michigan and
the guys in the engine room have given me some flat out stump-pulling engines, that’s for sure,”
Wallace recalled. “I remember the win we had with the car we called Mad Max there a few seasons
back (in the August 2000 race). “We were out there at one stretch running laps almost three tenths (of
a second) faster than the closest other car and most of that was because we could pull everybody else
a good 10 car lengths down the straightaways. You pick up that much per lap on a guy and it’s pretty
easy to see how you can build up a straightaway lead like we did in that race.”
Among Wallace’s five Michigan wins is the only victory he can recall during his impressive
career that was due to his car getting superb fuel mileage.

“That first race of ’96 will always stick out in my mind as being a special win because we won it
on fuel mileage,” Wallace said. “What’s really so unique is that through the years we’ve lost a ton of
races because some other team would get a little bit better mileage. Well, this was the one time that
we actually came home the winners that day due to getting the best fuel mileage.”

"We weren't 10 laps into the race when I had already commented about the engine being down
on power," recalled Wallace, who started 18th that day. "I remember that we were down on power, but
we were able to take advantage of the situation. Robin (Pemberton) was calling the shots from the
pits back then and we planned our strategy long before the halfway mark and it all worked out in our
favor. We had it nailed right to the lap in making the pit stops work out and we came home the winner
with the gas tank almost bone dry. They asked Robin after the race how much fuel we had left and he
told them that he wouldn't be afraid to drink all that was left in there."

With its sweeping 18-degree banked turns and extremely wide 2,200-foot straightaways, the 2.0-mile M.I.S. layout offers a contrast of views among those who labor along the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup tour. “M.I.S. can be a driver’s dream, but an engine man’s nightmare,” said Wallace, the active statistical leader at the track entering this weekend’s   Batman Begins 400. “We drivers are out there grinning from ear to ear and blasting down those long straightaways. I’ll bet you don’t see too many of the engine guys smiling and cutting up back in the pits. Most of ‘em are nervous as heck. The place is really tough on engines. We’ve lost four or five there in the races through the years, including the one we blew there last August.”

While Wallace has enjoyed several monumental moments at M.I.S., he is quick to point to his victory in the June 1994 Miller Genuine Draft 400 as his favorite. “That was a special win, that’s for sure,” said Wallace of his third of five career wins on the track. “That win was probably tops of them all at Michigan and it rates right up there among my all- ime favorite wins anywhere.

“It was the first NASCAR win that Roger (Penske, team owner) had there on the track he’d owned since back in the 70s,” Wallace explained. “We wound up naming the car ‘Captain’ after we won the race in honor of Roger.

“Not only was it a great win from the historical angle, but the way we won it will always stand out in my mind as being pretty spectacular,” Wallace continued. “It started off with us running over a brake rotor during an early caution (on Lap 75 during the fourth caution period).

“We had to pit for four more tires and got behind right there. But our car was so strong that we were able to fight our way back to the front. “We wound up leading a ton of the race (led three times for 83 laps), but we almost lost the thing by trying to stretch the fuel mileage too far. There were only about 25 laps to go and we had almost a half straightaway lead over (Dale) Earnhardt. Just when we were scheduled to pit, somebody (Bobby Hillin) spun in Turn 4 and I had to go all the way back around the track. By the time I got to Turn 2, the engine wasn’t getting any fuel at all and I had to hit the apron for it to pick up what was left. We actually coasted down pit road with no power at all.

“I couldn’t get it refired when they were through with the pit stop and Buddy Parrott (crew chief at the time) had to spray the ether to it. The team was pushing and Buddy was propped up on it like a hood ornamentspraying that ether. He hit a final shot in there and that car launched like a top fuel dragster. Buddy’s ride and spill of the car down pit road looked pretty spectacular on TV and it made the highlight reels for that season and several to come.

“But the action was really just getting started as far as the finish of that race went,” continued Wallace. “When the race restarted, we were way back in 11th and there were only 12 laps to go. I really took some chances and knocked off about four of ‘em on that first lap back to green. We got all the way up to second with about three laps to go, but I had Mark Martin breathing down my neck pretty hard, too. We finally chased Dale down tofight for the lead on the final lap. I knew if I could get a fender under his rearquarter panel that I could get up beside him in Turn 3 and he’d have to get off the throttle a little in the middle of the turn. That move worked absolutely perfect and I was able to use the great horsepower we had to get on around him and motor on down for the checkered flag.

“That was as dramatic of a win that I’ve ever had,” said Wallace. “It was a real nail-biter all the way down to the finish and was a victory that I’ll always remember.

This weekend’s “impound race” schedule calls for final practice on Friday at 4:00 p.m. Saturday’s 12:05 p.m. qualifying session will set the 43-car starting field for Sunday’s 200-lap, 400-mile battle. Sunday’s Batman Begins 400 has a 2:10 p.m. EDT starting time and features live coverage by FOX-TV and MRN Radio.

June 7, 2005

                          WALLACE SAYS “ALWAYS EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED AT POCONO”

-Miller Lite Dodge Driver Recalls The 1994 Pocono 500 As “His Most Dominating Weekend Of Racing At Pocono”-

LONG POND, Pa. (June 7, 2005) – Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace will be participating in his 43rd career NASCAR big-league race at Pocono Raceway this weekend and after 21 seasons of tackling the tricky triangular track, he still doesn’t know quite what to expect.

“You pretty much come into the Pocono races always expecting the unexpected to happen,” Wallace said with a chuckle as he thought about his four career wins and three career poles on the 2.5-mile layout. “It’s a really demanding place, with the long frontstretch and that tunnel turn separating two other straightaways.

“You always know that the competition will be fierce and there’s always the chance of it coming down to fuel mileage at the end,” Wallace contends, “but there always seems to be the weird things happening there, too.

“I’ve been racing there long enough to see stuff happen that I’ve never seen happen anywhere else before,” said Wallace, whose fifth-place finish Sunday at Dover, Del., launched him back up to seventh in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings. “Where else have we raced when the caution flies for deer on the track? I’ll never forget when Neal Bonnett hit one while driving for Junior Johnson. They had to throw the red flag during the practice session that day and Neal drove his car back into the garage with the antlers hanging out of the grill.

“It wasn’t too many years ago there where we had an extended caution period while NASCAR officials chased and cornered a rabbit on the frontstretch. That was pretty weird, too.

“The track is just so big and so unusual – up there in the mountains and with all the wildlife in the area,” Wallace continued. “Back during my rookie season (1984), we were racing there when a thunderstorm struck. NASCAR wasn’t too quick to throw the red flag and by the time we’d gotten down the Long Pond stretch, it was like a monsoon had hit over there.

It was so bad that Bobby Allison hydroplaned into the tunnel turn wall and totaled his car out before we could get back around to the frontstretch and stop our cars.

“And the weather there – it can be different as night and day. It can be so foggy that you can’t see 20 feet in front of you. At the same time, you can drive down the road a few miles and it’ll be crystal clear. I always keep a jacket and an umbrella handy when we go to Pocono. That’s really strange when you consider that their races are in June and July and it’s normally dryer and hotter than heck everywhere else that time of year. I remember a couple of years ago when we had water seepage on the track and couldn’t get practice or qualifying in.

“There have been plenty of wild crashes there through the years and I’ve even had a few,” Wallace continued. “The crash we had several years ago (in June 1999 race) when I blew a right-front tire going into the first turn. I hit that wall a ton and said at the time that it was the hardest hit I’d had in my life. I’ll say this -- it was a hit like you wouldn’t believe and knocked me goofy and into another time zone for a few minutes.

“I’ll always remember that crash Davey Allison had over in the tunnel turn. His car got up on the old guard rail on the inside and flipped wildly. The videotape showed Davey’s arms all flinging outside the driver’s window and it was amazing he wasn’t hurt any worse than he was.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not slamming the track or nothing like that,” said Wallace. “It’s just the location and configuration of the track is so different from anywhere else we race and that’s just fine with me. It’s always a nice change of pace to come and race at Pocono and the Mattioli Family does a tremendous job to make us all feel at home there. But you could certainly write a book about all the weird stuff that’s happened there through the years.”

* * *

Aside from all the weirdness that has occurred at Pocono Raceway, which June race stands out in his mind as most memorable?

“Man, that weekend we had there in June of ’94 would be hard to beat,” offered Wallace, as if it just occurred recently. “Things don’t get much better than that, when you win the pole with a new track record and then go dominate and winthe race like we did. But you’d never know that whole story if you just looked at the record book.

“That was during a three-week period where we stayed out on the road,” recalled Wallace, a four-time Pocono race winner. “We’d won the race in Dover and gone to test at Michigan, before coming back to race at Pocono. We didn’t go home until after that race. We had so much success that Todd Parrott (team chassis specialist at the time) called it our ‘magical mystery tour.’ We were really in a zone during that stretch.

“I remember that we really blew ‘em away in qualifying with that new track record,” said Wallace of his lap of 164.558 mph (54.692 seconds). “The race was late getting started because of the weather that day, too. When they threw the green flag, we just took off.

“We just totally dominated the thing (leading eight times for 141 of the 200 laps), but we almost lost it at the end. We were out front by a mile (had a 20-second lead over Dale Earnhardt) when the caution came out (on Lap 194 for debris after Mark Martin cut a right rear tire). Buddy Parrott was the crew chief back then and he called me down pit road for four tires. Earnhardt came in and he got only right sides and had the lead for the restart. There were several cars on the tail end of the lead lap and

NASCAR was having a problem lining them up in their proper order.

“There I was, thinking that we were gonna’ end the thing under yellow and Dale was gonna’ steal a win like that from us. Buddy was down there screaming in the official’s face and we finally got to go back to green with one lap remaining. With my four fresh tires, I was able to get underneath Dale going into Turn 1 and then hold him off the rest of the way around and won the thing by about two car lengths. I had no idea what all the confusion was about during the caution. I just knew that Dale was the leader and I had to get back around him. If it hadn’t gone back to green that day, ‘ol Rusty would be sitting here today looking at 54 wins and not 55.”

* * *

This weekend’s “impound schedule” calls for Friday practice beginning at 1:20 p.m. Saturday’s 12:10 p.m. qualifying session will determine the 43-car starting field, with the cars impounded at the conclusion of time trials. Sunday’s Pocono 500 has a 1:40 p.m. EDT start and features live coverage by FOX-TV and MRN Radio.

# # #

-Rusty Wallace Career Track Records-
POCONO RACEWAY
(2.5 miles)
Date Event Car St Fn Laps $ Won Status
6/13/04 Pocono 500 Dodge 30 32 167/200 $96,673 Accident
8/1/04 Pennsylvania 500 Dodge 12 17 200/200 99,423 Running
6/8/03 Pocono 500 Dodge 27 16 200/200 84,957 Running
7/27/03 Pennsylvania 500 Dodge 7 11 200/200 88,107 Running
6/9/02 Pocono 500 Ford 5 9 200/200 89,315 Running
7/28/02 Pennsylvania 500 Ford 8 40 83/175 79,350 Suspension
6/17/01 Pocono 500 Ford 16 16 199/200 80,580 Running
7/29/01 Pennsylvania 500 Ford 22 6 200/200 88,555 Running
6/18/00 Pocono 500 Ford 1 10 200/200 76,690 Running
7/23/00 Pennsylvania 500 Ford 2 1 200/200 125,745 Running
6/20/99 Pocono 500 Ford 14 43 7/200 44,020 Crash
7/25/99 Pennsylvania 500 Ford 17 18 199/200 44,840 Running
6/21/98 Pocono 500 Ford 2 42 13/200 27,915 Engine
7/26/98 Pennsylvania 500 Ford 3 6 200/200 49,990 Running
6/8/97 Pocono 500 Ford 16 22 199/200 28,405 Running
7/20/97 Pennsylvania 500 Ford 39 37 174/200 27,575 Electrical
6/16/96 UAW-GM 500 Ford 19 31 153/200 34,085 Running
7/21/96 Miller 500 Ford 13 1 200/200 59,165 Running
6/11/95 UAW-GM 500 Ford 8 17 199/200 25,255 Running
7/16/95 MGD 500 Ford 22 16 200/200 30,480 Running
6/12/94 UAW-GM 500 Ford 1 1 200/200 84,525 Running
7/17/94 MGD 500 Ford 10 9 199/200 24,460 Running
6/13/93 Champion 500 Pontiac 10 39 4/200 14,285 Engine
7/18/93 MGD 500 Pontiac 18 2 200/200 35,145 Running
6/14/92 Champion 500 Pontiac 10 24 185/200 13,250 Running
7/19/92 MGD 500 Pontiac 19 18 199/200 13,690 Running
6/16/91 Champion 500 Pontiac 9 31 115/200 4,775 Engine
7/21/91 MGD 500 Pontiac 10 1 179/179 34,100 Running
6/17/90 Miller 500 Pontiac 8 2 200/200 37,307 Running
7/22/90 AC 500 Pontiac 8 3 200/200 30,000 Running
6/18/89 Miller 500 Pontiac 1 22 194/200 16,825 Running
7/23/89 AC 500 Pontiac 6 2 200/200 46,875 Running
6/19/88 Miller 500 Pontiac 17 3 200/200 26,500 Running
7/24/88 Summer 500 Pontiac 11 24 189/200 11,175 Running
6/14/87 Miller 500 Pontiac 17 40 14/200 9,525 Engine
7/19/87 Summer 500 Pontiac 14 14 197/200 12,765 Running
6/8/86 Van Scoy 500 Pontiac 7 6 200/200 13,825 Running
7/20/86 Summer 500 Pontiac 11 27 133/150 8,925 Engine
6/9/85 Van Scoy 500 Pontiac 21 13 197/200 9,575 Running
7/21/85 Summer 500 Pontiac 13 33 112/200 4,795 Engine
6/10/84 Van Scoy 500 Pontiac 15 17 197/200 6,530 Running
7/22/84 Like Cola 500 Pontiac 12 6 200/200 10,625 Running
Races Wins Top-5 Top-10 Poles $$$$$
Pocono 500 21 1 3 6 3 $825,122
Pennsylvania 500 21 3 6 10 0 925,785
TOTAL 42 4 9 16 3 $1,750,907
Laps completion percentage: 7,106/8,304 = 85.6%

RUSTY WALLACE/MILLER LITE TEAM PENSKE
2005 RACE RECORD/CAREER STATISTICAL BRIEF
Race Race Name Start Finish Laps comp/ Times Led/
Date Location Pos. Pos. Poss. Laps Laps Led $$$ Won Status/Comment
2/12 Pole Shootout 15 14 70/70 0/0 38,445 Running/58 car was tight
Daytona Beach, Fla. one end/loose at other
217 Gatorade Duel 150 (2nd) 8 24 35/60 0/0 21,213 Accident/66 car caught
Daytona Beach, Fla. up in 29/48 big crash
2/20 Daytona 500 36 10 203/203 0/0 317,646 Running/backup 58 car
Daytona Beach, Fla. strong/avoided 2 crashes
2/27 Auto Club 500 23 10 250/250 0/0 137,383 Running/new 86 car strong
Fontana, Calif. didn’t stop on final yellow
3/13 UAW-DaimlerChrys. 400 21 12 267/267 0/0 129,283 Running/86 car loose/tight
Las Vegas, Nev. before shock unplugged
3/20 Golden Corral 500 32 27 322/325 0/0 99,553 Running/78 car in 1st-lap
Hampton, Ga. wreck/changed shocks
4/3 Food City 500 3 13 498/500 4/157# 126,298 Running/dominant new 90
Bristol, Tenn. car hit by flat RF tire
4/10 Advance Auto Pts. 500 4 5 500/500 1/47 121,308 Running/70 car speeding?
Martinsville, Va. and had to come from rear
4/17 Samsung/Rad. Shack 500 6 10 334/334 0/0 119,200 Running/35 car pit penalty
Fort Worth, Texas and came back from 33rd
4/23 Subway Fresh 500 9 36 272/312 0/0 90,908 Running/86 car tight/then
Phoenix, Ariz. Crashed w/20/returned
5/1 Aaron’s 499 20 22 180/194 0/0 114,133 Running/66 car in the “big
Talladega, Ala. one,” repaired & returned
5/7 Dodge Charger 500 12 12 370/370 0/0 113,433 Running/78 car was tight,
Darlington, S.C. then extremely loose
5/14 Chevy American Rev. 400 8 19 399/400 0/0 98,705 Running/70 car tight, spun,
Richmond, Va. bad-handling all race
5/21 NEXTEL “All-Star” Race 3 13 71/90 0/0 84,800 Running/43 car caught in
Concord, N.C. 12 car’s spin last segment
5/29 Coca-Cola 600 20 10 400/400 1/15 144,958 Running/35 car fought
Concord, N.C. back from a lap down
6/5 MBNA RacePoints 400 11 5 400/400 0/0 140,183 Running/54 car fastest
Dover, Del. Twice, but tick too tight
# led most laps
2005 Season Recap: (points events)
Races Led/
Times Led/
Starts Wins Top-5s Top-10s Poles Laps Led Points Information
13 0 2 6 0 3/6/219 7th /1,584/-328 to #48
Lap Completion Percentage 2005 Winnings (Total) Average Start: 15.8
4,598/4,658 = 98.7% $ 1,907,169 Average Finish: 14.7
DNFs: 0
Career Brief:
Starts Wins Top-5s Top-10s Poles Career $$$ Won
683 55 196 338 36 $45,567,949

                       WALLACE WOULD LOVE TO WIN MBNA NASCAR 400 FOR MELVIN JOSEPH

-Miller Lite Dodge Driver Rusty Wallace Developed Strong Friendship With Late Dover Speedway Official-

DOVER, Del. (May 31, 2005) – If Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace has his way, the car now known simply as PRS- 54 will carry a special moniker after the running of Sunday’s MBNA NASCAR RacePoints 400 at Dover International Speedway.

“We’ve been thinking about it since Melvin passed away a couple of months back and we think there’s no better tribute we can pay to such a wonderful guy than to win the race and name our car after him,” Wallace said of Melvin Joseph, a board member and Vice President and Director of Auto Racing at Dover International Speedway, who died suddenly on April 6.

“I was very fortunate to really get to know Melvin well during the last 10 years and would love to honor him this way.” The 83-year-old Joseph had been active in the NASCAR community for some 50 years, first as a car owner and then in his involvement with the one-mile high-banked Dover, Del., racing facility. He is credited with being a leader in the design and construction of the track that held its first NASCAR race in 1969.

In 1955, Joseph’s cars won both the NASCAR Sportsman and Modified Events on the sands of Daytona Beach, FL. In 1959, his car, driven by Banjo Matthews, won the race by an amazing 3 miles in the first NASCAR Modified race on the newly built Daytona International Speedway. Another racing highlight included owning one of the cars that Bobby Allison drove to many victories.

Joseph was the founder, owner and operator of Melvin L. Joseph Construction Co., Inc. since 1940 and M.L. Joseph Sand and Gravel, founded in 1990. He oversaw the 1994 repaving project at Dover International Speedway that transformed the asphalt surface into the current concrete layout. His ideas, innovations and dedication greatly contributed to the success of Dover Motorsports, Inc. His many accomplishments in the sport of auto racing led to his induction into the Delaware Sports Museum Hall of Fame in 2002.

“How Melvin and I became big buddies really came down to the time that the track was considering what to do with their resurfacing project,” said Wallace, who’ll be making his 43rd career Dover start in Sunday’s 400-mile battle. “We won the fall race back in ’93 and both races in ’94. We were down at the Rusty Rudder (popular restaurant) in Dewey Beach before that fall race in ’94 doing a special appearance for Miller Brewing. It turned out that Melvin was great friends with Jay Prettyman, the owner of the place back then.

“We had gotten through with our autograph session on the water side of the place and had come back in to have some dinner before we headed back to Dover for the night,” Wallace recalled. “Little did I know it at the time, but they sat our group at a table right beside Melvin and the folks he was entertaining there that night. I had seen Melvin for years at the track, but really didn’t know him all that well. I could remember him being there by the stage for all the pre-race stuff, the driver introductions and all. I remembered that he was the guy who always gave the command to start our engines at every Dover race that I could remember. I also knew that he was a really good friend of Bobby Allison. Everybody knows what I think of B.A. – I’ve always called him my hero – so I knew if Melvin was a big friend of his, he certainly needed to be a good friend of mine.

“Anyhow, it must have been Jay or one of the guys there who officially introduced us and the next thing I knew, Melvin and I were sitting together by ourselves over at another table talking about what they should do with their resurfacing deal at the Dover track,” continued Wallace. “As it turned out, things were pretty much up in the air at that time. My old buddy (Dale) Earnhardt had really been doing some heavy politicking in trying to get them to use asphalt again. He was pushing hard for that.

Melvin was aware of what they’d done at Bristol with the concrete and he knew how much I liked that new surface. He knew that however much Dale had lobbied for the asphalt, ‘ol Rusty was gonna’ give him an earful of the benefits of using the concrete.

“Right there that night, Melvin and I became really great friends. He used me as a sounding board for their resurfacing of the Dover track. Then, when the Dover group bought the land outside of Nashville and started making plans for their new track there, he kept me up to date with that entire project.

“Melvin would always come to Daytona during Speed Weeks and I’d always save him a parking space for his car right out there beside my coach,” Wallace continued. “I’ll never forget, just a few years back, when Melvin pulled into the coach lot in Daytona and said he had something that he just had to show me. We went into my coach and he unfolded all the plans for the new Nashville track. I mean this was way before anything was released about the details of the new track. He sat there and laid the whole deal out and I’ll never forget him boasting about the new track being different from anything out there.

“He said, ‘Rusty, this thing is gonna’ be a mile-and-a-third – state of the art – something even you’d be impressed with. Yeah, and it’ll definitely be concrete, not asphalt.’

“Melvin was a really cool guy and, like I said, I was so fortunate to get to know him like I did,” Wallace concluded. “He’ll certainly be missed around the racing circles and it’ll really be strange being at Dover for the first time this weekend without him there. Rest assured that we’ll be out there racin’ our tail ends off, trying to win this one for Melvin.”

Even though Wallace has yet to win with his PRS-054 Miller Lite Dodge, the car has certainly shown the potential to take him to Victory Lane in Sunday’s race. The chassis was last raced at Homestead during the final race of 2004 where Wallace started 10th and finished eighth. It has been the workhorse on the intermediate tracks for the last two seasons.

“We’ve had a lot of great runs with this car,” said Wallace. “But the truth be known, the fact is that the guys havecompletely torn it down since Homestead last November. It’s been completely rebuilt as a 2005 Dodge Charger and is virtually a brand new racecar. The rolling chassis remains the same, but the body and everything else from the ground up is all brand new.”

Wallace’s career record on the “Monster Mile” boasts three wins, 10 top-five finishes, 20 top-10 finishes and five pole positions (leads all active drivers) in 42 races. This weekend’s Dover schedule calls for two hours of practice on Friday beginning at 11:00 a.m., leading up to the 3:10 p.m. single round of qualifying that allocates all 43 starting spots for Sunday’s race. Saturday’s final “Happy Hour” practice session is scheduled to start at 11:10 a.m.Sunday’s MBNA RacePoints 400 is scheduled for a 1:35 p.m. EDT start and features live coverage by FX-TV and MRN Radio.

-Rusty Wallace Career Track Records- DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY (1.0 mile)

Date Event Car St Fn Laps $ Won Status

6/6/04 MBNA Salute to Heroes 400 Dodge 4 13 398/400 $114,578 Running

9/24/04 MBNA America 400 Dodge 7 13 398/400 105,348 Running

6/1/03 MBNA Family 400 Dodge 2 6 400/400 110

,097 Running

9/21/03 MBNA American 400 Dodge 14 10 400/400 98,707 Running

6/2/02 MBNA Platinum 400 Ford 21 17 400/400 96,625 Running

9/22/02 MBNA All-American 400 Ford 1 15 399/400 98,790 Running

6/3/01 MBNA Platinum 400 Ford 3 21 397/400 90,450 Running

9/23/01 MBNA.com 400 Ford 15 11 400/400 92,305 Running

6/4/00 MBNA Platinum 400 Ford 1 `14 398/400 70,360 Running

9/24/00 MBNA.com 400 Ford 4 8 400/400 67,590 Running

6/6/99 MBNA Platinum 400 Ford 8 6 399/400 56,830 Running

9/26/99 MBNA Gold 400 Ford 1 32 385/400 49,655 Running

5/31/98 MBNA Platinum 400 Ford 1 18 397/400 39,680 Running

9/20/98 MBNA Gold 400 Ford 2 5 400/400 40,370 Running

6/1/97 Miller 500 Ford 18 39 316/500 32,485 Engine

9/21/97 MBNA 400 Ford 22 16 395/400 31,590 Running

6/2/96 Miller 500 Ford 8 7 499/500 33,365 Running

9/15/96 MBNA 500 Ford 6 2 500/500 54,580 Running

6/4/95 Miller Genuine Draft 500 Ford 16 9 499/500 31,490 Running

9/17/95 NMBA 500 Ford 7 3 500/500 46,905 Running

6/5/94 Budweiser 500 Ford 6 1 500/500 70,605 Running

9/18/94 SplitFire 500 Ford 10 1 500/500 55,055 Running

6/6/93 Budweiser 500 Pontiac 4 21 425/500 17,450 Crash

9/19/93 SplitFire 500 Pontiac 1 1 500/500 77,645 Running

5/31/92 Budweiser 500 Pontiac 14 3 499/500 25,795 Running

9/2/92 Peak 500 Pontiac 3 17 483/500 13,730 Running

6/2/91 Budweiser 500 Pontiac 2 9 498/500 9,950 Running

9/15/91 Peak 500 Pontiac 7 25 322/500 5,025 Accident

6/3/90 Budweiser 500 Pontiac 5 10 500/500 19,825 Running

9/16/90 Peak 500 Pontiac 9 7 499/500 18,175 Running

6/4/89 Budweiser 500 Pontiac 3 5 500/500 20,975 Running

9/17/89 Peak 500 Pontiac 4 7 497/500 16,475 Running

6/5/88 Budweiser 500 Pontiac 11 3 500/500 26,350 Running

9/18/88 Delaware 500 Pontiac 5 3 500/500 26,200 Running

5/31/87 Budweiser 500 Pontiac 19 17 481/500 10,150 Running

9/20/87 Delaware 500 Pontiac 20 12 495/500 10,900 Running

5/18/86 Budweiser 500 Pontiac 19 26 242/500 8,400 Engine

9/14/86 Delaware 500 Pontiac 8 13 491/500 9,350 Running

5/19/85 Budweiser 500 Pontiac 10 18 431/500 6,255 Running

9/15/85 Delaware 500 Pontiac 21 31 137/500 4,385 Engine

5/20/84 Budweiser 500 Pontiac 14 11 495/500 6,085 Running

9/16/84 Delaware 500 Pontiac 14 30 273/500 3,170 Accident

Races Wins Top-5 Top-10 Poles $$$$$

MBNA Salute To Heroes 400 21 1 4 10 2 $897,800

NMBA America 400 21 2 6 10 3 925,950

TOTAL 42 3 10 20 5 $1,823,750

Lap completion percentage: 17,048/19,500 = 87.4 percent

RUSTY WALLACE/MILLER LITE TEAM PENSKE

2005 RACE RECORD/CAREER STATISTICAL BRIEF

Race Race Name Start Finish Laps comp/ Times Led/

Date Location Pos. Pos. Poss. Laps Laps Led $$$ Won Status/Comment

2/12 Pole Shootout 15 14 70/70 0/0 38,445 Running/58 car was tight

Daytona Beach, Fla. one end/loose at other

217 Gatorade Duel 150 (2nd) 8 24 35/60 0/0 21,213 Accident/66 car caught

Daytona Beach, Fla. up in 29/48 big crash

2/20 Daytona 500 36 10 203/203 0/0 317,646 Running/backup 58 car

Daytona Beach, Fla. strong/avoided 2 crashes

2/27 Auto Club 500 23 10 250/250 0/0 137,383 Running/new 86 car strong

Fontana, Calif. didn’t stop on final yellow

3/13 UAW-DaimlerChrys. 400 21 12 267/267 0/0 129,283 Running/86 car loose/tight

Las Vegas, Nev. before shock unplugged

3/20 Golden Corral 500 32 27 322/325 0/0 99,553 Running/78 car in 1st-lap

Hampton, Ga. wreck/changed shocks

4/3 Food City 500 3 13 498/500 4/157# 126,298 Running/dominant new 90

Bristol, Tenn. car hit by flat RF tire

4/10 Advance Auto Pts. 500 4 5 500/500 1/47 121,308 Running/70 car speeding?

Martinsville, Va. and had to come from rear

4/17 Samsung/Rad. Shack 500 6 10 334/334 0/0 119,200 Running/35 car pit penalty

Fort Worth, Texas and came back from 33rd

4/23 Subway Fresh 500 9 36 272/312 0/0 90,908 Running/86 car tight/then

Phoenix, Ariz. Crashed w/20/returned

5/1 Aaron’s 499 20 22 180/194 0/0 114,133 Running/66 car in the “big

Talladega, Ala. one,” repaired & returned

5/7 Dodge Charger 500 12 12 370/370 0/0 113,433 Running/78 car was tight,

Darlington, S.C. then extremely loose

5/14 Chevy American Rev. 400 8 19 399/400 0/0 98,705 Running/70 car tight, spun,

Richmond, Va. bad-handling all race

5/21 NEXTEL “All-Star” Race 3 13 71/90 0/0 84,800 Running/43 car caught in

Concord, N.C. 12 car’s spin last segment

5/29 Coca-Cola 600 20 10 400/400 1/15 144,958 Running/35 car fought

Concord, N.C. back from a lap down

# led most laps

2005 Season Recap: (points events)

Races Led/

Times Led/

Starts Wins Top-5s Top-10s Poles Laps Led Points Information

12 0 1 5 0 3/6/219 11th /1,429/-318 to #48

Lap Completion Percentage 2005 Winnings (Total) Average Start: 16.2

4,198/4,258 = 98.6% $ 1,766,986 Average Finish: 15.5

DNFs: 0

Career Brief:

Starts Wins Top-5s Top-10s Poles Career $$$ Won

682 55 195 337 36 $45,427,766

NEWS ADVISORY

               RUSTY WALLACE 500 NATIONAL SWEEPSTAKES ENTERS LAST WEEK FOR ENTRIES

NASCAR Fans Have Only Until May 31, 2005 to Win Big From Miller Lite

WHAT: Less than one week remains for racing fans to enter Miller Lite’s “Rusty Wallace 500” national sweepstakes, offering legal-drinking-age consumers the chance to win the Ultimate Rusty Wallace weekend – a trip to Charlotte for a race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, a behind the scenes tour of Penske Racing and the much anticipated Miller Lite “Rusty Wallace 500” concert event. Other major prizes include an all-new 2006 Dodge Charger and a Kawasaki Jet Ski.

WHEN: Registration is open through May 31, 2005.

Consumers 21 and older can register to win at www.millerbeer.com

WHY: The sweepstakes is just one part of the Miller Lite “Rusty Wallace’s Last Call” tour, a season-long celebration of Wallace’s final run as the driver of the Miller Lite #2 Dodge in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series. The tour kicked off in February during Speedweek in Daytona, Florida, and will include stops in Philadelphia, Nashville and Tampa. “It’s been a great 15 years for Miller Lite and Rusty, and we want to give racing fans a chance to share in the celebration,” said Michael Hand, Miller Lite’s senior promotions manager. “Rusty’s ‘Last Call,’ along with the ‘Rusty Wallace 500’ sweepstakes, is Miller Lite’s toast to one of the legends of NASCAR.”

The season-long tour also includes Miller Lite “Rock and Racing” events, trackside public concerts by such major rock and country acts as the Black Crowes, Montgomery Gentry and Cheap Trick. A recent event in Charlotte, North Carolina, featuring the Black Crowes, drew approximately 12,000 fans during the NEXTEL All-Star Challenge weekend. CONTACT: Luis Hernandez, Dig Communications at 312-577-1756 lhernandez@digcommunications.com

No purchase necessary to enter. Sweepstakes ends May 31, 2005. Open to legal residents of the United States and Washington, DC (except residents of California), age 21 and older at time of entry. For details view Official Rules and Sweepstakes Facts. Void in California and where prohibited by law.

# # #

Contact: Tom Roberts/TRPR

(256) 508-2595

WALLACE RECALLS ‘89 ALL-STAR RACE AS CAREER’S “DEFINING MOMENT”

-Miller Lite Dodge Driver Has Participated In 18 Of The 20 All-Star Races To Date-

CONCORD, N.C. (May 17, 2005) – Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace has participated in 18 of the 20 editions of the NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Challenge race. This weekend’s schedule calls for the 21st running of the highly- anticipated annual “no-holds-barred” racing extravaganza at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and will mark Wallace’s final appearance in the event. To date, his record sports one win, five top-five finishes, 10 top-10 finishes and $987,154 in money won. He has started from the first starting spot on three occasions, including last year’s race.

All records aside, Wallace counts his win in the 1989 All-Star race – or rather how he won it and the controversial aftermath – as perhaps the most notable single event of his illustrious 22-year career as a driver in stock car racing’s most prestigious series.

“Regardless of all the wins, top-fives and top-10s, the poles and the money, that win in the 1989 All-Star race at Charlotte – the circumstances and all – it was probably the single most monumental event in my career,” said Wallace, who went on to claim that season’s points title, also. “One thing is for sure and that’s the fact that it was the most defining moment for me as a driver.

“I mean until then, I was pretty much still an unknown – just one of the younger drivers who sort of blended into the crowd,” Wallace continued. “There wasn’t a whole heckuva’ lot of people who knew that much about me back then. I was just a short-track hot shot who’d grown up through the ranks, paid my dues and was starting to win races in the big league and be a factor in the points deal.

“We had Kodiak as a sponsor back then. They were a smokeless tobacco company and they did very little – really none at all – promotion with me and the team. They just more or less sent in their sponsorship check and said, ‘here, just paint our logos on the sides and hood of the car and have at it.’ Don’t get me wrong – they were great folks to us and we certainly appreciated their support – but they just didn’t use the driver and the team in promotional work like all the sponsors do today.

“Just about everything I’d done up until that incident with D.W. (Darrell Waltrip) in that race had gone pretty much unnoticed by what you’d label the mainstream media. I mean, yeah the sports reporters and the racing papers – they all had covered the three wins we’d already had that season. They were already looking at us as serious championshipcontenders and a lot of that had to do with coming so close to winning it the year before, when (Bill) Elliott beat us by just a few points (lost title by 24 points).

“When I got into D.W. there coming down for the white flag and then went on to win the race, it changed everything,” said Wallace.

A quick look back at the details of the 1989 All-Star race: Wallace started his Kodiak Pontiac in the third starting spot. He appeared to have the car to beat from the drop of the green flag in the first segment. He stormed on to win the firstsegment handily.

Wallace’s car experienced loose handling conditions in the second segment, allowing Waltrip to blow by and claim the second segment, setting up a showdown in the third and final segment.

After determining that they had reversed the mounting of tires during the second segment – his team had put the right front on the right rear and the right rear tire on the right front – Wallace and crew knew why they had handling woes in the second segment. They adjusted accordingly and were ready for the final scamper to the finish. As the pair raced to the white flag, Wallace stuck the nose of his Pontiac under Waltrip’s Chevrolet as they exited the fourth turn. Contact was made between Wallace’s right-front andWaltrip’s left-rear-quarter-panel, sending Waltrip’s car into what is still referred to as the “Tide Slide,” designated so due to Waltrip’s car sponsor at the time.

“It was an ugly, ugly win,” Waltrip chirped. “I hope he chokes on the $200,000, that’s all I can tell him. He knocked the hell out of me.”

“We just ran out of room,” Wallace replied. “I got under him and we touched. I backed out of the throttle and he spun. I didn’t intentionally hit him.”

Waltrip, however, wasn’t finished talking. “A lot of guys let greed overcome speed, and that’s what happened today,” he said. “I got spun out. A guy drove down underneath me and drove up into me and spun me out. It was blatant. I had him pretty well covered. I just didn’t want to make a mistake, but I guess I made one, letting him get up there.”

“It was the turning point of my career – and Darrell’s, too,” said Wallace. “I don’t think there has ever been in the history of our sport, a situation where in a split second the roles are reversed like that – totally reversed. Darrell became the hero there in that race and I became the villain. D.W. didn’t have the greatest fan appeal back then – he was a driver who the fans either loved or hated – it was just that simple. Well, that day he became the good guy and that image lasted with him all the way until he hung the helmet up. He always got cheered from that day forward. And as loud as they were cheering for him, they were booing me even louder, it seemed. Man, it really did start the fireworks for my career.

“I was still a young guy on the way up,” continued Wallace. “I was just a pretty noncontroversial guy who’d come from the short tracks and was on his way up the ladder in the big league. Not only did I become a marked man and our teams get in fights and all, it carriedover into my personal life, too. We got threats – it was some serious stuff that came down after that one.

“I’ll never forget having my daughter Katie, who was only about five years old at the time, ask me, ‘Daddy, why are there policemen with guns sitting outside our front door?’ We actually had to have bodyguards and extra security around the clock for me and my family. It was just that heavy of a scene after that race. It definitely put my name and face on the map and I got booed for years to come after that one. I’m just so grateful that I was finally able to get back in the good graces with all the fans and have them all know that I really am a good guy.

“I’ll always remember the aftermath of that race, with Darrell telling me to choke on the 200 grand, Todd Parrott and some of my team punching it out with Darrell’s team on pit road and getting suspended and all hell just about breaking out. It was something they talked about for years to come and John Boy and Billy (popular syndicated radio show hosts) even made up a song about that day. After winning the championship that season and pledging to be the best champion that I could, the fans still were booing the heck out of me. Even after living up to my promise, the fans continued to boo me. To tell you the truth, it wasn’t untilabout ’93 that we got it all turned around and got back in good graces with the fans.” Friday’s 7:10 p.m. qualifying session calls for drivers to make three laps and include a four-tire pit stop in determining the starting field for Saturday night’s race. The 21st annual “All-Star” race – ran in segments of 40, 30 and 20 laps -- carries live coverage by FX-TV and PRN Radio beginning with coverage of the preliminary events at 7:00 p.m. EDT.

-Rusty Wallace Career Records-

"NEXTEL ALL STAR CHALLENGE"

Date Location Car St Fn Laps $ Won Status

5/22/04 Lowe’s Dodge 1 9 90/90 $126,400 Running

5/17/03 Lowe’s Dodge 18 21 40/90* 65,504 Running

5/18/02 Lowe’s Ford 21 27 14/90 40,000 Accident

5/19/01 Lowe’s Ford 1 15 70/70 78,800 Running

5/20/00 Lowe’s Ford 4 7 70/70 25,000 Running

5/22/99 Charlotte Ford 4 17 11/70 18,000 Accident

5/16/98 Charlotte Ford 16 5 70/70 27,700 Running

5/17/97 Charlotte Ford 7 18 62/70 18,000 Engine

5/18/96 Charlotte Ford 15 2 70/70 87,500 Running

5/21/95 Charlotte Ford 2 4 70/70 40,000 Running

5/21/94 Charlotte Ford 1 19 49/70 68,000 Accident

5/22/93 Charlotte Pontiac 2 8 70/70 39,000 Running

5/16/92 Charlotte Pontiac 2 6 70/70 42,500 Running

5/19/91 Charlotte Pontiac 10 7 70/70 23,500 Running

5/20/90 Charlotte Pontiac 14 20 8/70 18,000 Engine

5/21/89 Charlotte Pontiac 3 1 135/135 240,000 Running

5/22/88 Charlotte Pontiac 10 13 124/135 10,250 Running

5/17/87 Charlotte Pontiac 7 5 135/135 19,000 Running

* failed to make cut for final segments.

TOTALS: 18 Starts 1 Win 5 top-5s 10 top-10s 1,228/1,515 = 81.1% of possible laps $987,154 in money won.

RUSTY WALLACE/MILLER LITE TEAM PENSKE

2005 RACE RECORD/CAREER STATISTICAL BRIEF

Race Race Name Start Finish Laps comp/ Times Led/

Date Location Pos. Pos. Poss. Laps Laps Led $$$ Won Status/Comment

2/12 Pole Shootout 15 14 70/70 0/0 38,445 Running/58 car was tight

Daytona Beach, Fla. one end/loose at other

217 Gatorade Duel 150 (2nd) 8 24 35/60 0/0 21,213 Accident/66 car caught

Daytona Beach, Fla. up in 29/48 big crash

2/20 Daytona 500 36 10 203/203 0/0 317,646 Running/backup 58 car

Daytona Beach, Fla. strong/avoided 2 crashes

2/27 Auto Club 500 23 10 250/250 0/0 137,383 Running/new 86 car strong

Fontana, Calif. didn’t stop on final yellow

3/13 UAW-DaimlerChrys. 400 21 12 267/267 0/0 129,283 Running/86 car loose/tight

Las Vegas, Nev. before shock unplugged

3/20 Golden Corral 500 32 27 322/325 0/0 99,553 Running/78 car in 1st-lap

Hampton, Ga. wreck/changed shocks

4/3 Food City 500 3 13 498/500 4/157# 126,298 Running/dominant new 90

Bristol, Tenn. car hit by flat RF tire

4/10 Advance Auto Pts. 500 4 5 500/500 1/47 121,308 Running/70 car speeding?

Martinsville, Va. and had to come from rear

4/17 Samsung/Rad. Shack 500 6 10 334/334 0/0 119,200 Running/35 car pit penalty

Fort Worth, Texas and came back from 33rd

4/23 Subway Fresh 500 9 36 272/312 0/0 90,908 Running/86 car tight/then

Phoenix, Ariz. Crashed w/20/returned

5/1 Aaron’s 499 20 22 180/194 0/0 114,133 Running/66 car in the “big

Talladega, Ala. one,” repaired & returned

5/7 Dodge Charger 500 12 12 370/370 0/0 113,433 Running/78 car was tight,

Darlington, S.C. then extremely loose

5/14 Chevy American Rev. 400 8 19 399/400 0/0 98,705 Running/70 car tight, spun,

Richmond, Va. bad-handling all race

# led most laps

2005 Season Recap: (points events)

Races Led/

Times Led/

Starts Wins Top-5s Top-10s Poles Laps Led Points Information

11 0 1 4 0 2/5/204 12th /1,290/-272 to #48

Lap Completion Percentage 2005 Winnings (Total) Average Start: 15.8

3,798/3,858 = 98.4% $ 1,537,228 Average Finish: 16.0

DNFs: 0

Career Brief:

Starts Wins Top-5s Top-10s Poles Career $$$ Won

681 55 195 336 36 $45,198,008

Saturday, May 14, 2005

Ray Cooper

Richmond International Raceway

Clear!Blue

Dodge Notes, Quotes.

704-975-3232

RUSTY WALLACE (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger)

COMMENT ON RIR "When the track was originally designed by the Sawyer family the first time I raced on it I thought they had done an incredible job. After six wins you've got to love the place. When you drive this racetrack you'll find today that when the drivers start out they'll start running on the bottom of the racetrack and all of a sudden they'll move up to the second lane and down in turns three and four they'll move up to the very top lane. You'll notice they'll be running side by side through turns three and four and later on through turns one and two and maneuvering all over the racetrack. You'll get up top and get a lot of bite and feel like you've gained 200 horsepower coming on the straight a ways when you do that. There are so many places to race on the racetrack and so many places to maneuver around. The night race with all the drama and all the cameras and lights, the whole intensity of this race is sky high. I stayed here last night and watched the Busch race. It's very colorful and very exciting. They were racing all over the place. I saw the groove start moving up early in three and four and I knew it was going to be a great race. The drivers were using the whole racetrack. I said that a long time ago. I said it was a perfec trace track. It's the perfect design, the length of the track. There have been a lot of studies and all the fans say why do they keep building super super speedways, a mile and a half, two miles, stuff like that when everybody's favorite racetracks have always been Bristol and Richmond. Bristol is one of a kind. It's super high- banked and I don't know if anyone could ever build something like that again that would turn out to be that great again. Bu there, it's amazing. It's a fun place to race. I look forward to coming here. I look so forward to it that I came here and tested a week and a half ago. I want to be really, really good here, and I think we've got a great car for tonight's race. I plan on using that whole racetrack to get the job done."

COMMENT ON IOWA TRACK "I've been hired to design a new racetrack up in Newton, Iowa, and I've done a lot of work on it. The people that designed the California Speedway and Kansas City Motor Speedway, I worked with them closely and we're done with it. We're done with the design. I think that track is going to be a perfect track also. It's very close to this track. It's seven-eighths of a mile. I didn't want to touch the mile length. We backed it up to seven-eighths. I'm hoping to announce the groundbreaking in three weeks. That's what we're shooting for, but it's a great track also. We'll talk about that later. Right now it's Richmond's time to shine, and I feel really good about this race tonight and the way this place is going to race."

TALK ABOUT THE FULL CONTACT RACING AT RIR "I watched the race in detail last night, and coming up off turn four if you get a good bite off turn four you can pass the guy down the straightaway. You can run side by side. When you get down into turn one it's like, 'man, I've got to hold on to this baby. I just can't fly in there.' It's kind of give and take. Then you get up off turn two and the racetrack falls out pretty quick on you. The racetrack gets flat and everybody gets loose and that thing happens again. The easy part of this racetrack is the entry into turn   three. It's got banks and it carries you. You can pass up off turn two.

You can pass up off turn four. You can drive in on their bumper going into turn three and work the top lane. There's a lot of things you can do. It's a full contact track, no doubt about that, as long as you don't have too much contact and knock them fenders in and lose that down force. Then you have a problem."

ANY POSSIBILITY OF AFFLIATION WITH TOYOTA FOR PENSKE RACING SOUTH?

"Nothing with Toyota at Penske Racing South. People would think that would be a natural because he's running Toyota in the IRL Series, and he's the largest Toyota dealer, but he's also one of the world's largest DaimlerChrysler dealers.We've got a great arrangement now with Dodge. We've got a contract with them and feel good about it. I welcome all the other carmanufacturers in. I haven't personally talked with Toyota about my own Busch Grand National team at all. I haven't had any conversation. Although my eyes are wide open and I'm listening to whateverybody's doing out there. I'm paying a lot of attention to it, but nothing's happened yet. I don't plan it at all. I don't see Toyotacoming to Penske Racing South. I don't see that happening."

Contact: Tom Roberts/TRPR

(256) 508-2595

RUSTY WALLACE “READY TO MAKE BIG THINGS HAPPEN” AT RICHMOND

-Miller Lite Dodge Driver Cites “Unbelievable Test” For Ultimate Confidence Entering Saturday’s Race-

RICHMOND, Va. (May 10, 2005) – Competitors beware: Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace ended his scheduled two-day test at Richmond International Raceway last week after the first day.

“It was an unbelievable test, just super all the way around,” Wallace said of last Tuesday’s (May 3) visit to the .750-mile track in preparation of Saturday night’s Chevy American Revolution 400. “We got the thing really hauling the mail and handling like a dream. To tell you the truth, I couldn’t think of a single thing else that we could do to make it handle any better or run any faster.

“We were so good out there that we decided to pack it up after the first day and not even use Wednesday on the track,” said Wallace, the active statistical leader at R.I.R. “We wanted to make sure that we didn’t come back and out-engineer ourselves like we may have done in the past.”

Wallace’s move to cut short his available track time should come as a surprise to most garage area insiders along the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup circuit. After all, the 1989 series champ and 55-race winner is well known for his using every minute of practice available and then even lobbying for additional time on the track.

“It says a lot about how confident Rusty is going into Richmond this time around,” explained car chief Jeff Thousand, whose tenure by Wallace’s side at race tracks dates back to the American Speed Association days. “It’s highly unusual to see Rusty not use all the practice he can get. I’ll never forget how he used to always get Robin (Pemberton, former crew chief for Wallace’s team and now NASCAR’s V.P. of Competition.) to go down to the NASCAR trailer and beg them to give us more practice. But in last week’s test at Richmond, we were so strong and he was so happy with the car that we knew we were doing the right thing.

“I’ve been here with Rusty for a long time and even I was impressed with how strong we were in both qualifying and race trim,” Thousand continued. “When we have such a great test at one of his favorite tracks, Rusty usually comes in full throttle for the entire weekend. I think you can count on Rusty being a major factor in qualifying and in the race this weekend at Richmond.”

Wallace offered some specific details of the Richmond test which understandably could lead to his lofty confidence level entering this weekend’s action.

“We unloaded off the track pretty fast, but after tweaking on her a little, she was absolutely flying and handling like a dream, said the six-time race winner and three-time pole winner at Richmond. “We concentrated mostly on the race setup, since this is another impound race (no additional practice after qualifying is concluded and only minor changes allowed prior to the race). “We made a lot of runs and ran as many as 30 laps at a time. We got her down to where she was running pretty consistent 21.20s (laps of 21.20 seconds, averaging 127.358 mph) in race trim and then switched over to qualifying trim.

“We put the qualifying setup under her and were hauling the freight from the get-go,” offered Wallace, whose Richmond record also boasts 21 top-five finishes and 29 top-10s in 42 races. “We got her down to a 20.92 (lap of 20.92 seconds/129.063 mph) and that’s a little faster than (Ryan) Newman’s 20.97 (20.979 seconds/128.700 mph) that won the pole for the last race there.

“We know we have a great race car – it’s the Martinsville car,” Wallace said of his PRS- 070 Miller Lite Dodge Charger. “It was the exact same chassis we used in winning the spring race at Martinsville last year. It was completely rebuilt for the race last month there. In that race, we started fourth and led a bunch of laps. We had a great shot at winning that one before we got slapped with a speeding penalty coming off of pit road. We had to start from the rear and still came back on up through the pack to finish fifth. “As strong as this car was at Martinsville, I’ll be surprised if it isn’t at least as strong – ifnot even stronger – at Richmond this weekend,” Wallace concluded. Wallace’s Richmond racing history is most impressive. As the track’s career statistical leader, the record book shows that in 42 races, he has six wins and three poles, along with 21 top-five finishes, 29 top-10 finishes and $1,851,490 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. Richmond NASCAR NEXTEL Cup activity begins on Friday withpractice 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 Chevy AmericanRevolution 400 has a scheduled 7:35 p.m. EDT starting time and features live coverage by FX-TV and MRN Radio.

# # #

RUSTY WALLACE/MILLER LITE TEAM PENSKE 2005 RACE RECORD/CAREER STATISTICAL BRIEF

Race Race Name Start Finish Laps comp/ Times Led/

Date Location Pos. Pos. Poss. Laps Laps Led $$$ Won Status/Comment

2/12 Pole Shootout 15 14 70/70 0/0 38,445 Running/58 car was tight

Daytona Beach, Fla. one end/loose at other

217 Gatorade Duel 150 (2nd) 8 24 35/60 0/0 21,213 Accident/66 car caught

Daytona Beach, Fla. up in 29/48 big crash

2/20 Daytona 500 36 10 203/203 0/0 317,646 Running/backup 58 car

Daytona Beach, Fla. strong/avoided 2 crashes

2/27 Auto Club 500 23 10 250/250 0/0 137,383 Running/new 86 car strong

Fontana, Calif. didn’t stop on final yellow

3/13 UAW-DaimlerChrys. 400 21 12 267/267 0/0 129,283 Running/86 car loose/tight

Las Vegas, Nev. before shock unplugged

3/20 Golden Corral 500 32 27 322/325 0/0 99,553 Running/78 car in 1st-lap

Hampton, Ga. wreck/changed shocks

4/3 Food City 500 3 13 498/500 4/157# 126,298 Running/dominant new 90

Bristol, Tenn. car hit by flat RF tire

4/10 Advance Auto Pts. 500 4 5 500/500 1/47 121,308 Running/70 car speeding?

Martinsville, Va. and had to come from rear

4/17 Samsung/Rad. Shack 500 6 10 334/334 0/0 119,200 Running/35 car pit penalty

Fort Worth, Texas and came back from 33rd

4/23 Subway Fresh 500 9 36 272/312 0/0 90,908 Running/86 car tight/then

Phoenix, Ariz. Crashed w/20/returned

5/1 Aaron’s 499 20 22 180/194 0/0 114,133 Running/66 car in the “big

Talladega, Ala. one,” repaired & returned

5/7 Dodge Charger 500 12 12 370/370 0/0 113,433 Running/78 car was tight,

Darlington, S.C. then extremely loose

# led most laps

2005 Season Recap: (points events)

Races Led/

Times Led/

Starts Wins Top-5s Top-10s Poles Laps Led Points Information

10 0 1 4 0 2/5/204 14th /1,184/-335 to #48

Lap Completion Percentage 2005 Winnings (Total) Average Start: 16.6

3,399/3,458 = 98.3% $ 1,438,523 Average Finish: 15.7

DNFs: 0

Career Brief:

Starts Wins Top-5s Top-10s Poles Career $$$ Won

680 55 195 336 36 $45,099,303

-Rusty Wallace Career Track Records-

RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY

(.750-mile)

Date Event Car St Fn Laps $ Won Status

5/15/04 Chevy American 400 Dodge 7 16 399/400 $102,983 Running

9/11/04 Chevy Rock & Roll 400 Dodge 12 10 400/400 105,863 Running

5/3/03 Pontiac 400 Dodge 17 10 392/392 91,942 Running

9/6/03 Chevy Rock & Roll 400 Dodge 17 5 400/400 99,047 Running

5/5/02 Pontiac 400 Ford 9 25 396/400 85,000 Running

9/7/02 Monte Carlo 400 Ford 23 15 399/400 87,755 Running

5/5/01 Pontiac 400 Ford 2 3 400/400 117,740 Running

9/8/01 Monte Carlo 400 Ford 2 5 400/400 100,895 Running

5/6/00 Pontiac 400 Ford 1 5 400/400 68,625 Running

9/9/00 Monte Carlo 400 Ford 5 34 313/400 42,110 Engine

5/15/99 Pontiac 400 Ford 6 5 400/400 49,450 Running

9/11/99 Exide 400 Ford 3 14 399/400 41,130 Running

6/6/98 Pontiac 400 Ford 22 3 400/400 56,875 Running

9/12/98 Exide 400 Ford 1 7 400/400 45,630 Running

3/2/97 Pontiac 400 Ford 7 1 400/400 86,775 Running

9/6/97 Exide 400 Ford 14 5 400/400 39,050 Running

3/3/96 Pontiac 400 Ford 14 7 400/400 28,375 Running

9/7/96 Miller 400 Ford 10 6 400/400 30,005 Running

3/5/95 Pontiac 400 Ford 3 3 400/400 29,600 Running

9/9/95 MGD 400 Ford 7 1 400/400 64,515 Running

3/6/94 Pontiac 400 Ford 12 2 400/400 39,575 Running

9/10/94 MGD 400 Ford 5 4 400/400 30,780 Running

3/7/93 Pontiac 400 Pontiac 13 2 400/400 31,550 Running

9/11/93 MGD 400 Pontiac 3 1 400/400 49,415 Running

3/8/92 Pontiac 400 Pontiac 12 17 396/400 12,425 Running

9/12/92 MGD 400 Pontiac 3 1 400/400 47,115 Running

2/24/91 Pontiac 400 Pontiac 20 4 400/400 13,050 Running

9/7/91 MGD 400 Pontiac 1 3 400/400 21,700 Running

2/25/90 Pontiac 400 Pontiac 18 6 400/400 15,400 Running

9/9/90 Miller 400 Pontiac 11 5 400/400 19,525 Running

3/26/89 Pontiac 400 Pontiac 2 1 400/400 63,025 Running

9/10/89 Miller 400 Pontiac 6 1 400/400 55,650 Running

2/21/88 Pontiac 400 Pontiac 4 7 400/400 11,790 Running

9/11/88 Miller 400 Pontiac 21 35 18/400 9,650 Accident

3/8/87 Miller 400 Pontiac 12 3 400/400 18,225 Running

9/13/87 Wrangler 400 Pontiac 9 17 373/400 8,155 Accident

2/23/86 Miller 400 Pontiac 6 10 395/400 6,530 Running

9/7/86 Wrangler 400 Pontiac 6 19 371/400 6,960 Running

2/24/85 Miller 400 Pontiac 6 27 89/400 3,755 Accident

9/8/85 Wrangler 400 Pontiac 11 13 397/400 5,495 Running

2/26/84 Miller 400 Pontiac 5 16 396/400 4,025 Running

9/9/84 Wrangler 400 Pontiac 6 11 397/400 4,580 Running

Races Wins Top-5 Top-10 Poles $$$$$

Chevy American 400 21 2 11 16 1 $936,715

Chevy Rock & Roll 400 21 4 10 13 2 915,025

TOTAL 42 6 21 29 3 $1,851,490

Lap completion percentage: 15,991/16,793 = 95.2%

Contact: Tom Roberts/TRPR

(256) 508-2595

WALLACE HOPES NIGHTTIME IS “RIGHT TIME” AT DARLINGTON

-Miller Lite Dodge Driver Hoping To Taste Victory In 43rd – And Final – Race At Historical Track-

DARLINGTON, S.C. (May 3, 2005) – Extraordinary things seem to happen after the sun goes down along the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup circuit. Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace is hoping it is under that scenario this weekend that he can finally defeat the demanding old Darlington Raceway.

Wallace has competed at the historical South Carolina track 41 additional times since he first raced there in NASCAR’s premier series competition on April 15, 1984. Now 21 taxing seasons later in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup series on this demanding 1.366-mile egg-shaped track, Wallace is still chasing that first elusive Darlington win. He thinks his break through win at the “Track Too Tough To Tame” could come in Saturday night’s Dodge Charger 500. The 1989 series champ and 55-race winner is committed to making sure his final “Last Call” season as a driver is a memorable one. Saturday night’s race will mark his 43rd – and final – Darlington race behind the wheel of his Miller Lite Dodge.

“I know it may sound pretty odd coming out of my mouth, but I am really looking forward to Saturday’s race at Darlington,” said Wallace, currently 13th in the series point standings after nine races, but only 31 points out of sixth and a mere 10 points out of 10th. “I think everyone out there knows how much I love the night races. The fact that this is the last time I’ll race at Darlington and with the race being run in the nighttime, all the emotions will be running high.

“We have a great car ready to go for Darlington,” Wallace said of his PRS-078 Dodge Charger. “We’re racing the same car that we debuted at Bristol last fall. We led a bunch of that race and had a great shot at winning the race before we ran out of gas. We got way behind and got caught up in a crash after that. We brought it back out at Atlanta earlier this year, but got caught up in someone else’s mess right at the start of the race. The guys have run it back through the shop since then and it’s like a brand new car we’ll have there this weekend. At the end of this one, there’s nothing I’d like more than to be able to wheel that baby right on into Victory Lane and let the big celebration begin.

“We’ve been running at Darlington forever it seems and even I am floored that we still haven’t won there,” said Wallace, whose Darlington career record sports 11 top-five finishes and 20 top-10 finishes. “There is a first time for everything I’ve always believed. Through the years, I’ve really enjoyed racing there and we’ve come close to winning at Darlington in several races. We’ve finished second there twice and have a ton of thirds, fourths and fifths.” Wallace looks for the old and weatherworn surface at Darlington to offer something different this weekend than what has occurred so far this season.

“It’s a track where you slide all over the place because the surface really wears the tires real bad, but it’s also a track where you can make a lot of passes,” said Wallace. “The aero push doesn’t come into effect much there. I think you saw really good racing at Rockingham when we were still running there. You see really good racing at Darlington because the track wears the tires so bad and all that grip goes away, and the guys get sliding around andchasing and the racing comes back like it used to be. When you think about all of that and then add the fact that we’ll be racing under the lights, you’d have to be comatose to not get excited about Darlington this Saturday night.”

Larry Carter, crew chief for Wallace’s Miller Lite Dodge effort, thinks the atmosphere will definitely work to his driver’s favor.

“It’ll be a case of Darlington at dark and you know what that means,” Carter said as he started to grin. “Rusty will be up on that wheel just like he is at Bristol and at Richmond. We were talking the other day and I think it has really registered with him that this is his last chance to beat that old track. I’ll guarantee you that if desire has anything to do with it, we’llbe right there battling for that checkered flag at the end of this one.”

This weekend’s Darlington NASCAR NEXTEL Cup action kicks off on Thursday with practice sessions from 5:10 p.m. until 6:10 p.m. and from 7:15 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. Friday’s 5:10 p.m. qualifying session will establish the starting grid for Saturday’s 367-lap, 501.3-mile battle, with all cars impounded at the conclusion of qualifying. Saturday’s Dodge Charger 500NASCAR NEXTEL Cup event at Phoenix International Raceway is set to begin at 7:10 p.m. EDT time and features live coverage by FOX TV and MRN Radio.

* * *

NOTES: Rusty Wallace & team testing Tuesday & Wednesday of this week (May 3 & 4) at Richmond International Raceway in preparation for the May 14 Chevy American Revolution 400 on that three quarter- mile layout…..Hard to believe, but Sunday’s 22nd-place finish at Talladega was his best since the fall race of ’03 at Talladega. That’s especially interesting, considering that he was on the lead lap and completed all possible laps in both races there last season (leading to a 33rd in the spring race and a 26th in the fall event). “Yeah, and they made it a point to tell me that it was my best finish as crew chief for Rusty Wallace at Talladega,” chuckled crew chief Larry Carter on Monday after noon at the sprawling Penske Racing South complex near Mooresville, N.C. “It’s a credit to our team, though, when you look back at what happened and the big picture side to it. After we crashed and finally got the car back to the garage, we were under the red flag and couldn’t touch it. While we were under the red, we got a full plan together to get the thing repaired and back out on the track. When it went back to yellow, we executed that plan and had Rusty back out therebefore any of the others. That paid off big time. Just like I told ‘em all yesterday, if you’d told me that we’d be able to finish 22nd right after the crash happened, I’d told you that you needed serious mental help. What we wound up being able to pull off down there was damage control to the max.”

# # #

RUSTY WALLACE/MILLER LITE TEAM PENSKE 2005 RACE RECORD/CAREER STATISTICAL BRIEF

Race Race Name Start Finish Laps comp/ Times Led/ Date Location Pos. Pos. Poss.

Laps Laps Led $$$ Won Status/Comment 2/12 Pole Shootout 15 14 70/70 0/0 38,445 Running/58 car was tight Daytona Beach, Fla. one end/loose at other 217 Gatorade Duel 150 (2nd) 8 24 35/60 0/0 21,213 Accident/66 car caught Daytona Beach, Fla. up in 29/48 big crash 2/20 Daytona 500 36 10 203/203 0/0 317,646 Running/backup 58 car Daytona Beach, Fla. strong/avoided 2 crashes 2/27 Auto Club 500 23 10 250/250 0/0 137,383 Running/new 86 car strong Fontana, Calif. didn’t stop on final yellow 3/13 UAW-Daimler Chrys. 400 21 12 267/267 0/0 129,283 Running/86 car loose/tight Las Vegas, Nev. before shock unplugged 3/20 Golden Corral 500 32 27 322/325 0/0 99,553 Running/78 car in 1st-lap Hampton, Ga. wreck/changed shocks 4/3 Food City 500 3 13 498/500 4/157# 126,298 Running/dominant new 90Bristol, Tenn. car hit by flat RF tire 4/10 Advance Auto Pts. 500 4 5 500/500 1/47 121,308 Running/70 car speeding? Martinsville, Va. and had to come from rear 4/17 Samsung/Rad. Shack 500 6 10 334/334 0/0 119,200 Running/35 car pit penalty Fort Worth, Texas and came back from 33rd 4/23 Subway Fresh 500 9 36 272/312 0/0 90,908 Running/86 car tight/then Phoenix, Ariz. Crashed w/20/returned 5/1 Aaron’s 499 20 22 180/194 0/0 114,133 Running/66 car in the “big Talladega, Ala. one,” repaired & returned # led most laps

2005 Season Recap: (points events) Races Led/ Times Led/

Starts Wins Top-5s Top-10s Poles Laps Led Points Information

9 0 1 4 0 2/5/204 13th /1,057/-311 to #48

Lap Completion Percentage 2005 Winnings (Total) Average Start: 17.1

3,029/3,088 = 98.1% $ 1,325,090 Average Finish: 16.1

DNFs: 0

Career Brief:

Starts Wins Top-5s Top-10s Poles Career $$$ Won

679 55 195 336 36 $44,985,870

DARLINGTON RACEWAY

Rusty Wallace Career Track Records

(1.366 miles)

Date Event Car St Fn Laps $ Won Status

3/21/04 Carolina Dodge 400 Dodge 7 29 290/293 $85,588 Running

11/14/04 Mt. Dew Southern 500 Dodge 16 18 365/367 106,058 Running

3/16/03 Carolina Dodge 400 Dodge 13 16 291/293 83,827 Running

9/31/03 Mt. Dew Southern 500 Dodge 34 36 258/367 85,172 Running

3/17/02 Carolina Dodge 400 Ford 18 7 293/293 88,520 Running

9/1/02 Mt. Dew Southern 500 Ford 6 22 367/367 90,245 Running

3/18/01 Carolina Dodge 400 Ford 9 10 293/293 81,170 Running

9/2/01 Mt. Dew Southern 500 Ford 4 22 366/367 84,135 Running

3/19/00 MALL.com 400 Ford 20 16 292/293 45,685 Running

9/3/00 Pepsi Southern 500 Ford 16 30 308/328 48,940 Running

3/21/99 TranSouth 400 Ford 26 33 162/164 36,345 Running

9/5/99 Pepsi Southern 500 Ford 24 8 270/270 49,925 Running

3/22/98 TranSouth 400 Ford 14 3 293/293 52,240 Running

9/6/98 Pepsi Southern 500 Ford 3 7 365/367 46,485 Running

3/23/97 TranSouth 400 Ford 15 6 293/293 32,825 Running

8/31/97 Mt. Dew Southern 500 Ford 43 43 5/367 29,270 Accident

3/24/96 TranSouth 400 Ford 8 4 293/293 29,480 Running

9/1/96 Mt. Dew Southern 500 Ford 28 38 102/367 24,895 Accident

3/26/95 TranSouth 400 Ford 8 23 235/293 24,630 Running

9/3/95 Mt. Dew Southern 500 Ford 21 3 367/367 45,580 Running

3/27/94 TranSouth 400 Ford 8 33 218/293 17,850 Running

9/4/94 Mt. Dew Southern 500 Ford 19 7 366/367 23,620 Running

3/28/93 TranSouth 500 Pontiac 3 5 366/367 20,400 Running

9/6/93 Mt. Dew Southern 500 Pontiac 11 3 351/351 27,495 Running

3/29/92 TranSouth 500 Pontiac 19 11 364/367 14,665 Running

9/6/92 Mt. Dew Southern 500 Pontiac 21 9 298/298 17,060 Running

4/7/91 TranSouth 500 Pontiac 21 5 365/367 10,260 Running

9/1/91 Heinz Southern 500 Pontiac 13 32 214/367 5,045 Engine

4/1/90 TranSouth 500 Pontiac 11 18 359/367 14,900 Running

9/2/90 Heinz Southern 500 Pontiac 4 40 14/367 14,400 Engine

4/2/89 TranSouth 500 Pontiac 5 8 366/367 15,120 Running

9/3/89 Heinz Southern 500 Pontiac 5 4 367/367 24,330 Running

3/27/88 TranSouth 500 Pontiac 5 25 265/367 11,585 Engine

9/4/88 Southern 500 Pontiac 5 2 367/367 38,850 Running

3/29/87 TranSouth 500 Pontiac 6 20 322/367 10,075 Running

9/6/87 Southern 500 Pontiac 16 2 202/202 33,695 Running

4/13/86 TranSouth 500 Pontiac 13 6 364/367 12,575 Running

8/31/86 Southern 500 Pontiac 16 23 316/367 9,710 Running

4/14/85 TranSouth 500 Pontiac 20 5 365/367 11,800 Running

9/1/85 Southern 500 Pontiac 14 38 21/367 3,880 Accident

4/15/84 TranSouth 500 Pontiac 24 30 175/367 3,405 Accident

9/2/84 Southern 500 Pontiac 18 4 365/367 14,405 Running

Races Wins Top-5 Top-10 Poles $$$$$

Carolina Dodge 400 21 0 5 10 0 $747,346

Mt. Dew Southern 500 21 0 6 10 0 823,195

TOTAL 42 0 11 20 0 $1,526,141

Lap completion percentage: 11,918/14,112 = 84.5 percent

Contact: Tom Roberts/TRPR

(256) 508-2595

WALLACE CALLS SUNDAY’S AARON’S 499 “MOST PIVOTAL” RACE YET

-Miller Lite Dodge Driver Hoping To Bounce Back From “Brutal” Phoenix Race–

TALLADEGA, Ala. (April 27, 2005) – When Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace was being interviewed in the infield media center at Phoenix International Raceway last Friday morning, he predicted the next few races along the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup circuit would be extremely important.

"I think these next four or five weeks will be very critical in the championship picture,” Wallace said. “If you have a bad race, it could knock you out of it."He didn’t realize it at the moment, but the words he uttered on Friday were prophetic – especially for his Larry Carter-led Penske Racing South team. After finishing 36th in Saturday night’s Subway Fresh 500 at P.I.R., Wallace dropped from third to 10th in the series pointstandings. He is determined to bounce back in this weekend’s Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway.

“Saturday night at Phoenix was just brutal for us and we need to get back on track at Talladega,” Wallace offered on Monday, while still enjoying the warm Arizona weather. “We were off on the chassis at the beginning of the race, but got adjusting on it and it was coming around. We didn’t pit there on that caution (sixth yellow of the race on Lap 189) and everyone behind us did. When we went back to green (restarted 11th), all the guys with the fresh tires blew by us from behind.

“But what really killed us was getting caught up in the aftermath of the deal between the 48 car (Jimmie Johnson) and the 20 car (Tony Stewart),” said Wallace. “I was just an innocent victim and had nowhere to go. I still can’t figure out what allthat was about. The 48 got into the 20 car and spun him going into turn three, and when he spun him all heck broke loose.

They were getting wild going down into three. They were getting mad at each other. The 48 punted the 20. The 20 went around, and that was it.

“We wound up puncturing the radiator and had to go to the garage to replace it,” said Wallace. “I’m convinced that we were headed toward at least another top 10 (finish) before all that happened. It’s a shame, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.

“We’re definitely still solid players in the picture as far as the points go,” Wallace continued. “But we need to go on to Talladega and get us a good finish there, that’s for sure. ” The 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway is certainly not one of the most promising tracks for Wallace to be looking to regain the momentum that may have gone astray at Phoenix, but the 1989 series champ and 55-race winner still radiates with optimism.

“You never know what can happen in the Talladega races and we’re coming in therewith the attitude that we can win,” said Wallace, who is still looking for his first Talladega win after 43 races. “If you can stay in the draft and keep the car in one piece all day, you cancome out of there on top.”

Wallace’s overall career record at Talladega sports just one top-five finish (July 1988), but he does have 12 top-10 finishes to date. “This points deal is just so tight right now,” said Wallace as he looked at the standings on Monday. “We took a big hit at Phoenix, but so did the 16 car (Greg Biffle, who finished41st), the 20 (Stewart, who finished 33rd) and some of the others. We’re only 92 (points) out of third and less than 50 (49 points) out of fifth, so the pendulum can really swing again this weekend at Talladega. It could just be the most pivotal race yet this season.”

Wallace and his Larry Carter-led Miller Lite team will be racing the PRS-066 Dodge this weekend at Talladega. The car debuted in the 2004 Daytona 500 and was also raced at Talladega in last year’s Aaron’s 499.

“It was our primary car for Daytona, but she got crashed in the qualifying race,” explained Carter. “But now she’s like a brand new car. We have a brand new body on her and she’s been tweaked through the (wind) tunnel several times this year. This car has had the best numbers ever for one of our speedway cars, so we have some pretty high hopes going for this weekend at Talladega.”

Friday’s qualifying session at 3:05 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 11:00 a.m. Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 has a 12:20 p.m. CDT starting time and features live coverage by FOX-TV and MRN Radio.

# # #

RUSTY WALLACE/MILLER LITE TEAM PENSKE 2005 RACE RECORD/CAREER STATISTICAL BRIEF

Race Race Name Start Finish Laps comp/ Times Led/ Date Location Pos. Pos. Poss. Laps Laps Led $$$ Won Status/Comment 2/12 Pole Shootout 15 14 70/70 0/0 38,445 Running/58 car was tight Daytona Beach, Fla. one end/loose at other 217 Gatorade Duel 150 (2nd) 8 24 35/60 0/0 21,213 Accident/66 car caught Daytona Beach, Fla. up in 29/48 big crash 2/20 Daytona 500 36 10 203/203 0/0 317,646 Running/backup 58 car Daytona Beach, Fla. strong/avoided 2 crashes 2/27 Auto Club 500 23 10 250/250 0/0 137,383 Running/new 86 car strong Fontana, Calif. didn’t stop on final yellow 3/13 UAW- aimlerChrys. 400 21 12 267/267 0/0 129,283 Running/86 car loose/tight Las Vegas, Nev. before shock unplugged 3/20Golden Corral 500 32 27 322/325 0/0 99,553 Running/78 car in 1st-lap Hampton, Ga. wreck/changed shocks 4/3 FoodCity 500 3 13 498/500 4/157# 126,298 Running/dominant new 90 Bristol, Tenn. car hit by flat RF tire 4/10 Advance Auto Pts. 500 4 5 500/500 1/47 121,308 Running/70 car speeding?

Martinsville, Va. and had to come from rear 4/17 Samsung/Rad. Shack 500 6 10 334/334 0/0 119,200 Running/35 car pit penalty Fort Worth, Texas and came back from 33rd 4/23 Subway Fresh 500 9 36 272/312 0/0 90,908 Running/86 car tight/then Phoenix, Ariz. Crashed w/20/returned # led most laps 2005 Season Recap: (points events)

Races Led/ Times Led/

Starts Wins Top-5s Top-10s Poles Laps Led Points Information

8 0 1 4 0 2/5/204 10th /960/-300 to #48

Lap Completion Percentage 2005 Winnings (Total) Average Start: 16.8

2,849/2,894 = 98.4% $ 1,099,116 Average Finish: 15.4

DNFs: 0

Career Brief:

Starts Wins Top-5s Top-10s Poles Career $$$ Won

678 55 195 336 36 $44,871,737

RUSTY WALLACE CAREER TRACK RECORDS

TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY

(2.66 miles)

Date Event Car St Fn Laps $ Won Status

4/25/04 Aaron’s 499 Dodge 32 33 144/188 $107,108 Running

10/3/04 EASports 500 Dodge 33 26 188/188 106,403 Running

4/6/03 Aaron’s 499 Dodge 31 37 12/188 101,567 Accident

9/28/03 EA Sports 500 Dodge 33 9 188/188 97,742 Running

4/21/02 Aaron's 499 Ford 13 8 188/188 107,480 Running

10/6/02 EA Sports 500 Ford 6 13 188/188 93,805 Running

4/22/01 Talladega 500 Ford 26 13 188/188 94,630 Running

10/21/01 EA Sports 500 Ford 32 16 188/188 87,865 Running

4/16/00 DieHard 500 Ford 17 41 116/188 51,050 Engine

10/15/00 Winston 500 Ford 38 8 188/188 59,500 Running

4/25/99 DieHard 500 Ford 4 41 50/188 44,925 Handling

10/17/99 Winston 500 Ford 10 11 188/188 51,655 Running

4/26/98 DieHard 500 Ford 23 12 188/188 44,295 Running

10/11/98 Winston 500 Ford 12 27 182/188 41,290 Running

5/10/97 Winston 500 Ford 4 37 180/188 31,571 Engine

10/12/97 DieHard 500 Ford 9 10 199/188 42,900 Running

4/28/96 Winston Select 500 Ford 15 30 159/188 27,370 Handling

7/28/96 DieHard 500 Ford 32 10 129/129 31,925 Running

4/30/95 Winston Select 500 Ford 35 20 188/188 27,755 Running

7/23/95 Diehard 500 Ford 26 30 158/188 26,880 Accident

5/1/94 Winston Select 500 Ford 20 33 112/188 20,730 Accident

7/24/94 Diehard 500 Ford 26 42 8/188 21,425 Piston

5/2/93 Winston 500 Pontiac 24 6 188/188 28,490 Flying

7/25/93 Diehard 500 Pontiac 32 17 188/188 17,900 Running

5/3/92 Winston 500 Pontiac 18 11 188/188 18,530 Running

7/26/92 Diehard 500 Pontiac 28 11 187/188 17,220 Running

5/6/91 Winston 500 Pontiac 7 26 146/188 5,645 Running

7/28/91 Diehard 500 Pontiac 8 6 188/188 16,250 Running

5/6/90 Winston 500 Pontiac 22 20 183/188 17,575 Running

7/29/90 Diehard 500 Pontiac 26 32 149/188 15,465 Engine

5/7/89 Winston 500 Pontiac 26 10 188/188 21,225 Running

7/30/89 Diehard 500 Pontiac 14 37 26/188 12,225 Accident

5/1/88 Winston 500 Pontiac 15 10 188/188 19,300 Running

7/31/88 Talladega 500 Pontiac 22 5 188/188 23,215 Running

5/3/87 Winston 500 Pontiac 14 6 187/188 21,325 Running

7/26/87 Talladega 500 Pontiac 9 8 188/188 14,645 Running

5/4/86 Winston 500 Pontiac 16 13 187/188 12,440 Running

7/27/86 Talladega 500 Pontiac 22 35 70/188 5,410 Engine

5/5/85 Winston 500 Pontiac 35 37 7/188 4,875 Engine

7/28/85 Talladega 500 Pontiac 23 17 183/188 7,860 Running

5/6/84 Winston 500 Pontiac 31 31 107/188 4,580 Steering

7/29/84 Talladega 500 Pontiac 10 12 188/188 8,035 Running

8/2/81 Talladega 500 Pontiac 19 21 147/188 2,225 Engine

Races Wins Top-5 Top-10 Poles $$$$$

Aaron's 499 21 0 0 5 0 $812,466

EA Sports 500 22 0 1 7 0 801,840

TOTAL 43 0 1 12 0 $1,614,306

Lap completion percentage: 6,580/8,025 = 82.0%

Rusty Snap-On at Infineon: This June, Snap-on will recognize racing legend Rusty Wallace's "Last Call" with a special paint scheme salute on his #2 Dodge Charger. The paint scheme will be unveiled in the June 26 NEXTEL Cup Series Dodge/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. The scheme prominently features the familiar Snap-on red logo on the hood with the Miller Lite logo and a special Snap-on 85th anniversary logo on the rear quarter panels. The recognition, in collaboration with Penske Racing South and primary sponsor Miller Brewing Company, continues Snap-on Tools Company's sponsorship of Rusty Wallace's #2 Dodge, a relationship that began in 2000. "Rusty's 'Last Call' represents the end of a racing era. During the last 24 years, Rusty has developed a skill for racing and a fan base unlike any other in NASCAR," said Carl Johanson, Snap-on Tools motorsports marketing manager. "Celebrating together with Penske Racing South, Snap-on couldn't be happier to commemorate Rusty's storied career alongside Miller Brewing Company." Beyond the special paint scheme, Snap-on Tools will feature special promotions and products throughout 2005 honoring Wallace's successful career on and off the track. (Ogilvy PR Worldwide), see an image of the scheme on my #2 Team Schemes page. Jayski.com 4/20/05

Contact: Tom Roberts/TRPR

(256) 508-2595

WHOSE TIME IS IT TO WIN AT P.I.R.? PERHAPS IT’S RUSTY’S

-Miller Lite Dodge Driver Rusty Wallace Expecting Another “Good And Solid” Performance At Phoenix–

AVONDALE, Ariz. (April 20, 2004) – “Good and solid.” Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace has been using that exact terminology – those very adjectives – quite often during the 2005 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup season. His most recent rendering comes in describing his Larry Carter-led team’s preparation for this weekend’s Subway Fres