WALLACE & MILLER LITE TEAM PENSKE
CARRYING MOMENTUM INTO VIRGINIA 500 AT MARTINSVILLE

MARTINSVILLE, Virginia (April 10, 2002) Rusty Wallace and his Bill Wilburn-led Miller Lite Team Penske led for the first time this season at Texas during Monday's rain-delayed race and look to carry additional momentum into Sunday's Virginia 500 at Martinsville Speedway. According to crew chief Wilburn, a couple of important factors will enter into the equation this weekend.

"We're debuting a brand new car and you know what a powerful
combination that new cars and Rusty Wallace seem to produce," said Wilburn of the team's new "PC-49" short track car built at the Mooresville, N.C., Penske Racing South shop. "We're going back to Rusty's proven old setups that he's had so much success with at Martinsville, so we're all really pumped up about it.

"The bottom line, I guess you could say, is that something old and something new could be the trick for number two," Wilburn said with a chuckle. "At least that's what we're hoping will be the case for Martinsville."

The fact that Friday's 11:20 a.m. opening practice session will be the first time that the car has ever been on a race track doesn't seem to concern Wilburn.

"That's what the chassis dyno is for, isn't it?" he asked. "It might
have helped taking the car down to some place like Greenville-Pickens and shaking it down before we head to Martinsville with it, but to tell you the truth, it may be better just to go in there cold turkey with the thing.

"Through the years, it's almost like something magical when Rusty has a new hot rod to work with," said Wilburn. "We're giving him that and are going back to what's worked so well in the past as far as the chassis goes. The last race there, we went a little too soft spring-wise thinking it'd work better with this new Goodyear we're using now. I guess you could say that we learned a lot through experience there last year.

"We're going back to the exact same qualifying setup we had under the car for the first race there last year. He started on the outside of the front row. I'm thinking we can go there, qualify well, get a good pit spot and throw good pit stops at him all day long. If we can do that and get the luck going with the pit strategy end of the deal, we definitely can win the thing there on Sunday."

Wallace, Wilburn and team were finally able to put their Ford Taurus out front and led for the first time this season, leading two times for a total of 37 laps before A-frame problems put a damper on their race-winning prospects.

"It really felt good to get up there and lead those laps at Texas,"
said Wallace, the Martinsville statistical leader among active drivers with six wins and three poles entering this weekend's race. "I thought we had the car to beat before we had the problem.thought we had the field covered.

"Billy's been good at keeping me focused on taking it one race at a time this season. Texas is over and done with. Now it's total focus on Martinsville and taking the momentum with us into there this weekend.

"We went through a deal there several years ago where we had a big winning streak going at Martinsville...won something like three or four in a row," Wallace said. "We're looking at starting something like that again this time around."

During the 1993 through 1996 seasons, Wallace won five of the eight races held on the .526-mile paper clip-shaped short track. He also had a runner-up finish and a third during that same period. His overall Martinsville record boasts the six wins, along with 15 top-five finishes and 20 top-10 finishes.

He started second and finished 13th in last April's event. In last
fall's race, Wallace started ninth and finished 15th.

Friday's 3:05 p.m. EDT single round of qualifying will allocate all the starting spots for Sunday's 500-lap race. The Virginia 500 has a 1:00 p.m. EDT starting time on Sunday and features live coverage by FX-TV and MRN Radio.