WALLACE & MILLER LITE TEAM PENSKE NOTES, QUOTES, NEWS & VIEWS ENTERING THE NEW ENGLAND 300

LOUDON, N. H. (July 16, 2002) -- Rusty Wallace and his Bill Wilburn-led Miller Lite Team Penske had just rolled their Ford Taurus back into the team transporter Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway after finishing 25th in the Tropicana 400 when Wilburn said, "Well, it wasn't pretty, but at least it wasn't a DNF (did not finish)."

Wilburn unknowingly stated a fact that little has been made of along the NASCAR Winston Cup tour. Sunday's finish marked the 32nd consecutive race that Wallace has completed where he was running at the finish his 32nd race without a DNF a career record for the 1989 series champion and 54-race winner.

Wallace experienced handling problems early in Sunday's race and lost his primary ignition box on the 81st lap. Tony Stewart put him a lap down on lap 99. The team continued to adjust on the car and Wallace was challenging Dale Earnhardt Jr. to get the lost lap back on lap 202 when his engine dropped a cylinder. He nursed the car for the remainder of the race to finish 25th, completing 266 of the 267 laps.

"I guess 25th is certainly better than 35th, and we could have easily finished that far back with all the problems we had here today," Wilburn continued. "Consistency means no DNFs and we still don't have any this year."

Wallace's streak of finishing all the races dates back to the August race last year at Watkins Glen, N. Y. His second longest period of no DNFs was from 6/28/98 until 4/25/99, a series of 28 races.

Qualifying for this weekend's New England 300 is set for Friday at 3:05 p.m. The final "happy hour" practice session is scheduled from 11:15 p.m. until 12:00 noon on Saturday. Sunday's 300-lap, 317.4-mile race begins at 1:30 p.m. EDT and features live coverage by TNT-TV and MRN
Radio.

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MOORESVILLE, N.C. (July 16, 2002) -- "49 to Loudon, 47 to Pocono and new 51 to Indy," said Jeff Thousand, chassis expert and car chief for Rusty Wallace's Miller Lite Team Penske.

No, Thousand wasn't in the huddle calling plays for a football team, even though that's what the dialogue may sound like. Instead, he was responding to the question of which cars the team will be using in upcoming races.

Wallace will race the team's "PC-49" in this weekend's New Hampshire 300. The car debuted at Martinsville back in April. It started fifth and finished 16th in its only outing to date. Wallace will race the "PC-47" at Pocono in two weeks. The car debuted in the June 9 Pocono race, where Wallace started fifth and finish ninth. It hasn't been raced since. The new PC-51" chassis is being used in the testing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this week and the team expects to race it in the August 4 Brickyard 400.

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LOUDON, N.H. (July 16, 2002) -- You gotta' have heart!
According to Miller Lite Team Penske crew chief Bill Wilburn, his
current roster of "over-the-wall-gang" members who are servicing Rusty Wallace's Ford Taurus may not be the fastest on pit road at this time, but they're headed in that direction.

"I've never seen a bunch with such heart," Wilburn said. "They're not the fastest right now.probably top five.but they're determined to be the best. They'll practice so hard and so long that it'll about wear me out just watching them."

Wallace's "over-the-wall-gang" members include jackman Tim ("Bam-Bam") Boatwright, rear tire carrier David ("Double D") Doyle, rear tire changer ("Rapid Robbie") Rob Fuller, gas catch man Nick ("Boomer") Giambruno, gas man Doug ("Pooh Bear") Ingold, front tire carrier ("Dynamic Dave") Dave Littau and front tire changer Dennis ("No Fear") Terry.

Toby Mellott cleans the windshield and is the tire specialist, while Earl Barban has returned to the chief spotter position for the team.