WALLACE & MILLER LITE TEAM PENSKE CONFIDENTLY "UNTESTED" FOR SIRIUS SATELLITE 400 AT MICHIGAN

BROOKLYN, Mich. (June 12, 2002) Rusty Wallace and his Bill
Wilburn-led Miller Lite Team Penske are "untested" and "ready for anything" in this weekend's Sirius Satellite 400 at Michigan
International Speedway.

"I think we have a good hold on Michigan and we didn't really care to use a test for this race," said Wallace, a five-time winner on the 2.0-mile Michigan International Speedway oval. "We've been strong enough to win there for about as long as I can remember. We have the same car we won with at Michigan the season before last -- the car we call 'Mad Max' -- and the setups we've used have been pretty darned reliable. There's just so much you can focus on in a test anyhow. You've gotta' have the horsepower and you've gotta' have a great handling race car, that's for sure. But, the fact is that some things factor into the races there that you just can't test for."

"How the heck can you test for fuel mileage races?" asked crew chief Bill Wilburn with a chuckle, continuing on with Wallace's line of thinking. "Or, would testing do you a ton of good when it comes down to races being won by two-tire or no-tire pit stop strategy at the end? The bottom line is that those have been the deciding factors in the biggest part of Michigan races. You have to be -- and I think we are -- ready for anything at Michigan this weekend. I mean it is such that the record book even shows that we've won a race on fuel mileage there before and Rusty Wallace is definitely not known for winning races on fuel mileage, is he?"

Wallace did in fact win the June (23rd) 1996 Michigan race due to fuel mileage.

"We weren't 10 laps into the race when Rusty had already commented about the engine being down on power," recalled Wilburn, who served as front tire changer for Wallace during that race. "I remember that we were down on power, but we were able to take advantage of the situation. Robin (Pemberton) was calling the shots 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."

Wallace has indeed won races in most every possible manner during his 36 starts at MIS. The track certainly holds many memories through the years.

"Our great runs at Michigan back in '88 and '89 really helped us
in our battles for the championship," said Wallace, who recorded a win and a runner-up finish each of those two seasons. "I'm certainly proud of those races and thankful that it was performances like those at Michigan that helped us win the title in '89 and saw us finish as the runner-up in '88.

"But, when I think back about racing at Michigan, probably my
fondest memory is that of winning the June race back in 1994," said Wallace, whose ninth-place finish at Pocono on Sunday marked the 300th top-10 finish of his career. "As a matter of fact, when they asked me after Bristol and the 50th win to look back over all of 'em and pick the special ones out, that race always stuck out in my top-three or so.

"We had an absolute killer car and looked to be the team to beat
all day long," Wallace recalled. "Buddy Parrott was calling the shots in the pits back then and we had stretched it out to a big, big lead. Well, we were stretching out the fuel mileage but finally the thing started sputtering and we had to come down pit road.

"They put a super stop on me, but the engine still was having a
tough time picking up the fuel they put in. Buddy was lying all over the hood spraying the ether down into the breather when the motor finally fired full force. There I went hauling butt on down pit road with Buddy still riding on the front like a hood ornament. About 20 pits on down, he rolled off the side of the car. I looked back in the mirror and there he was rolling around on pit road.

"You know Buddy used to be a pretty darned good showman when it came to diving and swimming," said Wallace. "I remember during the early years when he was working at DiGard, he'd put on a real diving show down in Daytona at the hotel swimming pools during the Firecracker 400 race weekend. They'd be coming into the race track in the morning all talking
about Buddy diving from some balcony into some motel swimming pool.

"Well, I'm still not convinced that it wasn't some of Buddy's
famous theatrics that went into his riding on my hood and rolling down pit road that day in Michigan.

"Anyhow, in the race we got back out there and the caution came out," said Wallace. We got really behind and the time was running out. We lined back up in the 12th spot and there were 12 laps left in the race. They dropped the green and we set sail. We passed about a car every lap and it came down to us passing (Dale) Earnhardt over in turn three with the checkered flag waving right there in front of us.

"It was about the coolest win that you could ever have. It was
hotter than heck there that weekend and they'd had problems with the track surface coming apart there on Saturday. It was a Penske-owned track back then and I remember seeing Roger (Penske) out there working with the track crew fixing the holes as it was getting dark.

"We won that race and I think it was the first time that one of
Roger's teams had won a race there," said Rusty. "I've got a lot of pictures from that win. There's Buddy standing there in Victory Lane with his pants leg all torn to crap. He was skinned up pretty bad and he played that injury up to the max...limping around and all. Buddy and me...we named that car 'Captain' in honor of Roger right there in Victory Lane. I tell you, it was a helluva deal...one of the most exciting races ever. To have won it like we did was definitely one of my greatest memories, that's for sure."

Then there was Wallace's last win at MIS, which came in the August (20th) 2000 race and produced the "Mad Max" nickname for the same car he is racing this weekend. For the record, the former "PC-25" was built early in the 2000 season and debuted in the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. It won in its fourth start and, in Penske Racing South tradition, received its name after the Michigan win.

In that race, Wallace started his "PC-25" Ford Taurus in the 10th
spot. The team's first gutsy call of the day saw them take on only two tires during a lap 26 pit stop under the yellow. That move gave Wallace the lead for the first time of the day.

He swapped the lead with Bobby Labonte and Ricky Rudd during the first half of the race (first 100 laps). Hut Stricklin crashed in turn four on lap 101 to bring out the sixth yellow of the day and all the leaders hit pit road. A 15.31-second stop saw Wallace emerge second behind leader Rudd for the lap 109 restart. He wasted little time taking the lead, getting around Rudd on the very next lap. It was a "near miss" for Wallace on lap 117, when he narrowly avoided crashing in turn one after he and Rudd made contact while fighting for the lead.

Bill Elliott's crash on lap 124 brought out caution flag No. 7 and
saw the leaders pit once again. Another two-tire stop had Wallace out in the lead again for the lap 130 restart. Wallace stretched his lead to 2.6 seconds over second-place Bobby Labonte until Rudd overtook Labonte on lap 146 and started closing in. By lap 155, the advantage was only 1.09 seconds and five laps later Wallace and Rudd were again running side-by-side for the lead. Rudd finally powered by for the lead on lap
162.

The final green flag stops began on lap 166 and Wallace pitted for four tires, fuel and a minor chassis change on lap 170. When Rudd and Labonte had pitted, the stops cycled around on lap 177. With Rudd and Labonte taking on only two tires, they emerged with a four-second lead over Wallace, but he was catching them at more than a quarter of a second per lap.

Robby Gordon's lap 179 crash helped to close everything up. Just before the race went back to green on lap 183, then crew chief Robin Pemberton radioed, "Okay Rusty, you're going to have about 16 laps to go. You've got four new skins on that thing and those guys in front of you only have two. It's all in your hands now." "Thanks a lot, pal," chuckled back Wallace on his radio.

"Just don't look back," chimed in Penske Corporation's Walt
Czarnecki, who was helping spot for Wallace that day. Czarnecki's comment could have been the theme for the entire day for Wallace and his Penske South Team. Just as they'd done for the vast majority of the day, they did not look back. Wallace passed Labonte for second on lap 183 and overtook Rudd for the lead on lap 184.

"Keep your fingers crossed, boys," Wallace radioed in on lap 186. By lap 190, he'd stretched his lead over Rudd to 2.1 seconds and it was growing. On lap 195, it was up to 2.5 seconds over Rudd and it continued to grow the final five laps, with Wallace coming home a convincing 2.977-second winner over Rudd at the finish.

"We're naming this car here today 'Mad Max,' Wallace said in his post-race winner's interview after the win, his fifth career victory at MIS. "It's the same car we raced at Indy in the (2000) Brickyard 400. After leading that race all day long and having to settle for second, I was madder than hell. We brought the thing back here today and it performed to the very 'max. So, it's now called 'Mad Max.'"

In last year's June Michigan race, Wallace started 18th, was caught up in an early crash and finished 41st. He started 14th in last August's race and led three times for 25 laps before the engine soured, relegating Wallace to a 17th-place finish. The race was called after 162 laps due to rain and darkness.

"We had a heck of a car that day," Wallace recalled. "It was a rocket but when the race restarted, we blew up. It definitely 'woulda-shoulda' been another Michigan win for us."

"Mad Max" was also the car Wallace raced to his most recent win in last year's (4/29/01) NAPA Parts 500 at California Speedway.

Friday's 3:05 p.m. single round of two-lap qualifying will establish
the 43-car starting field for Sunday's race. Saturday's final "happy hour" practice session is scheduled for 11:15 a.m. till 12:00 noon. Sunday's Sirius Satellite 400 features live broadcasts by Fox-TV and MRN radio beginning at 12:30 p.m. EDT.