MILLER LITE TEAM PENSKE DRIVER RUSTY WALLACE LOOKING FOR MORE MAGIC AT BRISTOL

BRISTOL, Tenn. (March 20, 2002) Even though his Miller Lite Team Penske didn't get in their planned testing at Bristol Motor Speedway last week due to adverse weather conditions, driver Rusty Wallace enters this weekend's Food City 500 with great expectations.

"We certainly did want to get those two days of testing in last week, but the weather just didn't cooperate with us," said Wallace, who enters this weekend's sixth points race of the 2002 season fourth in the standings, trailing leader Sterling Marlin by 148. "We thought we were just a tick off in the qualifying and in the races at Bristol last season and hoped to work on that. But the fact is that we're carrying a ton of momentum going into Bristol and that means a whole lot.

"It's like a home track for us and we're always so pumped up for the Bristol races," said Wallace, whose career statistics boast 54 wins and 35 poles heading into his 37th race on the .533-mile high-banked oval. "We have so much history behind us at Bristol.nine wins and seven poles.it's where I won my first and my 50th race.what else can I say about the place?"

Wallace need not say much more because his superb Bristol record speaks for itself. In 36 career Bristol races, Wallace is the statistical leader among active drivers, recording the nine wins and seven poles, along with 19 top-five finishes and 25 top-10 tallies. He won both Bristol races during the 2000 season.

Wallace's self-proclaimed "tick off" situation at Bristol last season produced a fourth-place start and seventh-place finish in the March race and a ninth-place start and fifth-place finish in the August event. Those numbers would be the envy of most competitors, yet they're not up to Wallace's high standards at Bristol.

"We've had so much success at Bristol that we always come there looking to qualify up front, lead the most laps and head to victory lane when the thing is over," said Wallace, armed with a streak of 16 consecutive winning seasons and hoping to make it 17 this Sunday. "In the spring race there last year, we didn't lead any laps, but I think we were stronger than that seventh-place finished showed. We cut a tire down and got behind early in the race and track position proved to be so important. It was pit strategy, with guys not pitting and all at the end.

"In the night race last summer, we got out front and led a ton of laps (led two times for total of 123 laps)," Wallace said. "We had the car to beat for much of the race, but it got a little too loose at the end. We were running fourth, but we got bumped up the track there in turn three on the last lap and wound up finishing fifth."

Friday's 3:05 p.m. single round of qualifying will establish the
complete starting field for Sunday's 500-lap race. Sunday's Food City 500 on the lightning-fast .533-mile Bristol Motor Speedway, begins at 1:00 p.m. EST and features live coverage by Fox-TV and PRN Radio.

BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY certainly does hold many highlights for Rusty Wallace through the years. Here is a quick look back:

1) Apr. 6, 1986 -- Wallace started 14th and led three times for a total of 174 laps en route to his first career NASCAR Winston Cup victory. It came in his 72nd series start and only his fifth at Bristol.
2) Aug. 26, 1988 -- Wallace involved in one of the most horrendous crashes in his career. In practice, he blew a right front tire and launched off the fourth-turn wall, flipping wildly down the frontstretch. Miraculously, he started the race the next evening, turning the driving duties over to Larry Pearson at his first opportunity. The performance was good enough for a ninth-place finish and kept Wallace in the thick of the season's points battle.

3) Apr. 9, 1989 -- Wallace started eighth and dominates to win his third of six races during the season. Wallace would go on to win three more races in his run to the season's points championship.

4) Apr. 14, 1991 -- Wallace took his Penske Racing South Pontiac entry from the pole to Victory Lane in only the new team's sixth start.

5) Apr. 4, 1993 -- Wallace won the pole the day after driving friend Alan Kulwicki perishes in plane crash while attempting to land at area airport. Pitting in the spot reserved for the absent defending series champion, Wallace records his fourth Bristol win. He pays tribute to the fallen champion by performing Kulwicki's patented "Polish Victory Lap" after taking the checkered flag.

6) Aug. 26, 1995 -- An early race "punt" by Dale Earnhardt put Wallace into the wall and out of action for 46 laps before he returned to the race. Wallace retaliated after the race with some harsh words for Earnhardt and by throwing and connecting with a plastic water bottle.

7) Aug. 24, 1996 -- Wearing a "neon yellow" driving suit for the first, last and only time in his career, Wallace started fifth and dominated to post his sixth career Bristol win. With his Miller-sponsored "teammates" from Don Prudhomme's NHRA team joining in the Victory Lane celebration, Wallace names his winning ride "Snake" in honor of his legendary drag
racing friend.

8) Apr. 13, 1997 -- ...the famous 'love tap' episode with Jeff Gordon. Wallace had won the pole and led the most laps (4 times for 240 laps) leading up to the incident that has been forever used in the sport's video highlights. Wallace had taken the lead for the final time on lap 415 and led the race until the last turn of the last lap when contact from the rear applied by Gordon got Wallace out of shape enough to allow Gordon to pass for the win.

9) Apr. 11, 1999 -- Wallace started from the pole and gave his own lecture on the term "dominance." Leading 425 of the 500 laps, Wallace named the car 'Banker' in Victory Lane because of the Bristol high banks and the team taking the big money to the bank. "It doesn't get any cooler than this," Wallace said in the press box after the win.

10) Apr. 26, 2000 -- Wallace started sixth and led three times for 86 laps, including the final 76 circuits en route to the win, his second spring Bristol race victory in as many years and most importantly...his 50th career win that had been so elusive.

11) Aug. 26, 2000 -- Wallace started from the pole and led five times for a total of 279 laps en route to his 53rd career win overall and his ninth at Bristol. It marked the first time he won both Bristol races in the same season.