RUSTY WALLACE & MILLER LITE TEAM PENSKE LOOKING TO "CLOSE THE DEAL" IN SATURDAY'S RICHMOND RACE

RICHMOND, Va. (May 1) - Miller Lite Team Penske driver Rusty Wallace is quick to point out that he should have won both races last year at Richmond International raceway. But the fact is that he could likely have won the last four races held on the 0.750-mile Richmond track.

In the four races held this century at RIR, Wallace has led 867 of the 1,200 laps (72 percent), yet he enters Saturday's Pontiac Excitement 400 still looking for his first Richmond Victory Lane visit since March 2, 1997. He posted the spring race record average speed of 108.499 mph (2 hours, 45 minutes, 54 seconds) in winning that race, his sixth career Richmond win.

"It's really frustrating, so that's why we decided to test at Richmond a couple of weeks back," Wallace offered. "The fact that we were so dominant there in both races last year and walked away empty handed really hurt a lot. We led the things all night long and right at the very end slipped up, finishing third the first race and fifth in the second race.

"When you get that close, you've just gotta' close the deal and we're planning on doing just that this weekend. We've hopped up the same car (PC-27) we used there last year and used it in the test. It's the one we'll race. We know that it's capable of getting the job done. We just have to be as good at the end of these things as we are for the first three-quarters of 'em."

Wallace started on the outside pole for both Richmond races last season. In the spring race, he took the lead from pole-winner Mark Martin on lap four and went on to lead five times for 276 laps. He led as late as lap 362. A late-race Dave Blaney spin saw NASCAR officials throw the red flag and force a two-lap shootout at the end. Tony Stewart emerged as the winner as Wallace and Jeff Gordon exchanged sheet metal and positions twice in the final laps. Gordon finished second, with Wallace third, Steve Park fourth and Ricky Rudd fifth.

"I really hated giving up the victory, but Tony really had a great car," Wallace recalled. "In long runs his car was hooked up better. I had a spring rubber in the right rear that we really needed to get out. I had too much rate in the right rear spring. I was concerned about that going into the race because I usually don't run that thing in there. Had a great car. Just one little small adjustment would've made it perfect at the end. It was so close, but it slipped away from us."

In last fall's race, Wallace again started on the outside pole and took the lead for the first of two times on lap 19. He went on to lead a total of 276 laps and he led as late as with less than 25 laps remaining.

"The big difference in that race came down to just a single pound of air," Wallace recalled. "We put some air in the right-rear tire on the last pit stop and it just killed me. It just made me so loose that I couldn't get it going. Before that, the car was perfect. I should have never touched it but I did. It was a little tight throughout the last runs and I said, 'Well, I'll put some air in the right-rear and make it turn better,' but all it did was make it looser and that's how we lost that one."

In the 2000 races, Wallace finished fifth and 34th, respectively. He started from the pole in the spring race and led 227 laps before fading at the end. In the fall race (debut of the PC-27), he led 88 laps and was leading when his engine blew with less than 100 laps remaining.

Wallace is also very much aware that Richmond has offered him his best shot at breaking his pole-win drought that dates back to the Nov. 5, 2000 Phoenix race.

"Mark beat us by three-thousandths of a second (Martin ran a lap of 21.667 seconds to Wallace's 21.670 seconds) for the pole in the spring race and (Jeff) Gordon just nipped us (21.617 seconds for Gordon, compared to Wallace's 21.685) to take the pole there in the fall," said Wallace. "So that shows that we've not only been so close in winning the races, we could have added to our number of poles, too."

Wallace is the statistical leader among active competitors at RIR and his six career wins rate twice that of any other active driver (Terry Labonte closest with three). Overall, he has six wins, 20 top-five finishes and 28 top-10 finishes in 36 races. He has three career Richmond poles, including the most recent one in the 2000 edition of the Pontiac 400.

PC-27 record.

The car of choice for this weekend's Richmond race is the PC-27. Here is a brief history of the car:
1) Debuted 9/9/00 at Richmond.started 5th and led 88 laps.was leading when the engine soured (finished 34th).
2) Started 5th & finished 5th at New Hampshire in Sept. 2000
restrictor-plate race.
3) Started outside pole & led 53 laps at Martinsville last October
(finished 23rd).
4) Set the track qualifying record at Phoenix last October.led 86 laps en route to a 4th-place finish.

During the 2001 season:
5) Started on outside pole & led 58 laps in April Martinsville race
(finished 13th).
6) Started on outside pole & led most laps (5 times for 276 laps) in Richmond May race en route to 3rd-place finish.
7) In the 9/8 race at Richmond.started on outside pole & dominated (led 2 times for 276 laps) before fading to 5th-place finish.
8) In most recent race, the 10/15/01 race at Martinsville, started ninth and finished 15th, fighting a loose condition the entire race.

TOTALS.8 races, 0 wins, 4 top-5s, 4-top-10s, 1 pole (Phoenix in 2000), 2 outside poles (both Richmond races in 2001).led laps in 6 races and led the most laps in both 2001 Richmond races.


So goes the love between Rusty Wallace and the .750-mile racing facility located north of Richmond on the Virginia State Fairgrounds at Strawberry Hill.

"What's the perfect race track?" a media member asked Wallace late last season. "Richmond," Wallace responded immediately as if upon instinct.

"So if you were in the race track business and you could build a new track today, what would you build?"

"I'd build another Richmond," Wallace said, again without any
hesitation. "It's just the perfect size. It offers super competition...great side-by-side racing...and there's plenty of room for everybody. They could keep adding seats at that place if they wanted to.

"I think everybody loves Richmond," Wallace continued. "I know that even R.P. (Roger Penske, team majority owner) really loves the place. He'll be up there in the spotters' stand before the night race starts and says just how great it would be to have a bunch of the Richmond tracks scattered out across the country."