QUALIFYING DAY REPORT
VIRGINIA 500
MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY-MARTINSVILLE, VIRGINIA
FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 2003

PRACTICE INFORMATION:

Miller Lite driver Rusty Wallace is coming back in here to Martinsville Speedway this weekend looking to bounce back from a disastrous race day last Sunday at Talladega, Ala.

Rusty's Penske Racing teammate Ryan Newman lost a left rear tire on the fourth lap of the event, which instigated what has become known as 'the big wreck" which is common to the restricor-plate races held at Talladega and Daytona. This wreck took out the most cars yet. Rusty was able to return to complete eight additional laps, but he too was done for the day after that.

A planned late model test session for Rusty's younger son Stephen at Hickory Speedway fell victim to rain on Monday Rusty spent Tuesday and Wednesday at Augusta National taking in the "pre-game" scenery in advance of this weekend's Masters.

Rusty and his Bill Wilburn-led team ventured up to Lonesome Pine Speedway over in Coeburn last week to get some practice in for this race.

"Winning six races at Martinsville and having all the success we've had there certainly gives us a confidence boost that we need," Rusty said earlier this week about going from the longest track on the circuit at Talladega to the shortest track, the .526-mile paper clip-shaped Martinsville Speedway. "It could be the shot in the arm that we need right now, that's for sure."

Another band of wet weather moved through the Southeast the last few days and there was flooding around the track here in Henry County, Va., yesterday, but this morning saw the bad weather move out.

There was only a minor delay in the start of the morning's practice. It was moved back to 11:30 a.m. from 11:20 a.m.

At 12:30 p.m., half way through the practice session, Jeff Gordon had turned in the fastest practice lap with a 20.250. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was second, with Tony Stewart third, rookie Jack Sprague fourth and Ryan's 20.351 fifth. Rusty was making shock changes and his 20.487 was 23rd on the speed chart.

When practice concluded, Gordon's early lap was still fastest. Stewart's 20.253 was second, Earnhardt's 20.280 was third, Jimmie Johnson's 20.287 was fourth and Mike Skinner's 20.289 was fifth. Ryan's earlier lap was seventh, while Rusty's 20.445 was 22nd.

"We finally got the thing to get over the bump down in two and get off the turn pretty straight out of four, so I think we'll be okay here in qualifying," Rusty said in the transporter after practice had concluded.

Local favorite Ward Burton kicks off the 3:05 p.m. qualifying session. The order sees Stewart out 16th, Earnhardt 20th, Ryan 26th, Gordon 27th and Rusty 35th of the 43 cars scheduled to make qualifying attempts.

Burton kicked off the session with a 20.337, which held the pole until Ken Schrader, out eighth, ran a 20.233. That held the top spot until Earnhardt clocked in with a 20.174 (93.863 mph).

Ryan was a threat with his 20.214 (93.678 mph), but Gordon knocked the No. 8 car from the top spot with his 20.079 (94.307 mph).

Rusty was out as scheduled and picked up tremendously from practice as he turned in a 20.243 (93.543 mph) on his first and faster lap.

So for Sunday start of the Virginia 500, it's Gordon on the pole, with Earnhardt on the outside of the front row, Ryan third, Schrader fourth and Rusty fifth. Joe Nemechek, Jimmie Johnson, Stewart, Kenny Wallace and Jeff Burton round out the top 10 starters.

Sunday's 500-lap battle has a 1:00 p.m. EDT starting time and features live coverage by FOX-TV and MRN Radio.

RUSTY'S QUOTES:

RUSTY WALLACE (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Intrepid)
"It was a pretty good run. I was just a little bit free up off the
corners, but we picked it up a good, solid two-tenths from practice. We tried so many different things. We took all those things we thought would work and combined them into one. We went out there and got in a good lap. We've got an idea of what we want to change from previous times here for the race, so I
feel good about Sunday."