RACE DAY REPORT
BRICKYARD 400
INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY - INDIANAPOLIS, IND.
AUGUST 2, 2003

PRE-RACE NOTES &
RACE INFORMATION:

Robby Gordon turned in the fastest lap in the final "happy hour" practice session here late yesterday afternoon. Rookie Jamie McMurray was second, Steve Park third, Jimmie Johnson fourth and Rusty's Penske Racing teammate, Ryan Newman, fifth. Rusty was 27th on the speed chart, but said not to worry.

"We have a car that can run with any of them and we weren't set up for cutting any fast laps right off the bat," Rusty said before the 11:30 a.m. driver and crew chief meeting this morning. "I think once the race gets under way and we start logging some laps, you'll see our car get stronger and stronger. The big deal here today, however, will be the same thing we've seen week in and week out. Track position, fuel mileage and pit strategy -they will all likely be a factor in winning this thing here this afternoon."

While weather has been a big concern here throughout the weekend, all the events leading up to today's 10th annual Brickyard 400 have been completed on schedule.

The Penske Team members awoke this morning at their downtown hotel to see an early shower making way for clearing skies. They had departed the Embassy Suites just prior to the fire alarm sounding before 6:15 a.m. Although it was thought to be the work of a foolish prankster, two fire trucks were called to the scene and remaining guests were urged to vacate their rooms.

Partly cloudy skies were the case for most of the morning here at the track. The forecast calls for a 50 percent chance of late-afternoon thunderstorms, with the high temperature reaching into the low 80-degree range.

With less than an hour remaining before the scheduled 1:30 p.m. start of the race, the weather was ideal and the prognosticators had lowered their rain expectations to only 20 percent.

Pole-winner Kevin Harvick and his RCR team chose the first pit on pit road here today. The Penske teams are pitted side-by-side, with Ryan and his Matt Borland-led team working out of the 10th spot and Rusty's Bill Wilburn-led team using the 11th spot. There is an opening in the wall in front of Ryan's pit and Sterling Marlin's team occupies the pit spot behind Rusty's.

The engines were fired at 1:40 p.m. here this afternoon and the field rolled off pit road at 1:43 p.m. After three parade laps, the green flag was waved at 1:50 p.m.

Pole-winner Harvick got a good jump to lead with Ryan second. Three-wide racing saw Rusty slide from 14th to 17th while he was trying to find the preferred inside groove.

Bill Elliott got around Ryan for second on the second lap as Ryan radioed, "I'm tight in turns one and two."

After 10 laps, it was Harvick leading Elliott by five car lengths and Ryan running 1.1 seconds behind.

Car owner Roger Penske was high above the action coaching his drivers on and helping with the spotting chores. "Use that bottom line in one and two and you'll pick them up," he radioed to Rusty on alp 17.

Elliott got around Harvick for the lead on lap 18. Tony Stewart was the man on the move in the early going, as he got around Ryan for third on lap 20. Running three-tenths of a second faster than anyone else, Stewart got around Harvick for second on lap 21 and overtook Elliott for the lead on lap 26.

"We gotta get more weight on the left front wheel - it's killing us," Rusty radioed on lap 27. "We'll be pitting here in a few laps and we'll try to fix it," Bill shot back.

Green flag stops started on lap 33. Rusty hit pit road on alp 35 for four tires and fuel (-1 pound lefts & right front, +1 pound right front, -1 round wedge & removed the rubber out of the left rear) in 16.048 seconds.

Ryan came in on lap 36 for four tires and fuel (+2 rounds of wedge) in a quick 14.150 seconds.

The very next lap Dale Jarrett spun into his pits, hitting his jack man and bringing out the first yellow of the race. Several cars had yet to pit, with Jeff Gordon and others forced to either run out of gas or get penalized for pitting while the pits were closed. Others were able to wait until the pits were opened on lap 41.

For the lap 45 restart, it was Ryan with the lead, Johnson second, Rusty third, Stewart fourth and Elliott fifth. John Andretti crashed out of turn two the following lap to cause the second cation and allow some 14 cars to get back in the lead lap.

Stewart was again showing his strength as he lined up second behind Ryan for the lap 51 restart, with Rusty third, Johnson fourth and Harvick fifth. Stewart quickly got around Ryan for the lead after the green flew again.

At lap 60, Stewart held a 1.3-second lead over Ryan, with Rusty third and running 3.5 seconds behind.

"The right rear has been shaking this whole run," Ryan radioed on lap 62. "It must really be out of balance."

At lap 75, it was Stewart by 1.6 seconds over Ryan and a whopping 10.2 seconds on third-place Rusty. Johnson and Jamie McMurray rounded out the top five.

Another round of green flag stops started on lap 79 when Johnson hit pit road. Rusty came down pit road on lap 80 for four tires and fuel (-1 pound left front & + 1 round on the track bar) in 14.644 seconds.

Ryan and crew tried to stretch it another lap and paid dearly as he ran out of fuel and had to nurse it back to pit road.

Stewart finally pitted on lap 82 and Ryan found himself losing 19 seconds to the No. 20 car in the process.

The stops cycled around on alp 87 when Mark Martin finally pitted. Stewart led, with McMurray second, Rusty third, Matt Kenseth fourth and Johnson fifth. Ryan was back in the seventh spot and running 19.9 seconds behind.

"It's still tight - still just too tight," Rusty radioed on lap 91, as Kenseth got around him for third.

At lap 100, Stewart led McMurray by 4.9 seconds and was 10.3 seconds ahead of third-place Kenseth. He was 13.5 seconds in front of fourth-place Rusty and 17.9 seconds in front of Ryan.

The third caution of the race flew on lap 104 for oil dropping from Elliott Sadler's Ford. The initial call in Rusty's pit was to go with two tires and get track position, but after considering the laps remaining and the big picture, both Rusty and Ryan went with four tires and fuel during the ensuing caution flag stops.

Rusty's stop was clocked at 14.785 seconds and Ryan's 15.103.

Three cars (Mike Skinner, Robby Gordon and Bobby Labonte) went with two tires only and lined up first through third for the lap 110 restart. Then came McMurray, Kenseth, Johnson, Rusty, Stewart, Harvick, Ricky Craven and Ryan.

"It's just still too tight," Rusty radioed on lap 112 as he had slipped to ninth.

"This set of tires are just tight as hell," he added three laps later.

Ryan got around Rusty for ninth on lap 124 when the main topic on pit road turned to strategy for the remainder of the race. Ryan, Matt and crew made the first move on lap 126, when they hit the pits for right-side tires and fuel in 7.630 seconds.

The theory was that if it stayed green, everyone would eventually have to pit. If another caution fell after another 20 laps, those who had yet to pit would still have to. Ryan would be good to go the distance and would have the track position up front.

Several other teams followed that same strategy in the next few laps. Unfortunately Ryan was running just behind leader Kenseth, but a lap down, on lap 139 when the fourth caution of the race fell. Debris on the backstretch brought out the yellow and saw Ryan and several other fast cars running down a lap.

When Kenseth hit pit road, Rusty followed to get right-side tires and fuel on lap 141.

The lap 145 restart saw Ryan, Bobby Labonte, Michael Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Dave Blaney and Greg Biffle all start at the tail end of the lead lap, just in front of leader Kenseth. Johnson was second, with Kurt Busch third, Robby Gordon fourth, Jeff Gordon fifth and Rusty sixth.

"Everybody stay sharp up there spotting - it's gonna be a really wild one here," Rusty radioed just before the green flag flew again.

His words were prophetic as Terry Labonte got spun out in turn four the very next lap to trigger a multi-car crash and bring out caution flag No. 5. The cars of Joe Nemechek, Sterling Marlin, Ricky Rudd, Skinner and others were involved, with several relegated to the garage for the day.

The crash was a blessing for Ryan and several others as they were able to stay in front of Kenseth and get their laps back at the yellow flag. Ryan took advantage of the situation and hit pit road for more right-side tires and fuel (in 7.3 seconds).

Rusty's hope for a single-file restart fell one lap short (of 10 to go) and the lineup saw Harvick with the lead, Robby Gordon second, McMurray third, Kenseth fourth, Jeff Gordon fifth, Rusty sixth, Elliott seventh, Martin eighth, Steve Park ninth and Stewart 10th. Ryan lined up 15th in the order.

Harvick got a great breakaway jump and had a 1.3-second lead on Robby Gordon with eight laps to go. Rusty's tight condition saw him start to fade in the waning laps. Elliott got around on lap 154 and Busch followed the next lap around. While McMurray and Kenseth got around Robby Gordon on lap 155, Rusty was falling back and Ryan was gaining spots.

Kenseth overtook McMurray for second with three to go, but he was 3.5 seconds behind Harvick. With two to go, Rusty had been held up by the lapped car of Todd Bodine and had slid to 10th, while Ryan was up to 11th.

The running order stayed the same for the final circuit and Harvick emerged with a 2.758-second win over Kenseth. McMurray finished third, with Jeff Gordon fourth, Elliott fifth, Robby Gordon sixth, Busch seventh, Jimmy Spencer eighth, Martin ninth, Rusty 10th and Ryan 11th.

Kenseth's finish allowed him to gain even more ground in the point standings as he now has a 286-point advantage over Earnhardt Jr., who finished 14th here today (3,152 to 2,866). Jeff Gordon is third with 2,834, Johnson fourth with 2,656, Waltrip fifth with 2,653, Bobby Labonte sixth with 2,642, Harvick seventh with 2,623, Busch eighth with 2,569, Ryan ninth with 2,498 and Rusty 10th with 2,467.

The Winston Cup circuit now heads up to the road course at Watkins Glen, N.Y., for the final road course event of the 2003 season. NBC-TV and MRN Radio will provide live coverage of the race beginning at 1:00 p.m. EDT next Sunday.

POST-RACE QUOTES:

RUSTY WALLACE: "It was kind of a long day. It came down to a strategy thing again. My car was just too tight. That's the problem I had all day. It pushed like crazy. It was really good last night, but we started today and it was tight from the start. We got one spring rubber out of the left rear. We needed to get one more, but we just didn't get to it with the time we had out there. It was a typical strategy deal. I thought my guys did a great job out there today. They played the strategy great this time. Instead of getting caught on gas, we caught them this time. Another top 10 at Indy. I've got a bunch of them here at Indy. I just need to win one now."