RACE DAY REPORT
SIRIUS @ THE GLEN
WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL - WATKINS GLEN, N.Y.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 10, 2003

PRE-RACE NOTES &
RACE INFORMATION:

Yes indeed, the biggest issue confronting the drivers and teams gathered here at Watkins Glen International for today's Sirius @ the Glen concerns the weather.

But the situation goes much deeper than the fact that the forecast calls for a 60 percent chance of rain. NASCAR officials have stated that if they can get the race started as scheduled at 1:30 p.m. here this afternoon, they may bring out the Goodyear rain tires in order to complete the race or log enough of the laps to make the race official.

In other words, history could be made here today if the tires are put to use under a regular points-paying competition. Heretofore, the tires have only been brought out in practice and in a European-style qualifying session for the last exhibition event held at the Suzuka road course in Japan back in 1997.

Yesterday's weather also called for a 60 percent chance of rain. Fortunately, officials got on both sessions of Winston Cup practice yesterday morning and got in the majority of the Busch North Series race yesterday afternoon before heavy rain hit the track.

Tony Stewart was fastest in yesterday's early practice, with Mark Martin second and road racer Ron Fellows third. Rusty clocked in with the 23rd-fastest lap. Stewart wound up having to change engines after the final practice and will be forced to drop back from his fourth starting spot to the rear of the field for the start of the race.

Rookie Greg Biffle, who starts today's race from the outside of the front row, was fastest in the final practice. Martin was again second and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who had an off-track encounter during the session, was third. Rusty was 20th.

Chief on the team's list of concerns was their braking systems for today's race. Garage insiders are predicting that brakes will be among the big factors here today, along with pit strategy, fuel mileage and the weather of course.

Yesterday's heavy rain in the area also cut into the drivers' scheduled leisure activities as Rusty managed to get in only three holes of golf.

The crews monitored the weather radar much of the morning and three hours prior to the race, things appeared clean back to the west.

The weather picture was still promising of getting the entire race in when the driver introductions began at 1:00 p.m.

Jeff Gordon, who won the pole in record fashion here on Friday, had first choice for pits today and his team of course went with the very first pit spot. Rusty starts in the fifth position today and his Bill Wilburn-led team chose the sixth spot. The Bill Elliott team is in front and the Kurt Busch team behind. Rusty's Penske South teammate Ryan Newman goes from the 13th starting spot today and his Matt Borland-led team operates out of pit No. 35. There is an opening in the wall in front and the John Andretti team pits behind.

The engines were fired at 1:20 p.m. and the cars rolled off pit road at 1:24 p.m. The cars of Jimmy Spencer, Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, Boris Said and Christian Fittipaldi all had engine changes and were sent to the back of the field as the green flag flew at 1:35 p.m.

Jeff Gordon got tagged by Biffle entering turn one just after getting the green. Gordon got off the track and fell all the way to the rear of the field before he could get going again. He caught a break, however, when Kyle Petty crashed into the outside barrier exiting the inner loop to bring out the first yellow of the race. Gordon and several others at the rear of the field pitted during that yellow.

For the lap five restart, it was Biffle leading, with Martin second, Busch third, Rusty fourth and Earnhardt Jr. fifth. Ryan was up to 11th.

Earnhardt Jr. was on the move after the green flew again, overtaking Rusty for fourth and Busch for third in a single lap. He got by Martin for second on the following lap and focused on leader Biffle.

The race wasn't 10 laps old when the talk up and down pit road was already active about pitting and fuel strategy. The thinking was that Rusty could get some 34 miles on a tank, while Ryan got a few laps less. At lap 10, if was Biffle leading Earnhardt by 0.5 seconds, with Martin third and 2.6 seconds back. Rusty was fifth and 4.8 seconds back, while Ryan was up to 10th and 8.4 seconds behind the leader.

"The car's pretty good," Rusty radioed on lap 11.

"It's just a tick on the loose side," Ryan radioed on the following lap, as NASCAR alerted the team that a loose piece of fiberglass was dangling from the rear of the car.

The pit road strategy starting coming into play as early as lap 18, when several cars hit pit road for fuel and tires. The plan then was that they would be in a window now to go the distance with only one more stop.

Michael Waltrip and Jeff Burton hit the pits on lap 19 and Ron Fellows and Kevin Harvick stopped for service the following lap.

Harvick's fuel can caught fire as he exited pit road and caused a tremendous blaze. NASCAR officials threw the second yellow of the day on lap 21 for that blaze in the pits.

Bill and engineer Roy McCauley had it figured that Rusty should pit on lap 22 and they too could make the distance on just one more stop.

They got the break they were looking for in that they were able to hit pit road under yellow on lap 23 for their service. Both Penske cars hit pit road on that lap for four tires, fuel and now changes. Ryan's stop was a 15.445 and Rusty's a 15.865.

On the lap 25 restart, it was evident that those who'd pitted earlier before the caution held the upper hand. The front eight cars stayed out during the yellow and they held the first eight spots for the return to green. They were, in order, Scott Pruett, Johnny Miller, Harvick, Fellows, John Andretti, Ward Burton, Jeff Burton and Waltrip. Earnhardt Jr. was the first car that pitted and he was ninth, with Biffle in 10th. Rusty was 12th and Ryan 14th.

When Pruett hit pit road on lap 33, Jeff Burton took the lead. He held it through the third caution of the day, which came out on lap 34 when Fittipaldi hit the wall out of the ninth turn.

"Ryan, we're looking like we'll be about two laps shy on fuel," Matt radioed during the yellow on lap 36. "We need to do all we can to conserve the fuel."

Jeff Burton led on the lap 37 restart, with Earnhardt Jr. second, Biffle third, Fellows fourth and Busch fifth. Rusty was seventh and Ryan 10th.

Tony Raines crashed down the backstretch on lap 44 to bring out the fourth yellow, just as Earnhardt Jr. got around Jeff Burton for the lead.

Earnhardt held the lead for the lap 46 restart, with Jeff Burton second, Fellows third, Biffle fourth and Busch fifth. Rusty was seventh and Ryan 12th.

Points leader Matt Kenseth had a left front tire go down on lap 50 and he was forced to hit pit road for service on lap 51. He caught a break at the expense of Rusty on that very lap.

Entering turn 10, Rusty's brakes faded and he veered straight off the track, through the gravel and into the mud to bring out the fifth caution on lap 51. Losing two laps as he waited for the wrecker to pull him out of the much, that ended any chance he had for a good finish today.

That caution also allowed many to hit pit road under the yellow and put several teams within a window to go the remaining distance on fuel.

Several drivers who knew they would have to pit later opted to stay on the track. Those included the top six cars for the lap 56 restart. Then came Robby Gordon in seventh, Harvick in eighth, Casey Mears in ninth and Jimmie Johnson in 10th, all who had the fuel to make it to the finish. Earnhardt Jr. was 20th on the restart, with Jeff Gordon 24th and Ryan 25th.

One by one the frontrunners peeled off into the pits until Robby Gordon inherited the lead with 28 laps remaining.

Although another yellow flew on lap 76 for a Todd Bodine spin into the gravel, Robby Gordon saved his best for last. He took off on the final restart with 12 laps remaining and had smooth sailing the remainder of the race to pick up the win.

The other Gordon (Jeff) was not so fortunate. After falling to last place on the first lap, he battled back and was running third and mustering a challenge on Pruett for second on the final lap when he ran out of gas. Harvick got into the rear of his Chevy and planted him into the fence in turn 10.

At the finish, it was Robby Gordon making it a road course sweep in 2003 by winning here at the Glen after his victory earlier this season at Sonoma, Calif. Pruett was second, with Earnhardt Jr. third, Johnson fourth, Harvick fifth, Ward Burton sixth, Dale Jarrett seventh, Kenseth eighth, Ryan squeezing home a solid ninth and Martin 10th. Rusty was credited with a 37th-place finish and took a hit in the points.

In the point standings, it's Kenseth with a 258-point lead over Earnhardt Jr. (3,294 to 3,036). Jeff Gordon is third (2,898), Johnson fourth (2,816), Harvick fifth (2,778), Waltrip sixth (2,777), Bobby Labonte seventh (2,768), Busch eighth (2,696), Ryan ninth (2.636), Robby Gordon 10th (2,627), Stewart 11th (2,550) and Rusty 12th (2,519).

The Winston Cup tour now heads back to the 2.0-mile Michigan International Speedway for next Sunday's running of the GMS Marketplace 400. Live coverage of the 200-lap, 400-mile event will be provided by TNT-TV and MRN Radio.

POST-RACE QUOTES:

RUSTY WALLACE (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Intrepid)
"It was running good and the brakes quit. We changed a lot of stuff, and it must have messed up something. I'm really not sure what happened. It's a shame because we had a solid top-five car out there all day until we got off the track. It'll hurt us in the points, too, but there's still so many of these things left this season that you don't have time to dwell on it. We'll run good a Michigan next week and then we get back to Bristol after that, so we have some really good tracks coming up for us."