PRACTICE INFORMATION:

Coming off another top-10 finish in last Sunday's Brickyard 400 at Indy, Rusty Wallace and his Bill Wilburn-led Miller Lite Dodge team now are focused on this weekend's Sirius @ the Glen here at the Watkins Glen road course in Upstate New York.

Rusty is a two-time winner here and won the final IROC race of the 1991 series here to wrap up that championship, so there are many pleasant memories and tremendous optimism every time Rusty and the team return to "the Glen."

Another week on the NASCAR Winston Cup tour and yes, yet another weekend where the weather situation is very questionable.

The forecast for the Watkins Glen area calls for mostly cloudy skies here today with a 40 percent chance of rain and thunderstorms. The chances increase to 60 percent tomorrow and fall back to 50 percent on Sunday.

It was mostly overcast here at the Glen this morning when practice began at 11:20 p.m. The sun was trying to peak through the clouds at 11:45 a.m., but rain was already reported popping up on the radar in the northern portion of Pennsylvania.

Early in the session, Rusty reported that all was okay with everything except his brakes not working like they should. He returned to the garage to address that issue.

At the session's mid-point, it was Dale Earnhardt Jr. fastest with a lap of 70.981 seconds. Jeff Gordon's 71.268 was second, with Mark Martin's 71.493 third, Tonyy Stewart's 70.976 fourth and Matt Kenseth's 71.853 fifth. Rusty was eighth on the speed chart with a 72.047.

Rusty's Penske Racing South teammate Ryan Newman was making his fourth run of the session at 12:40 p.m. when he got into the inner-loop and bit too hot and wound up crashing hard into the tire barrier, wiping out the whole right side of his car. He was not injured and the crew had the backup car off the trailer by the time the wrecker brought the primary car in.

"Just a little too loose," Ryan told a group of his teammates behind the transporter. He was able to return to practice in the backup car and take part in the 15 minutes remaining in the session.

When the session concluded, it was Earnhardt's earlier lap still the fastest. Jeff Gordon's 70.984 was second, Greg Biffle a surprising third with his 71.110, Kenseth's 71.339 fourth and Stewart's 71.353 fifth. Martin's 71.496 was sixth and Rusty clocked in with the seventh-fastest lap - a 71.496. Ryan and crew regrouped to make a final run at the clock and turned in a 72.073 - 18th fastest overall.

The qualifying order sees Christian Fittipaldi as the first of 47 drivers scheduled to make qualifying attempts. Earnhardt Jr. is scheduled out second. Ryan is scheduled out 37th in the order, while Rusty goes out 40th.

The track record qualifying lap of 71.884 seconds (122.698 mph, set by Dale Jarrett in 2001, is sure to be smashed here this afternoon.

Although there were some passing sprinkles just before 3:00 p.m., the single-lap qualifying session started right on time at 3:05 p.m. Earhardt set the early pace, although slower than his practice lap, with a 71.046 (124.145 mph). John Andretti clocked in with a 71.731. Ron Fellows, perhaps the best "ringer" here this weekend, ran a 71.883 in the DEI No. 1 entry.

The shocker of the day came when Biffle took to the track as the ninth driver to make his run and he turned in a 70.845 (124.497 mph) to knock Earnhardt off the provisional pole.

Robby Gordon was out 14th and he ran a 71.696. Bobby Labonte went 16th and he recorded a 71.365. Kurt Busch followed with a 71.317.

Martin, out 21st in the order, turned heads with his 70.864 (124.464 mph) to take the second spot at the time.

Two cars later, it was Jeff Gordon's time against the clock and he certainly made the best of it, turning in a 70.798 (124.580 mph) to claim the top spot at the time.

Stewart, out 25th, was a threat with his 70.976 (124.267 mph). Boris Said, a surprise winner of the pole out at Sonoma, Calif., was 30th to make his run and he turned in a 71.484.

Kevin Harvick, the winner of last Sunday's Brickyard 400, was 36th out and he ran a 71.572.

Ryan was out as scheduled and he turned in a respectable 71.622 (123.147 mph), which stood 10th at the time he ran it.

Rusty hit the track 41st as scheduled and clocked in with a head-turning 70.983 (124.255 mph)for the fourth spot at the time.

Kenseth tied his Roush Racing teammate Busch when he ran an identical 71.317, but he starts in front because of his better point standings position.

More sprinkles hit the track with just a few cars remaining and that called a temporary halt to the action.

None of the remaining drivers posed a threat to the top runners and the session ended just before 5:15 p.m. A Strong shower hit the track only moments later.

So Jeff Gordon grabbed the pole, with Biffle starting on the outside of the front row. Martin and Rusty (5th) make up the second row, while Earnhardt Jr., Kenseth, Buxch, Bobby Labonte Said and Harvick complete the top-10 starters. Casey Mears, Ryan (12th), Robby Gordon, John Andretti and Blaney round out the top-15.

Sunday's Sirius at the Glen has a 1:00 p.m. EDT starting time and features live coverage by NBC-TV and MRN Radio.

RUSTY'S QUOTES:

"I was happy with the qualifying run. Maybe I left the pole in turn one, but it was good everywhere else. This place hasn't really changed much. They've made a lot of upgrades. They still need to knock the garages down and fix that mess, but other than that, their whole facility is great.

"I gave it everything I had. This is the same car we had at Sonoma, and I feel real good about the race. We've had a smooth beginning. We only put about 10 laps on the engine and the brakes have been good. I was concerned we were running so good that we might get rained out and have to start by points, but that wasn't the case.

"We'll work on the setup and do laps and make sure the car is there all the time. We'll work on air pressure and do a lot of shock work tomorrow. It's a typical thing. You get all you can in the small amount of time you've got. I'm really sick of all this strategy. I think the whole world is sick of strategy racing. I wish we'd just get back to racing these cars. Our guys have got three or four scenarios put together, and that's all they've been thinking about all week."