RACE DAY REPORT - SUBWAY 400
NORTH CAROLINA SPEEDWAY ­ ROCKINGHAM, N.C.
SUNDAY, FEB. 23, 2003

PRE-RACE NOTES &
RACE INFORMATION:

While all the on-track activities yesterday fell by the wayside, Miller Lite Driver Rusty Wallace certainly utilized the ultimate effective time management.

After debriefing with his Bill Wilburn-led team, Rusty headed back to his coach where he shot a special piece for today's FOX-TV broadcast with rookie competitors Jack Sprague, Tony Raines and Larry Foyt. "It was a lot of fun and I think the fans will find if funny, too,"Rusty said after the shoot. "Let's just say that the theme of the deal is that all rookies have to pay their dues and Chris (Long) and the Fox guys wanted to have a little fun with that aspect."

Rusty also spent time with Ben White who is doing an upcoming cover feature story on Rusty for Winston Cup Illustrated. He could still be found in his coach at 1:30 p.m. on the phone talking to Las Vegas Sun writer Brian Hilderbrand, this time doing some feature columns that will appear in that paper during the course of the week leading up to next Sunday's race at Las Vegas Speedway.

In spite of threatening weather through much of the afternoon, Rusty's infatuation with golf lured him out onto a local course late yesterday where he managed to get in eight holes before darkness set in.

With all the "hub-bub"and off-track activity that led up to the start of last Sunday's race at Daytona, it was a nice change of pace this morning at Rockingham. After the 11:00 a.m. driver and crew chief meeting, there was plenty of time to catch up on things with team majority owner Roger Penske, who was here early to coach his two teams on.

Rusty starts today's 400-mile, 393-lap race in the eighth spot and that earned him the third spot up pit road for getting service in today's race. The Ricky Craven team pits in front and the Bobby Labonte team pits behind. Rusty¹s Penske Racing teammate Ryan Newman starts 21st here today and his Matt Borland-led team pits in the 18th spot on pit road. The Jeremy Mayfield team pits in front and the Tony Stewart team pits behind.

It wasn't long after the race got the green flag at 1:13 p.m. that Rusty showed the muscle of his Dodge. Mark Martin quickly took the lead from pole-sitter Dave Blaney, but Rusty was on the move and up to fifth by lap 10. Ricky Craven overtook Martin for the top spot on lap 17. Rusty passed Bill Elliott for third on lap 23 and he got by Martin for second on lap 24.

Rusty got underneath Craven on lap 27 to take the lead. "I'm gonna'throttle back here a little while," he radioed in on lap 32 after stretching his lead. "It's a little loose, but it's fast."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. lost a tire on lap 45, just as NASCAR was throwing a pre-announced competition yellow. The move was made due to the lack of practice to allow the teams to check tire wear and other safety issues. "Four tires and no changes," Rusty radioed in just before hitting pit road. A 13.781-second stop kept him in the lead for the lap 55 restart. Ryan had been experiencing a slightly tight condition and the Mayfield team was becoming a nuisance on pit road.

Once again Rusty took off and later radioed in that he was going to throttle back. He enjoyed a 2.3-second lead on second-place Craven on lap 75.

Todd Bodine crashed in turn two on lap 88 to bring out the second yellow. Even though Martin was able to beat Rusty off pit road for the lap 93 restart, Rusty got by to resume the lead on the very next lap.

Kenny Wallace's lap 106 spin caused the third yellow of the race. A 15.391-second stop kept Rusty in the lead for the lap 113 restart. Ryan again got blocked in his pits and was 12th on the restart.

Jerry Nadeau's turn four spin on lap 121 sent all the leaders down pit road once again. Again Martin emerged as the leader with Rusty second, Bobby Labonte third, Kurt Busch fourth and Craven fifth.

Only six laps later, it was Rusty back in the lead and pulling away. He enjoyed a 1.4-second lead over second-place Martin on lap 150.

Earnhardt's lap 175 spin brought out the fifth caution of the race and again it was time for pit stops. Martin was the leader again for the lap 178 restart, but Rusty passed on the outside to regain the top spot the very next lap.

Busch began using the low line and started moving toward the front as Labonte had a left front tire go flat and he hit pit road under green on lap 189.

Rusty led at the halfway point and continued to hold off Busch until Busch got by on lap 220. "It's too loose,"Rusty radioed.

The loose condition saw Rusty fall all the way back to eighth before the first green flag stops began. Rusty pitted for four tires and chassis adjustments on lap 255. The stops cycled around on lap 268, with Busch leading, Dale Jarrett second, Martin third, Matt Kenseth fourth, Craven fifth, Blaney sixth, Sterling Marlin seventh, Jeff Gordon eighth and Rusty ninth.

Earnhardt's lap 275 turn four spin sent the leaders back to the pits. Labonte had managed to make up both lost laps during the green period.

The lap 292 restart saw Busch with the lead, Martin second, Craven third, Jarrett fourth, Kenseth fifth and Rusty sixth. Ryan was 13th. Gordon spun six laps into the run to bring out the seventh yellow of the race.

Labonte stayed out to inherit the lead for the lap 303 restart. Blaney, Jeff Burton, Busch and Martin made up the top five. Craven, Jarrett, Ricky Rudd, Rusty and Jamie McMurray rounded out the top 10 at the time.

Busch was back in the lead on lap 310. Jarrett was on the move and got around Labonte for second on lap 352. He passed Busch for the lead on lap 384. Rusty was gaining ground and benefited when Labonte was forced to pit for fuel on lap 385. He cleared Martin on the following lap for the sixth spot.

Although Busch was able to use lapped traffic to pull back into the lead on lap 389, Jarrett had the muscle at the end to get back around Busch for the lead the very next lap and go on to hold off Busch for a 0.966-second win. Busch was second, with Kenseth a strong third, Craven fourth, McMurray fifth, Rusty sixth, Martin seventh, Jimmie Johnson eighth, Elliott Sadler ninth and Blaney 10th. Ryan wound up 14th, one lap down at the finish.

Busch picked up the points lead after two races with 345 points. Jarrett is second with 314. Rusty moved up to 12th with 248 points, while Ryan is back in 33rd with 155.

The tour now heads out to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for next Sunday's race which also features live coverage by FOX-TV.

POST-RACE QUOTES:

RUSTY WALLACE (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Intrepid)
NOTE: Wallace made his 600th career start Sunday. He took lap leader honors by running out front four times for 182 laps. He ended up sixth in the 43-car field.

"That thing was a bullet. It was flying. It was handling perfect, and the motor ran great. About three-quarters through the race, I could see the track turning black. I had the thing turning good, and it got too free. I could hardly touch the throttle. We tightened it up on a couple of pit stops. It would tighten it up, but it lost the front end. I couldn't fix both things. It was a good run the first time out, a good evaluation for the first time in a Dodge on a downforce track. It had a lot of power and handled good. I think we led a lot of laps. It's a little bit disappointing and encouraging. It's disappointing we ran It's encouraging we ran so strong. There were times I'd look in the mirror and I couldn't even see the second-place car at the beginning of the race. Then I could feel it trying to mess me up a little bit. It was getting loose, and spinning the tires and it would push a little bit. I knew something weird was going on. As the day went on and the track got rubbered up, I could see it changing."