QUALIFYING DAY REPORT
PEPSI 400
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY, DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA
THURSDAY, JULY 3, 2003

PRACTICE INFORMATION:

Things could have been worse for Rusty Wallace when the engine on his No.2 Miller Lite Dodge blew just minutes into the first practice session at Daytona International Speedway. Wallace pulled off the race track right away and the crew thrashed and made the engine change with just minutes left in practice, giving Rusty the chance to run one lap of practice before qualifying.

"You have to look on the bright side of things even when they go bad," said Wallace ran just one lap in practice, posting the 29th quickest time. Blowing up isn't what we were looking for, but at least it was on the first lap and we had two hours of practice time to change motors and do our best to get in at least a few laps. Qualifying didn't really matter because we have to start at the rear of the field no matter where we qualified." I basically ran those two laps in order to get the best pit position we could for the race, but it wasn't that great of a lap. We started 37th in this race last year and finished second, so you can get a lot done during 400 miles. I'll just have to do my best to keep the nose on that Miller Lite Dodge clean and get to the front as soon as possible. I think we'll be good for the race."

"There isn't much to say about practice, other than we blew a motor," said crew chief on the Miller Lite Dodge, Billy Wilburn. "It happened as soon as practice started, so that gave us time to change motors and do it without rushing and get everything right. The guys did a hell of a job thrashing to get Rusty back out - even if it was for only one lap. We were really looking forward to a better qualifying time for the simple fact of getting the best pit stall we could, but we'll just have to make due with what we get. I'm confident Rusty will have a great race car and work his way to the front of the field come Saturday night."

Rusty was slated to be the 20th car to make a qualifying attempt, but NASCAR rules state if an engine is changed during the weekend, the car will start at the rear of the field. A qualifying attempt in order to pick pit stalls for the race.

Before launching the weekends at track activities, teammate, Ryan Newman and his crew chief Matt Borland got an up close and personal tour of NASA on Wednesday. Newman says he would consider an aerospace career when he finishes NASCAR Winston Cup competition.

"Maybe when I'm about 70 years old I'll give it a chance," Newman said jokingly. "The coolest part to me was getting to sit in the commander's seat in the orbiter itself. Just getting to see what it's like from that perspective was great. They showed us where the arm and everything was, and I got to look outside at the cargo bay. The speed they run in space and the temperature it goes through. Those are some awesome numbers. It might run 30-40 or 50,000 mph through space, and that's pretty wild. They're talking about making a trip to Mars in three months instead of nine months.

"I haven't been super interested in the space program, but I guess from a driver's standpoint and an engineer's standpoint to hear the numbers and hear all the incredible things they do is very interesting. They drop the landing gear 50 feet before they hit the runway because if they dropped it sooner it would rip the landing gear clear off the orbiter. It lands at 220 knots, which is way faster than an airplane.

"I wouldn't pass up the opportunity to fly in it, but I don't think I'll ever get that opportunity. It's definitely a cool thing. It takes about two years of training just to do it, so maybe when I turn 70 or 75 I'll give it a chance."

Both Wallace and Newman returned after the final weekend off until the season finale in November. The duo's last race posted top 10 finishes at Sonoma. Rusty finishing nine and teammate, Ryan Newman fifth.

A quick shower early in the day blew over and business continued as usual and on schedule for practice and qualifying for Saturday night's 260-lap, 400-mile race around the 2.5-mile D-shaped superspeedway.

A passing shower briefly halted practice with some five minutes remaining, but that was the only thing able to damper the No. 8 car's momentum here. As practice ended, it was still Earnahrdt's early lap atop the board. Johnson had climbed to second with a 51.296, while Gordon's 51.337 was third, Sadler's 51.414 fourth and Sterling Marlin's 51.495 fifth. Ryan's earlier lap was 19th, while Rusty's 51.982 was 22nd.

Wallace was slated to go out 20th having the chance to observe his teammate, Ryan Newman's lap since he drew the 18th spot. The No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge went out and ran a 49.553 (181.624 mph) lap. Wallace's speed wasn't quick enough to get him in the race on time and was forced to take the second provisional starting spot.

Newman's No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge hit the 2.5-mile superspeedway turning a 49.216 (182.867 mph) lap speed. Ryan wasn't exactly happy with loosing a half a second from practice.

""I wasn't expecting to start 24th considering we were pretty good in practice," said Newman. "A half a second is a heck of a lot to loose, but the way it looked, a lot of guys slowed and qualified at the back. We had to take our only provisional here in February, so we're better off in that respect, but I was really thinking we had a top 10 starting spot to look forward to."

The top 10 qualifiers for the race are Steve Park on the provisional Bud Pole, Kevin Harvick second, Jeff Gordon third, Sterlin Marlin fourth and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. fifth. Michael Waltrip starts sixth, with Ken Schrader seventh, Jamie McMurray was the top-qualifying rookie in eighth and Elliott Sadler ninth and Jeremy Mayfield 10th.

Saturday's Pepsi 400 has a 7:30 p.m. local starting time and features live coverage by NBC-TV and MRN Radio.

RUSTY'S QUOTES:

RYAN NEWMAN (No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge Intrepid)
"We lost a lot of speed. We went down the straightaway OK, but losing half a second from practice is strange. A lot of guys are losing time, but they're not losing that much. It's a little disappointing. I didn't think we'd slow down that much."

* * *

RUSTY WALLACE (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Intrepid)
"We blew up in practice, so we had to start at the rear of the field no matter where we qualified. We wanted to get a good qualifying lap in so we could get a good pit selection, but that wasn't a very good lap. We started 37th in last year's Pepsi 400 and finished second, so you can get a lot done here at Daytona if you have to. Looks like we're going to have to. We slowed down half a second. I think we'll be good in the race. I always count on having a strong car in the race."