RACE DAY REPORT
TROPICANA 400
CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY, JOLIET, ILL
SUNDAY, JULY 13, 2003

PRE-RACE NOTES &
RACE INFORMATION:

"We're going to be much better than that rundown shows," predicted Rusty's crew chief Bill Wilburn, as he discussed the situation with NBC-TV's Bill Weber behind the team transporter this morning. "We ended the race here last year way over on the tight side and we're quite a bit looser starting this thing here today. Of course the strategy and track position will be so critical here today."

After Friday's qualifying day schedule was hampered by a strong afternoon thunderstorm that passed through the area, the weather has been picture-perfect here at Chicagoland Speedway. Today's forecast calls for partly cloudy skies and temperatures reaching into the low 80s.

Even though the race is not scheduled to begin here today until almost 2:00 p.m., it was an early start to the day for Bill and the other crew members. They departed their area hotels just after 6:00 a.m. in order to beat the traffic and be ready to enter the garage when it opened here at 7:30 a.m. this morning.

Jimmie Johnson, fastest in yesterday's final practice session, made a complete engine change and will be forced to drop to the rear of the field prior to the dropping of the green flag here today.

Rusty had a few obligations to take care of here at the track yesterday afternoon. But after that, he was able to chopper back to the hotel and take in a round of golf with some top officials from USG. He missed seeing his Penske Racing teammate Ryan Newman finish second in the IROC race.

The pit road layout here today sees pole winner Tony Stewart taking the seventh spot up pit road. Outside pole winner Jeff Gordon pits in the first pit spot. When Ryan and his Matt Borland-led team (start 14th and had 14th pick) had the opportunity to choose their pit, they went with the second spot, just behind Gordon and in front of Jimmy Spencer. Rusty and his Bill Wilburn-led team (start 22nd and had 22nd choice) pit from the 20th spot. The Johnny Sauter (No. 4 Kodak car) team pits in front and the Jeff Green team pits behind.

The engines were fired at 2:09 p.m. and the cars rolled off pit road at 2:13 p.m. The green flag fell after three parade laps at 2:19 p.m.

Pole winner Stewart jumped into the lead and had a comfortable advantage over the Evernham Dodge duo of Bill Elliott and Jeremy Mayfield in the early going.

At lap 25, he had a 1.1 second lead over Ellioitt. Ryan was up to ninth, running 9.2 seconds back, while Rusty was 13th and 13.5 seconds behind.

"It's a little loose," Ryan radioed on lap 29. "The car is riding up off the track in the turns."

"Just a tick on the tight side," Rusty radioed on lap 39. "But it's not that bad."

At lap 50, it appeared to be shaping up as "The Tony Stewart Show," with his advantage up to 4.7 seconds over second-place Jamie McMurray. Ryan was up to eighth and Rusty 11th.

Green flag stops were the order beginning on lap 55. Stewart hit pit road on lap 60. Rusty pitted on lap 61 for four tires and fuel, with a minor wedge adjustment in 15.221 seconds.

Ryan hit pit road on lap 64 for four tires and fuel, with two rounds out on the right track bar in 15.111 seconds.

Bobby Labonte had a wedge wrench stuck during his stop and was black-flagged, forced back down pit road and thus, lost a lap in the process.

When the stops cycled around, it was still Stewart with the lead, running 1.2 seconds ahead of McMurray. Ryan was up to seventh and running 13.2 seconds behind, while Rusty was 11th and 15.3 seconds behind. Only 19 cars remained on the lead lap at the time.

With McMurray closing in, the first yellow of the day flew on lap 82 for debris in turn three and four.

All the leaders hit pit road on lap 83 for right-side tires and fuel. Rusty's stop was at 7.041 seconds and Ryan's 6.020-second stop put him out in second for the lap 87 restart.

Only four laps into the run, Larry Foyt's turn four crash brought out the second caution flag of the race.

The lap 95 restart saw Kevin Harvick with the lead, Stewart second, Ryan third, Dale Earnhardt Jr. fourth, Casey Mears fifth, Jeff Gordon sixth, Rusty seventh, Jimmie Johnson eighth, Matt Kenseth ninth and Michael Waltrip 10th.

It was evident that track position and clean air were the greatest advantages here today as Harvick was able to jump out to a good lead at the green. But Stewart flexed his muscle and ran him down before the third caution of the day flew on lap 106 when Sauter shredded a tire in turn four.

All the leaders except Harvick and Robby Gordon hit pit road for two tires and fuel. Bill called for fuel only, but nobody counted Rusty into the pits and he missed his pits entirely.

"Go on back out there and it'll be just like we stayed out," Bill radioed. "The 29 car and the 31 stayed out. We'll be okay."

Bill was right. When the green flag flew again, Rusty was able to take advantage of finally getting good track position. He was up to second on lap 115.

"Sometimes scew-ups turn into blessings in disguise," NBC-TV's Weber whispered to Rusty's shock specialist Tom Hoke.

Kurt Busch's blown engine on lap 127 brought out the fourth yellow of the race and saw all the leaders except Jeff Gordon pit once again for two tires and fuel. Ryan's stop was a quick 5.896, while Rusty's was 7.070.

Jeff Gordon was the leader on the lap 132 restart, with McMurray back up to second, Johnson third, Jeff Burton fourth and Ryan fifth. Waltrip was sixth, Rusty seventh, Earnhardt eighth, Robby Gordon ninth and Mayfield 10th.

Ryan reported to be a little on the tight side on lap 152, with Rusty reporting the same handling characteristics two laps later.

Jeff Gordon was out of schedule with the green flag stops and hit pit road on lap 174.

When McMurray pitted on lap 190, Ryan inherited the lead and had a Penske car leading for the first time of the day.

"It's out of fuel," Rusty radioed from the backstretch working lap 194. "Got to come in this time."

He hit pit road for four tires and fuel. Unfortunately, due to extra personnel servicing the car for the ether and windshield, Rusty was slapped with a 15-second penalty for having too many men over the wall. The result was a 33.086-second stop, which had the team down a lap when the stops cycled around on lap 202.

Ryan and crew hit pit road on lap 199 for four tires and fuel. The 15.542-second stop was flawless and had them up to fourth when the stops cycled around.

At lap 205, it was Johnson leading, with Jeff Gordon second, McMurray third, Ryan fourth and Stewart fifth. Rusty had fallen to 18th and was running a lap down to the leaders.

Earnhardt finally lost his battle with his loose handling race car on lap 208 as he spun into the turn two concrete to cause the fifth yellow of the race.

Rusty's day turned from bad to worse at that time.

"Guy's, the transmission is torn out of it," he radioed. "I felt something about 50 laps ago - a grinding noise. I downshifted to avoid the eight car and it just totally went to heck. We gotta' get in the garage and replace it."

Rusty and crew did just that. They would come back into action some 18 laps down, but it was quite an accomplishment getting the change made so quickly.

Meanwhile up front, Ryan had stayed out to inherit the lead and the team was confident they could go the distance on fuel. Only 12 cars remained on the lead lap for the lap 213 restart. It was Ryan leading, with Jeff Burton second, Waltrip third, Harvick fourth, Johnson fifth, Jeff Gordon sixth, McMurray seventh, Stewart eighth, Mayfield ninth, Elliott 10th, Sadler 11th and Robby Gordon 12th.

The most serious accident of the day occurred on lap 214 when Johnny Benson and Mears got into each other, sending Benson into the Labonte car and triggering a five-car pileup. Labonte's car crashed hard into the third turn wall and went up in flames. He was able to climb out of the burning wreckage on the track's apron and no driver sustained any injuries.

With 45 laps remaining, Ryan still held the point on the restart. It was Harvick up to second, with Johnson third, Jeff Burton fourth and McMurray fifth.

Mears crashed into the turn two wall on lap 233 to close up the field again, with McMurray, Mayfield, Sadler and Elliott hitting pit road again during the yellow.

The green flag flew again with 28 laps to go. Harvick began putting pressure on Ryan for the lead and was within striking distance. However, Ryan was able to start pulling away and enjoyed a 1.1-second lead with 15 laps to go.

Harvick mustered a final run and cut the separation down to 0.614 seconds with 10 laps to go, but that was as close as it got. Harvick ran out of fuel with two laps remaining and was forced to pit.

With Harvick out of the picture, Stewart was second, but Ryan held a comfortable 3.2 second advantage and went on to win by 2.511 seconds over the No. 20 car. Johnson came home third, with Jeff Gordon fourth and Waltrip fifth. Jeff Burton, Robby Gordon, McMurray, Sadler and Mayfield rounded out the top 10 finishers. Rusty was credited with a 32nd-place finish.

It was Ryan's fourth career Winston Cup win and his third victory of the 2003 season. He celebrated the well-deserved win in typical fashion, doing his super burnout on the Chicagoland Speedway frontstretch.

Today's race results saw Rusty drop to 11th in the point standings, while Ryan moved up to 16th.

Updated Winston Cup standings after the Tropicana 400 at Chicagoland Speedway:

1. Matt Kenseth, 2678

2. Jeff Gordon, 2513

3. Dale Earnhardt Jr., 2420

4. Bobby Labonte, 2351

5. Michael Waltrip, 2294

6. Jimmie Johnson, 2249

7. Kevin Harvick, 2166

8. Tony Stewart, 2129

9. Kurt Busch, 2113

10. Sterling Marlin, 2098

11. Rusty Wallace, 2086

12. Mark Martin, 2070

13. Jeff Burton, 2057

14. Terry Labonte, 2028

15. Robby Gordon, 2023

16. Ryan Newman, 2013

The Winston Cup circuit now moves on to New Hampshire International Speedway for next weekend's running of the New England 300.

POST-RACE QUOTES:

RUSTY WALLACE (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Intrepid)
"I went through the pit area, but I was able to get back out. We got back up to sixth and passed Jeff Burton for fifth. Everything was looking real good. Then we ran out of gas. As we came down pit road to put gas in it, we had an extra guy jump over pit wall. It cost us a 15-second penalty and that put us a lap down. Then the wreck happened and our transmission went out. After the catch can problem, that's what screwed everything up.

"We had a really, really good car today. It was just a big miscue in the pit area. We ran out of gas, and as I came down pit road an extra guy got over the wall, we got fined 15 seconds and got a lap down. Then the 8 car spun off two. I was trying to go underneath him, and I downshifted into third gear. As I did that, I got back in the gas and it just tore the gears right out of the transmission.

"A lot of things happen in this sport, a lot of ups and a lot of downs. I'm frustrated that we locked up that transmission. I'm more frustrated that we had a big miscue in the pit area. That's cost us a lot this year, and it cost us again today. If I had track position, I could have won today. It's just hell to pass out there. If I could have got up front, I could have won."