RACE DAY REPORT
PENNSYLVANIA 500
POCONO RACEWAY - LONG POND, PA.
SUNDAY, JULY 27, 2003

PRE-RACE NOTES &
RACE INFORMATION:

"We're constantly working on the strategy," Miller Lite Team Penske driver Rusty Wallace told Dodge's Ray Cooper here yesterday. "In this type of racing with the aero push being so bad, you've got to keep the car up front.

"You might have to do two tires, no tires or don't pit or pit," Rusty continued. "The day of coming in and putting four tires on and topping off with fuel, the normal thing to do, hardly anybody does it anymore. You've got to do it at some point in the day to get the tires you need on the left side of the car to finish the race, but unfortunately every time you do it it sticks you right back in the middle of the pack. You can't do that and stay in front all day long. We'll start the race and the first stop will probably be two right-side tires unless we're in a long run. If we're in a long run and pit under green, we'll put four tires on. If we all come in bumper-to-bumper together 20 or 30 laps into the race, we'll put right-side tires on and get back on the track."

Rusty struggled in Friday practice (32nd on the chart) before successfully throwing an "impromptu" qualifying setup in his Dodge and taking the seventh starting spot, was still not completing satisfied with his car here yesterday in race trim. After finishing the practice with the 30th fastest lap, he again took his "inner circle" team members (including crew chief Bill Wilburn, engineer Roy McCauley and shock specialist Tom Hoke) up in the front of the transporter for a lengthy debriefing session.

"I think what we've come up with for the setup will be good here tomorrow," Rusty said after emerging from the session and heading back to his coach. "Bottom line is that you can be the fastest thing on four wheels out there tomorrow and if you're not on top of it from the strategy standpoint, you can still not finish well. I'm sure there will be attrition to some degree here like there always is, but with some 20 or more cars that usually finish in the lead lap, you could still not be up there battling for the win at the end."

After yesterday's activity concluded at the track, Rusty could be found with a group of friends over at Split Rock enjoying a round of golf.

After gorgeous conditions the last two days, the forecast has been upped to a 60 percent chance of rain today. It was mostly overcast when the 11:00 a.m. driver and crew chief meeting began and a brief shower hit the area at 11:30 a.m.

"Right now it's all spotty stuff - hit and miss with the showers," Rusty told a group of sponsor reps in the back of his team transporter. "But they say there will be some heavy stuff rolling in later on today. Hopefully, it will be after 200 laps have been run here."

Rusty's Penske Racing South teammate Ryan Newman and his Matt Borland-led team, by virtue of their Friday pole win, had first pick for pits here today and they chose the first spot on pit road. The Jimmy Johnson team pits behind. Then comes Rusty and his Bill Wilburn-led team on the third spot. The Ricky Craven team pit behind Rusty here today.

The engines were fired at 12:53 p.m. and the cars rolled off pit road at 12:57 p.m. The green flag flew the third time by at 1:01 p.m.

Ryan was able to jump out to a good lead, with Elliott Sadler, Bobby Labonte, John Andretti, Johnson and Rusty in tow.

Rusty was around Johnson for fourth on the eighth lap as he radioed, "It's just a little loose right now." He cleared Bobby Labonte for third the next lap and got around Sadler on lap 11 for second.

"It's a tick tight everywhere but turn three and it's a little loose off there," Ryan radioed on lap 15, as he had a 4.5-second lead over Rusty. The Penske cars were the only cars running laps in the 55-second bracket at the time.

At lap 25 it was Ryan by 3.2 seconds on Rusty, with Sadler third, Bobby Labonte fourth and Matt Kenseth fifth.

"It's a little tight over the tunnel turn right now," Ryan radioed on lap 30. "We'll take a pound out of the lefts," Matt radioed back.

The green flag stops started when Ryan hit pit road three laps short of the scheduled lap 35 stop due to a right rear going flat.

Rusty led lap 32 before hitting pit road on lap 34. The air hose hampered tire carrier David Doyle and the stop was slowed to a 16.31.

Michael Waltrip finally pitted on lap 37 and the lead cycled back around to Ryan at the front with a 4.2-second advantage on Rusty. Bobby Labonte was third and 8.1 seconds back and Kenseth held the fourth spot, running 12.4 seconds behind.

"It's a little better," Ryan radioed on lap 40. "So far so good," Rusty radioed the following lap.

It was reported for several laps that Jeff Green was leaking oil, but NASCAR didn't display the first yellow of the race for that situation until lap 49.

During the yellow, Rusty and seven other cars went with two tires and fuel to be up front for the lap 54 restart. Rusty was in the lead, with Kurt Busch second, Bobby Labonte third, Jamie McMurray fourth, Sterling Marlin fifth, Jeff Gordon sixth, Dale Earnhardt Jr. seventh, Tony Stewart eighth and Ryan, the lead car with four fresh tires, in ninth.

Rusty used track position and pulled out to a comfortable lead. "I think it's even better on just the two tires," he radioed on lap 70.

"The dirty air is killing me off turn three and we just don't have any motor down the straightaway because of that," Ryan radioed on lap 65.

Stewart was the driver on the move for the next several laps and he was up to third on lap 68 when Jeremy Mayfield tagged the wall out of turn one to cause the second caution of the event.

The call was for two tires only in both Penske Team pits. The move had Rusty and Ryan second and third in the lap 73 restart behind leader Casey Mears, who had pitted earlier for a flat tire.

Only a lap into that run, Mark Martin was into the wall with a little help from Waltrip in the tunnel turn to bring out the third caution of the afternoon.

None of the leaders pitted during the yellow and it was still Mears, Rusty, Ryan, Jeff Burton and Kenseth making up the top five for the lap 77 restart.

Rusty had cleared Mears for the lead on lap 79, but Jeff Burton was on the move and around Rusty for the lead one lap later.

Stewart was making yet another charge and was up to third on lap 88. "There's a storm 20 miles out and we have 11 laps until half-way," Matt radioed on lap 89.

Stewart passed Rusty on the inside for second on lap 91 and was running down Jeff Burton by half a second a lap. He caught the No. 99 car and moved around him for the lead on lap 98.

At the lap 100 mark, it was Stewart leading Jeff Burton by 1.2 seconds, with Kenseth third, Rusty fourth and Ryan fifth.

Ryan started another green flag stop session when he pit road on lap 106. He raised the pressure in the right rear and lowered it in the left rear. The stop was clocked at 15.703 seconds.

Rusty hit pit road on lap 107 for a 16.790-second service job.

The stops cycled around on lap 117 with Stewart leading, Kenseth second, Jeff Burton third, Marlin fourth, Bobby Labonte fifth, Ryan sixth and Rusty seventh.

Ricky Craven stalled in turn three on lap 118 to cause the fourth caution of the race. Rusty stopped for rights only and a wedge and air pressure adjustment in 7.623 seconds.

Waltrip had the lead on the lap 123 restart, with Earnhardt second, Jimmy Spencer third, Joe Nemechek fourth and Ryan fifth. Rusty was back in the 13th spot.

Only two laps into the run, Jeff Gordon found himself caught up between Dave Blaney and Bill Elliott in turn three. Contact there sent him crashing into the outside concrete to cause the fifth yellow of the day.

None of the leaders except Johnson pitted during the yellow. Earnhardt was quick in grabbing the lead after the lap 129 restart.

The theme had already turned to fuel mileage and pit strategy up and down pit road. With Ryan and Rusty both able to get around 36 to 38 laps on fuel, they were already looking at conserving and figuring when that last stop would take place.

Earnhardt had a 3.0-second lead on teammate Waltrip on lap 136.

"Too tight, just too tight," Rusty radioed on lap 140 as he slid back to the 12th spot.

Stewart was again on the move and around Waltrip for second on lap 142, but running 4.1 seconds behind Earnhardt.

With 50 laps remaining, it was Earnhardt by 4.4 seconds over Stewart, with Waltrip third and 5.2 back and Ryan fourth and 6.3 behind. Rusty was 11th and 16.4 seconds behind.

"Just not getting the grip I need," Ryan radioed on lap 152, just before Stewart's day came to an end with a blown motor on lap 153 to bring out the sixth yellow of the race.

The leaders hit pit road again on lap 154 for two tires and fuel. Ryan was fastest off pit road and had the lead for the lap 158 restart. Rusty was second, with Earnhardt third, Kenseth fourth and Sadler fifth.

Ryan and Rusty cleared the lap traffic and got a good lead on Earnhardt, but he was catching the duo in the next few laps.

"Pit next lap for fuel so we can make the distance," Bill radioed to Rusty on lap 164.

Rusty followed the order and hit pit road for fuel on lap 165, just as Mears crashed hard into the turn one concrete to bring out the seventh yellow flag of the race.

It was just the break that Ryan, Earhardt and others playing the fuel-stretching game needed. "We're still going to be really close so conserve all you can," Matt radioed before the lap 170 restart.

It was Ryan leading, with Earnhardt second, Terry Labonte third, Waltrip fourth and Busch fifth. Rusty was 12th on the restart.

Bobby Labonte was blowing up on lap 178, but nursed the car until oil got under his wheels on lap 181 and he crashed into the Long Pond stretch wall to cause the eighth yellow of the afternoon.

"I'm slap out of tires and there are a couple more back here that'll probably get around," Rusty radioed after the caution. "Well, come on in here and let's get four tires and see how far we can get back up," Bill radioed back. "Right now there are only five cars behind us still in the lead lap."

The move had Rusty back in 19th for the lap 188 restart. Up front, it was Ryan in great shape with the lead. Earnhardt was second, with Busch third, Terry Labonte fourth and Waltrip fifth.

After the restart, Busch cleared Earnhardt for second on lap 191 and the race was on. Busch could close the gap to only a few car lengths, but Ryan had the upper hand in his turn three handling. That allowed him to get a great run off that turn and stretch his distance down the long frontstretch.

At the finish, it was Ryan taking another great victory, this by 0.307 seconds over Busch. Earnhardt finished third, with Waltrip fourth, Terry Labonte fifth, Jeff Burton sixth, Joe Nemechek seventh, Todd Bodine eighth, Blaney ninth, Marlin 10th and Rusty back up to 11th. Kevin Harvick, Kenseth, Sadler and Johnson rounded out the top 15 finishers.

Ryan leaped up to ninth in the point standings with the success the team enjoyed here today, while Rusty remains in the 11th spot.

The standings show Kenseth leading with 2,977, Earnhardt second with 2,745, Gordon third with 2,669, Johnson fourth with 2,547, Bobby Labonte fifth with 2,545, Waltrip sixth with 2,538, Harvick seventh with 2,445, Busch eighth with 2,416, Ryan ninth with 2,363, Jeff Burton 10th with 2,355 and Rusty 11th with 2,333.

The stars and cars of the NASCAR Winston Cup tour now head to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for next weekend's 10th annual running of the prestigious Brickyard 400. NBC-TV and the IMS Radio Network will provide live coverage of the race next Sunday.

POST-RACE QUOTES:

RUSTY WALLACE:
RUSTY WALLACE (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Intrepid)
"We had a great car. We were so damn conservative on our pit calls. We were basing everything on the race going green the rest of the way and we wouldn't have enough fuel. Ryan said to heck with that, we hope we have some cautions and we hope we can make it on fuel. They gambled, and it paid off and that's what we've got to do more of. Our cars were strong as hell today. Track position was the whole deal. I love my guys, but when I've got to hit pit road it scares me. Nothing has been getting any better. The last two years, I'll bet 10 victories have gone sour because of pit problems."