RUSTY WALLACE KNOWS THE BEST IS YET TO COME; PENSKE DODGE DRIVER DEALS WITH MULTITUDE OF MISFORTUNES
-Return To Dover Offers Promise; Site Of Three Wins & Five Poles -

DOVER, DEL. (May 28, 2003) - Miller Lite Team Penske Dodge driver Rusty Wallace admits that his long winless streak may have him frustrated, but he's quick to point out that he's far from throwing in the towel as the NASCAR Winston Cup tour heads to Dover for this weekend's MBNA Armed Forces Family 400.

"Frustrated? Hell yes I'm frustrated," said Wallace, a three-time race winner and five-time pole winner at the 1.0-mile high-banked concrete Dover International Speedway. "But I'm not letting that get in the way of me climbing into that car and giving it everything I've got every weekend.

"I want to win so bad that it's indescribable, but I can't let that get in the way of me doing the best job I can," said Wallace, whose last win came at California Speedway 74 races ago. "Trust me, there's nobody out there who's wanting to win any more than Rusty Wallace, I'll guarantee you that.

"The bottom line is that we've already had a season's worth of bad luck and we're just a third of the way through the schedule heading into Dover. When you stop and look at all we've been through and see that we're still (in the) top 10 in points, you have to say that we've weathered the storm and the best is yet to come for us this year.

"Sunday night at Charlotte (Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway) was a weird deal, but it's right in line with everything else that's been happening so far this season," said Wallace, who claimed the pole at Dover in the last race there last fall with a speed of 156.822 mph (22.956 seconds). "The glue holding the lugnuts on the front wheels was so brittle that they kept breaking off before they could get 'em tightened on the studs. That happened about four of the first five stops and it killed us on pit road. I know my guys are better than that - they're among the best down there - but that was just the latest problem we've gone through. But they came through and gave me some great stops at the end - one down in the 13s (13.889 seconds) - and that got us back up there.

"That race was typical of what we've gone through so far. The performance is there, the strength in the car and the potential. We had a solid top 10 car and had to settle for 12th when the rain came. It sort of reminded me of how the season started out down in Daytona, but not quite that bad. We were running seventh and pitted because there was oil on the windshield. Billy (crew chief Bill Wilburn) is begging me to stay out. I never thought we'd get rain like we did. I pitted and gave up the seventh spot and it rained and we finished 25th.

"We have three straight races where we have a good top five car and pit only to see the caution come out the very next lap. I mean that's bad luck to have that happen in any race, but for gosh sakes three straight races. I'm running fifth at Atlanta and slap the wall and finish 15th. Then we've gotten taken out of a couple of races by just being at the wrong place and have somebody run us over.

"So yeah, it's been pretty frustrating so far, but we've managed to handle it pretty well I think," Wallace offered. "We know that we've been running much better than the finishes show and we've been competitive everywhere we've been so far. We're headed to some tracks that have been really good to us - like Dover, Pocono, Michigan, Sears Point (Infineon Raceway) - places where we really look to pick up some steam. We just know that the best is yet to come for us."

So how do you handle the frustration?

"I think we all know that we have the potential and we're a winning team that just hasn't won so far," said Wallace. "None of us are freaking out about it. Billy's keeping a cool head under fire and I'm trying to do the same. We have a great communications level going. I'll ride him pretty hard if something goes wrong in the pits and he's done a good job of keeping me cool headed and hopped up on the wheel. We say things on the radio and speak our mind, but at the end of the day it's all over and done with. We're both pretty thick-skinned and not afraid to speak our minds. We'll continue to learn from our mistakes and try to make sure they don't happen the next time around.

"Like this weekend at Dover - I'll guarantee you that they've got that lugnut deal figured out from last weekend. Change glue, change lugs, whatever it takes - that'll never happen again."

Wallace's overall Dover career record sports three wins, 10 top-five finishes, 18 top-10 finishes and the five poles in 38 races. His pole for the fall race of 1999 produced the track qualifying record of 159.964 mph (22.505 seconds).

This weekend's Dover schedule calls for Friday practice from 11:05 until 1:00 p.m. The single round of qualifying Friday at 2: 35 p.m. (live on Speed Channel and MRN Radio) will fill Sunday's 43-car starting field. Saturday's "Happy Hour" practice session is set for 11:10 a.m. until 11:55 a.m. (taped & shown at 3:00 p.m. on FX-TV). Sunday's 400-lap, 400-mile MBNA Armed Forces Family 400 starts at 1:00 p.m. EDT and features live coverage by FX-TV and MRN Radio.

# # #

-Rusty Wallace Career Track Records-
DOVER DOWNS INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
(1.0 mile)

Date Event Car St Fn Laps $ Won Status
6/2/02 MBNA Platinum 400 Ford 21 17 400/400 $96,625 Running
9/22/02 MBNA All-American 400 Ford 1 15 399/400 98,790 Running

6/3/01 MBNA Platinum 400 Ford 3 21 397/400 90,450 Running
9/23/01 MBNA.com 400 Ford 15 11 400/400 92,305 Running

6/4/00 MBNA Platinum 400 Ford 1 `14 398/400 70,360 Running
9/24/00 MBNA.com 400 Ford 4 8 400/400 67,590 Running

6/6/99 MBNA Platinum 400 Ford 8 6 399/400 56,830 Running
9/26/99 MBNA Gold 400 Ford 1 32 385/400 49,655 Running

5/31/98 MBNA Platinum 400 Ford 1 18 397/400 39,680 Running
9/20/98 MBNA Gold 400 Ford 2 5 400/400 40,370 Running

6/1/97 Miller 500 Ford 18 39 316/500 32,485 Engine
9/21/97 MBNA 400 Ford 22 16 395/400 31,590 Running

6/2/96 Miller 500 Ford 8 7 499/500 33,365 Running
9/15/96 MBNA 500 Ford 6 2 500/500 54,580 Running

6/4/95 Miller Genuine Draft 500 Ford 16 9 499/500 31,490 Running
9/17/95 NMBA 500 Ford 7 3 500/500 46,905 Running
6/5/94 Budweiser 500 Ford 6 1 500/500 70,605 Running
9/18/94 SplitFire 500 Ford 10 1 500/500 55,055 Running
6/6/93 Budweiser 500 Pontiac 4 21 425/500 17,450 Crash
9/19/93 SplitFire 500 Pontiac 1 1 500/500 77,645 Running
5/31/92 Budweiser 500 Pontiac 14 3 499/500 25,795 Running
9/2/92 Peak 500 Pontiac 3 17 483/500 13,730 Running
6/2/91 Budweiser 500 Pontiac 2 9 498/500 9,950 Running
9/15/91 Peak 500 Pontiac 7 25 322/500 5,025 Accident
6/3/90 Budweiser 500 Pontiac 5 10 500/500 19,825 Running
9/16/90 Peak 500 Pontiac 9 7 499/500 18,175 Running
6/4/89 Budweiser 500 Pontiac 3 5 500/500 20,975 Running
9/17/89 Peak 500 Pontiac 4 7 497/500 16,475 Running
6/5/88 Budweiser 500 Pontiac 11 3 500/500 26,350 Running
9/18/88 Delaware 500 Pontiac 5 3 500/500 26,200 Running
5/31/87 Budweiser 500 Pontiac 19 17 481/500 10,150 Running
9/20/87 Delaware 500 Pontiac 20 12 495/500 10,900 Running
5/18/86 Budweiser 500 Pontiac 19 26 242/500 8,400 Engine
9/14/86 Delaware 500 Pontiac 8 13 491/500 9,350 Running
5/19/85 Budweiser 500 Pontiac 10 18 431/500 6,255 Running
9/15/85 Delaware 500 Pontiac 21 31 137/500 4,385 Engine
5/20/84 Budweiser 500 Pontiac 14 11 495/500 6,085 Running
9/16/84 Delaware 500 Pontiac 14 30 273/500 3,170 Accident

Races Wins Top-5 Top-10 Poles $$$$$

MBNA Platinum 400 19 1 4 9 2 $673,125
NMBA All-American 400 19 2 6 9 3 721,895

TOTAL 38 3 10 18 5 $1,395,020

Lap completion percentage: 16,452/17,900 = 91.9 percent

RUSTY WALLACE/MILLER LITE TEAM PENSKE
2003 RACE RECORD/CAREER STATISTICAL BRIEF

Race Race Name Start Finish Laps comp/ Times Led/
Date Location Pos. Pos. Poss. Laps Laps Led $$$ Won Status/Comment

2/16 Daytona 500 38 25 109/109 0/0 185,625 Running/PC-33 pitted late
Daytona Beach, Fla. for oil on windshield
2/23 Subway 400 8 6 393/393 4/182# 103,710 Running/PC-54 was the
Rockingham, N.C. toughest for 2/3rds race
3/2 UAW/Chrysler 400 25 40 174/267 0/0 92,300 Accident/PC-47 crashed Las Vegas, Nevada by No. 4 in turn 1
3/9 Bass Pro/MBNA 500 7 15 324/325 0/0 88,092 Running/PC-43 slapped
Hampton, Ga. wall racing for 5th
3/16 Carolina Dodge 400 13 16 291/293 0/0 83,827 Running/PC-29 tough, but
Darlington, S.C. caution put 2 laps down
3/23 Food City 500 4 14 498/500 1/5 99,882 Running/New PC-60 lost
Bristol, Tenn. 2 laps on green pit stop
3/30 Samsung/Radio Shack 500 10 14 333/334 0/0 126,692 Running/PC-51 again
Justin, Texas bitten after green stop
4/6 Aaron's 499 31 37 12/188 0/0 101,567 Accident/PC-33 caught
Talladega, Ala. up in lap 4 crash/returned
4/13 Virginia 500 5 8 500/500 1/13 91,217 Running/PC-49 tough;
Martinsville, Va. Great stops, then bad
4/27 Auto Club 500 7 3 250/250 2/54 146,917 Running/PC-51 was in
Fontana, Calif. a position to win
5/3 Pontiac 400 17 10 392/392 0/0 91,942 Running/New PC-57
Richmond, Va. Came back from run-in
5/25 Coca-Cola 600 34 12 275/276 0/0 117,542 Running/PC-43 hampered
Concord, N.C. by lug problem & rain

(# led most laps)

2003 Season Recap: (points events)
Races Led/
Times Led/
Starts Wins Top-5s Top-10s Poles Laps Led Points Information
12 0 1 4 0 4/8/254 10th/1,274/-398 to 1st (#17)

Lap Completion Percentage 2002 Winnings Average Start: 17.4
3,551/3,827 = 92.8% $1,372,214 Average Finish: 17.3
DNFs: 2

Career Brief:

Starts Wins Top-5s Top-10s Poles Career $$$ Won
610 54 190 313 36 $35,815,067