RACE DAY REPORT
SIRIUS SATELLITE 400
MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
BROOKLYN, MICHIGAN
FRIDAY, JUNE 15, 2003

PRE-RACE NOTES &
RACE INFORMATION:

Could this be the day that Rusty Wallace and his Bill Wilburn-led Miller Lite Team Penske put it together and post Rusty's 55th career win?

"I certainly like our chances," Rusty told Speed Channel's Bob Dilner after yesterday's practice had concluded. "We have a strong hot rod out there and if we can get everything clicking, we can win the thing."

Rusty clocked in with the 11th fastest lap in yesterday's early practice and 13th in the final session.

"We tried a lot of stuff in practice and wound up putting in the setup that worked so well out at California Speedway," Rusty told a WKRN-TV reporter at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway last night. "We started out really close, then went and tried the setup that Ryan is using. I about crashed the thing, so we switched over to what we had out at Fontana that we almost won
with (finished third) and the thing just flew. It's fast and stable and we think we can get the job done with it."

Rusty was indeed in Nashville last night for an appearance for Goodyear at the historical fairgrounds track. He signed autographs and drove the pace car prior to heading back to Michigan. He was back in his coach just after 11 o'clock and with the first thing on his agenda here today being Dodge
hospitality at 9:30 a.m., there was ample time to get a good night's sleep.

All during the Nashville trip last night, Rusty was keeping tabs on the progress of young son Stephen's first venture into late model racing at Hickory Speedway back in North Carolina. Rusty arranged to have his crew chief from back in the Blue Max days, Barry Dodson, to oversee Stephen's efforts. Rusty got the news when he arrived in Nashville that Stephen had qualified 18th out of the 29 cars on hand. He received the unfortunate news
when he got back to the Jackson, Mich., airport that Stephen had bashed in the front of his Dodge and was forced to park the car after 75 laps due to the engine overheating.

"Oh well, guess you could say that he chalked up some experience," Rusty told Good year's Phil Holmer when he finished talking to son Greg, who gave him the report from Hickory. "The kid's gotta start somewhere. That bunch
(UARA) is running down at Nashville in a couple of weeks and the promoter told me that he'd let Stephen in to practice earlier if we decide to run that race. We'll take a look at that offer because that would definitely be some more good experience for the kid."

Finally, a gorgeous race day along the NASCAR Winston Cup trail. That was the case here today at Michigan International Speedway as the forecast calls for sunny skies and the temperatures reaching 80 degrees.

With today's race not getting the green flag until 1:30 p.m., that meant the driver and crew chief meeting wasn't until 11:30 a.m. With the teams up and rolling from their Jackson hotel before 6:00 a.m. this morning, it certainly made for a long day at the track.

As for the pit road layout for today's race here at MIS, pole-winner Labonte went with the 18th spot up pit road and second-place starter Stewart chose the 10th spot. Both spots have openings behind them. Third-place starter Dale Earnhardt Jr. went with the 11th spot, across the opening from Stewart
and fourth-place starter Kurt Busch pits across the opening from Labonte in the 19th spot. Terry Labonte qualified fifth and pits from the 26th spot and is separated from sixth-place starter Jeff Gordon (27th spot) by an oeping in the wall. When the Elliott Sadler team, who qualified seventh chose the 12th spot up pit road, Rusty's Penske teammates Ryan Newman and
his Matt Borland-led team who qualified eighth, jumped at the opportunity to pit from the first spot. The Mike Wallace team pits behind. Rusty, Bill and crew, who start 17th here today, pit from the fifth spot. The Steve Park team pits in front and the Brett Bodine team (with brother Geoffrey driving in relief after Brett was injured in a practice crash yesterday) pits from behind.

The engines were fired at 1:20 p.m. and the cars rolled off pit road at 1:25 p.m. After three parade laps, the field got the green flag at 1:30 p.m.

Stewart and Kurt Busch were able to use the high line around Bobby Labonte on the first lap, but the first yellow of the race unfolded behind them when Steve Park tapped Ken Schrader into Ricky Rudd, sending the Schrader and Rudd cars hard into the turn one concrete.

Stewart led on the lap seven restart, with Busch second, Gordon third, Michael Waltrip fourth and Ryan up to fifth. Rusty was already up to 11th.

Three laps later came the second yellow when Dave Blaney spun into the turn four wall. Both Rusty and Ryan hit pit road for right-side tires and fuel.

Stewart, Waltrip, Sterling Marlin and Earnhardt did not pit and lined up in front for the lap 15 restart. Ryan was seventh and Rusty 18th.

Earhardt got underneath Stewart for the lead on lap 20 and took Marlin with him up to second, but Stewart forced Earnhardt up high the next lap and regained the lead. Earnhardt fell all the way back to sixth.

Ryan moved up to make it a three-car battle for the lead on lap 31. He nosed to the inside to officially lead on lap 32. Ryan and Stewart battled for the lead side-by-side for several laps of great racing. But suddenly Ryan's Dodge went up in a plume of smoke and flames as his engine blew on lap 37 to cause the third yellow of the race. He quickly exited the car when it came to rest in turn four, but flames that shot up through the shifter area managed to singe his neck and chin before he could get out of
the car.

Rusty and the rest of the leaders pitted during the yellow on lap 38 for four tires, fuel and adjustments (two pounds out of left front, 1.5 pounds out of left rear and a pound out of the right rear). The time on the stop was 13.840 and that gained Rusty some six spots in the pits. It would be a preview of the great stops the crew gave him the entire race.

Marlin led on the lap 48 restart, with Stewart third, Busch fourth,
Earnhardt fifth, Gordon sixth, Kevin Harvick seventh, Jeff Burton eighth, Rusty ninth and Bobbyy Labonte 10th.

Steve Park's turn two spin on the next lap brought out the fourth yellow of the race and the order stayed the same for the lap 52 restart.

Marlin and Stewart gave the fans some exciting side-by-side racing for the lead before Derrick Cope dropped oil on the track to cause the fifth yellow on lap 70.

Again the leaders hit pit road. Rusty's crew accomplished the near impossible when they gave him four tires and removed the left rear spring rubber in 14.899 seconds. He actually gained two spot during the stop.

"Guys, when you take a rubber out, that usually slows you down and you lose spots," Rusty radioed. "You did it and we gained two spots. You guys are kicking ass in there today. Keep it uup."

Marlin led again on the lap 78 restart, with Busch second, Stewart third, Gordon fourth, Earnhardt fifth, Bobby Labonte sixth and Rusty seventh.

The rubber removal made Rusty's car loose and he began to fall back. "It's sliding the rear end - just too loose right now," he radioed at lap 100 as Marlin led by two car lengths over Stewart and Gordon was third and running three seconds back.

By lap 110, the field was strung out, with the top 10 about a second each apart. The first round of green flag stops started on lap 119. Rusty hit pit road on lap 120 for a 13.865-second stop for service and adjustments (plus two rounds of wedge and minus a pound in the right rear).

The stops cycled around on lap 123 and saw Marlin with the lead, Gordon in second, Stewart third, Matt Kenseth up to fourth and Earnhardt fifth. Rusty was still running in the 10th spot.

Marlin was enjoying a six-second lead over second-place Gordon on lap 157 when the sixth caution of the race came - this for debris on the backstretch.

Again the leaders hit pit road. Rusty got air adjustments to the right front and left rear (14.256 seconds) on the lap 158 pit stop.

Gordon was the first out and had the lead for the lap 162 restart. Marlin was second, with Ricky Craven third, Busch fourth, Stewart fifth, Earnhardt sixth, Bobby Labonte seventh, Rusty eighth, Waltrip ninth and Kenseth 10th.

Gordon was able to get a great start as Marlin apparently missed a shift and drifted up high and back through the pack. Gordon had a 2.6-second lead when Craven and Greg Biffle made contact in turn three on lap 171 to cause
the seventh caution of the day.

While the top four stayed out, the remaining cars pitted during the yellow. Rusty was up to fifth for the lap 176 restart. When the green flag flew, Busch grabbed the lead from Gordon and began to really show his muscle.

Tony Raines spin in turn two with 20 laps to go closed up the field once again. There were still 16 cars on the lead lap with 10 laps remaining. The running order was Busch leading, with Bobb=y Labonte second, Gordon third, Earnhardt fourth, Marlin fifth, Kenseth sixth and Rusty seventh.

Todd Bodine's turn three crash on lap 192 bunched the cars up once again and set up what would be a five-lap shootout to the finish. During the yellow, Rusty (eighth spot) and the cars running in the lead lap behind him all pitted for fresh tires.

The single-file restart saw Busch jump out to a good lead and then hold off Bobby Labonte for the win. Gordon finished third, with Matt Kenseth, after contact with Earnahrdt, taking the fourth spot and Waltrip using his fresh tires to come home fifth. Marlin was sixth, Earnhardt seventh, Stewart eighth, Mark Martin ninth and Terry Labonte 10th. Jeff Burton, Rusty (12th), Jeremy Mayfield, Jamie McMurray and Craven rounded out the top 15
drivers who finished in the lead lap. Ryan finished in the 41st spot.

Kenseth continues to lead in the points with 2,275. Earnhardt is second (2,090), Gordon third (2,052), Bobby Labonte fourth (1,998), Busch fifth (1,933), Waltrip sixth (1,900), Jimmie Johnson seventh (1,853), Rusty eighth (1,798), Marlin ninth (1,783) and Martin 10th (1,740). Ryan fell to 17th in the standings (1,581).

The Winston Cup tour now heads out to Sonoma, Calif., for next weekend's first of two road course races; this the Save Mart 300 at Infineon Raceway.

POST-RACE QUOTES:

RUSTY WALLACE (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Intrepid)
"We stopped and put new tires on, and I thought that would do it. We just couldn't get going on 'em. New tires really hadn't been better all day. It would take 'em awhile to get going. We thought it would help us at the very end. We put 'em on and thought it would work and it didn't. That's all there is to it. I probably should have stayed out."