QUALIFYING DAY REPORT
SIRIUS SATELLITE 400
MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
BROOKLYN, MICHIGAN
FRIDAY, JUNE 13, 2003

PRACTICE INFORMATION:

It is shaping up to be a big weekend for Miller Lite Team Penske driver Rusty Wallace entering this weekend's Sirius Satellite 400 here at Michigan International Speedway. In addition to being confident that he¹ll have a great opportunity to claim his 55th career victory on Sunday, he's also hoping for big things from youngest child Stephen.

Rusty spent as much time as possible helping son Stephen get prepared for tomorrow (Saturday) night's first official venture into late model competition. Stephen will be competing in the UARA feature at Hickory Motor Speedway.

"Man, I sure wish we could get back for that, but we have to keep a promise we made to Goodyear," Rusty explained to Speed Channel's Bob Dilner. "I told Goodyear way back in January that I'd go make an appearance back in Nashville on Saturday night and that's where I'll be. Steve will have enough help there anyhow and maybe me not being there might take a little pressure off. I'm sure they'll be burning up the cell phone batteries keeping us up to date with what's going on back there at Hickory."

After light rain washed out all of the scheduled ARCA activity here at the track yesterday, that series was able to get in some practice here this morning before the 11:00 a.m. start of Winston Cup practice. The weather forecast for the remainder of the weekend is very promising, with only a slight chance of isolated showers cropping up each afternoon.

The Cup action started as scheduled at 11:00 a.m. and after the first of two hours of practice had concluded, it was Bobby Labonte's 38.420-second lap atop the speed chart. Elliott Sadler's 38.471 was second, with Tony Stewart's 38.478 third, Terry Labonte's 38.479 fourth and Kurt Busch's 38.535 fifth. Rusty's 38.669 was 10th.

Most of the teams had only made five or six total runs when the session concluded at 1:00 p.m. When it did, it was still the younger Labonte fastest, lowering his fast time to a 38.293. Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s 38.347 was second, with Stewart's 38.409 third, Terry Labonte's 38.419 fourth, Sadler's 38.430 fifth, Busch's 38.440 sixth, Rusty¹s Penske teammate Ryan Newman¹s 38.453 seventh, Jeremy Mayyfield's 38.483 eighth, Ward Burton's 38.487 ninth, Jeff Gordon's 38.570 10th, Joe Nemechek's 38.572 11th and Rusty's 38.586 12th.

The qualifying order for the 3:00 p.m. time trial session sees Todd Bodine the first of 45 drivers expected to make runs against the clock. Ryan is scheduled out 17th, while Rusty will take to the track 33rd.

Nemechek was second out and his 38.289 held the point until Michael Waltrip, out 15th, turned in a 38.259.

Heavy clouds were moving into the area, the temperature was getting cooler and the track was getting faster.

Ryan knocked Waltrip off the pole with his 38.238 (188.294 mph), but two cars later came Elliott Sadler and he turned in a 38.197 (188.496 mph).

But three drivers later was Earnhardt and he ran even faster, turning in a 38.077 (189.464 mph).

Stewart was the next guy out and he lowered the fast time to a 38.002 (189.464 mph). Things seemed to level off for a while. Rusty was able to muster a 38.355 (187.720 mph) and felt, "that he maybe left a tenth on the table getting through turns three and four."

All the eyes were on Labonte when he went out 37th in the order and he certainly earned the attention. He clocked in with a lap of 37.822 (190.365 mph) to knock his Gibbs Racing teammate off the pole. Busch was the fastest of the remaining drivers with his 38.139.

So it'll be the Gibb cars - Bobby Labonte and Stewart - on row one here on Sunday. Earnhardt starts third, with Busch fourth and Terry Labonte fifth. Jeff Gordon, Sadler, Ryan (eighth), Waltrip and Kevin Harvick complete the top 10. Positions 11-20, in order will be Jimmie Johnson, Nemechek, Jeff Green, Jack Sprague, Mark Martin, Bill Elliott, Rusty (17th), Hermie Sadler,
Robby Gordon and Jeremy Mayfield round out the top 20 starters.

Sunday's Sirius Satellite 400 has a 1:00 p.m. EDT starting time and features live coverage by Fox-TV and MRN Radio.

RUSTY'S QUOTES:

RUSTY WALLACE (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Intrepid)
"That was a pretty solid run. The car drove good. It handled real good, and I think I might have left some laying on the table. I let it get too high on the race track in three and four. I honestly underestimated how good it was going to feel. I based it off of practice. I might have left a tenth out there, but all-in-all it was a pretty good run. I think (prospects for winning Sunday) are damn good. This is the car I had at California and it ran so strong. I can't wait for Happy Hour practice, but I think we're going
to be in great shape."ot the pole, so you've got to be on top of your game in qualifying."