WALLACE & MILLER LITE TEAM PENSKE LOOKING TO BOUNCE BACK AT ATLANTA IN SUNDAY'S BASS PRO SHOPS/MBNA 500

HAMPTON, Ga. (March 5, 2003) - Miller Lite Team Penske driver Rusty Wallace is hoping to add to his favorite Atlanta racing memories in the weekend's Bass Pro Shops/MBNA 500 and prove his team's resiliency after last Sunday's disappointing Las Vegas finish.

"We've been around the block enough times to know that stuff like that happens," Wallace said of the lap 176 crash in Sunday's UAW-Chrysler 400 at Las Vegas. "We got crashed out of the thing, we wound up finishing 40th and fell back to 22nd in the points. That's it, case closed - that was last week and there is nothing we can do about it.

"We know that there are still 33 of these things (2003 races) left, so we can knock out a couple of good finishes at Atlanta and Darlington and be right back in the picture," said Wallace, a two-time race winner and three-time pole winner at Atlanta. "We're looking to bounce back big time and know we're capable of doing just that.

"We've had a ton of good runs at Atlanta and probably enough memories there to fill a chapter of a book," Wallace concluded.

Among Wallace's Atlanta racing memoirs:

(1) Wallace's first career NASCAR Winston Cup start -- "I'll never forget my first-ever Winston Cup race," said Wallace of the (March 16) 1980 Atlanta 500 at the Hampton, Ga., track. "Don Miller (Wallace's mentor and now co-owner of Penske Racing South) helped spearhead the deal that saw us get a Chevrolet race car and some support from Roger (Penske) to run the spring race at Atlanta.

"We had a pretty 'rag-tag' bunch that we put together to race that weekend; some of my short-track guys, some of the Penske guys...a bunch of friends and neighbors. We qualified seventh and ran strong all day long. At the end, we wound up racing my hero Bobby Allison and Dale (Earnhardt) for the win. That was a really cool deal. I believe it was Dale's second career win (it was). And there we were finishing second (by 9.55 seconds) to Dale and just ahead of Bobby in our first-ever Winston Cup race. Dale had won the rookie deal the year before and went on to win the championship that year.

"I remember thinking back then, 'ha, this kind of racing is a piece of cake,' but it didn't take long for us to see just how fortunate we were at Atlanta and how difficult this stuff really is," said Wallace. "We ran Charlotte later that season and Roger was so enthralled in the open wheel racing back then that we put the stock car deal on hold for a while."

The record book shows that Earnhardt was forced to start 31st in his Rod Osterlund Chevrolet in the 1980 Atlanta 500 after problems in qualifying. A crowd of 62,500 saw Earnhardt take the lead from Allison with 29 laps to go and emerge with the win over Wallace. Allison finished third, with Dave Marcis fourth and Dick Brooks fifth.

(2) Winning the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup championship at Atlanta --"Who'll ever forget the final race of 1989 at Atlanta when we came out on top for the championship? I know we'll always remember it like it was yesterday," Wallace recalled. "You name it and it went wrong that day.

"The deal was that we had to finish within 19 spots of Dale (Earnhardt) to win the thing and gosh, did he make it tough on us that day or what? We started fourth and dropped back. We had something like an 80-point (78 points) lead going into that final race.

"We were pretty much in a defensive mode, but I was still driving as hard as I possibly could. We fell back and were among the first teams to pit under green. We went a lap down and then the caution fell for a crash. The day just got crazier after that. We thought we had a flat and didn't, and lug nuts began to tear through the left rear rim. Before we knew it, we're running three laps down and there's Dale up front leading the thing lap after lap. Heck, if it hadn't been for all the cautions (six for 36 laps), he'd have lapped the field that day.

"Anyhow, he won the race hands down...totally dominating the thing...and we came out of there with a 15th-place finish and won the championship by just 12 points over Dale. As sloppy as it looked that day, it was still the biggest highlight of my career. Dale ran us till our tongues were hanging out, but we were able to squeak it out in the points."

(3) The 1993 season finale; battling it out with Dale Earnhardt for the championship in a season which saw Alan Kulwicki and Davey Allison lose their lives -- "Me and Dale had a helluva battle going on all year long, I'll tell you that," Wallace recalled of the 1993 season. "We'd won nine races going into Atlanta and had really closed in on the points until we had problems the week before at Phoenix (blown tire relegated him to a 19th-place finish, while Earnhardt finished fourth).

"Dale had a big lead on us going into Atlanta (only had to finish 34th or better) and we knew we had to throw everything we had at them there that day. I remember that Dale crashed in practice and had to go to a backup car. We did everything possible that day -- led the most laps, won our 10th race of the year and all -- but still came up short to Dale (who finished 10th in the race and won by 80 points) for the points title.

"When we took the checkered flag and the win, we turned that car around and Dale came up beside us. We did a backwards (Polish Victory) lap in honor of Alan (Kulwicki) and Davey (Allison), our fallen heroes that year. It was a pretty emotional deal and the fans went wild. There's still all kinds of pictures floating around everywhere from that day at Atlanta.
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Wallace's overall Atlanta record sports the two wins and three poles, along with eight top-five finishes and 16 top-10 finishes in 41 career races. He started 38th and finished 16th in last spring's race and started fifth and finished 17th at Atlanta last fall.

Sunday's Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 Winston Cup event at Atlanta Motor Speedway is set to take the green flag at 1:00 p.m. EST. The fourth of 36 scheduled races features live coverage by FOX TV and PRN Radio beginning at 12:30 p.m. EST.