RACE DAY REPORT
FOOD CITY 500
BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY - BRISTOL, TENN.
SUNDAY, MARCH 23, 2003

PRE-RACE NOTES &
RACE INFORMATION:

"I feel pretty darn good about my chances," Rusty told Speed Channel reporter Bob Dillner after yesterday's final practice concluded. "We've got a great car. We just have to get out there and get the job done. We have to have good pit stops and stay on top of the situation from a strategy standpoint. I feel good about it."

It is hard to get any better than this. A beautiful spring day here at the spectacular Bristol Motor Speedway welcomed the drivers, teams and fans to the track billed as "The Fastest Half-Mile In The World." The forecast calls for partly cloudy to mostly cloudy skies with the high temperatures climbing into the upper 60s. No rain is in the forecast and that is a welcomed change from most of the race days so far this season.

And it is hard to get any better than the scenario that has unfolded here at BMS for Miller Lite driver Rusty Wallace leading up to today's 500-lap battle on this super quick .533-mile high-banked track.

Friday's qualifying here saw Rusty continuing his unbelievable display of qualifying prowess here (starts fourth) by taking his eighth top-five starting spot in the last 10 races.

That positive scenario continued here as the team enjoyed promising final practice sessions in preparation for today's race. Rusty continued to dial in his car during the final session. Only a minor spin by Sterling Marlin and a brief yellow for debris on the track stopped the action during practice.

As calm as the practice was here yesterday morning, that certainly was not the case with the afternoon's Busch race. That 250-lap race saw the yellow flag fly a whopping 13 times and the red flag waved once that set up a five-lap dash to the finish.

"We'll likely have a bunch of cautions here today, but nothing like that deal yesterday," offered Rusty's crew chief Bill Wilburn in the team transporter here this morning. "There were a lot of inexperienced guys out there getting in the way yesterday and that caused a whole lot of that. Today, we have the best drivers in the world out there," Bill continued with a grin appearing on his face. "And just as soon as I say that right now, we'll get out there and have a record number of cautions, won't we?"

Rusty and Patti ventured over to the Peerless Restaurant in Johnson City for a No. 2 team dinner hosted by Tom Gallagher and his crew at Mead. With no hospitality visits scheduled this morning, Rustyy was able to sleep in before heading inside for the 11:00 a.m. driver and crew chief meeting.

There was ample time to get a little rest and something to eat prior to the 12:30 p.m. driver introductions, with Rusty taking advantage of that time leading up to the race to spend with family and friends.

One of the most important requirements here at BMS to produce a winning performance is great work in the pits and having a good pit location can definitely help that out. Both Penske teams have great pit spots here today, that's for sure. By winning the pole here on Friday, Rusty's Penske teammate Ryan Newman and his Matt Borland-led team had the opportunity to grab the first pit on pit road. Jeff Gordon, who qualified for the outside pole, pits behind him. Rusty and his Bill Wilburn-led team pit in the fourth spot. The Ken Schrader team pits in front and the Bill Elliott team pits behind.

The engines were fired at 1:04 p.m. and the cars rolled off pit road at 1:06 p.m. After three parade laps, the green flag flew at 1:11 p.m.

Ryan was not able to hold off Gordon's bid for the lead after the green and he fell to second, while Rusty was able to clear the Schrader car and get to the inside for the third spot.

Only four laps into the race, Kyle Petty spun out of turn two to bring out the first yellow flag of the race. Dave Blaney and Michael Waltrip got together on lap 14 to bring out the second yellow and only six laps later it was John Andretti and Casey Mears colliding in turn three to cause the third yellow of the race.

Ryan pitted during the yellow to address a loose condition. After the lap 29 restart, Rusty was able to get a great inside run on Gordon to grab the lead. It was short lived, however, as Gordon powered back around on lap 34.

Tony Raines stalled his car on lap 54 to bring out the fourth yellow of the race. That saw Gordon, Rusty and many of the leaders hit pit road. Ryan was fortunate to get the caution as he was within a few car lengths of being overtaken by Gordon to fall a lap down. Although Rusty's stop was a decent 15.112 seconds, he got blocked in behind Schrader's car and fell to 22nd for the lap 62 restart.

Ryan spun in turn one after contact with Tony Stewart to bring out the fifth yellow of the day. He flat-spotted the tires and damaged the right front fender in the altercation and was forced to hit pit road. He returned to pit road twice for more assistance and had to abort a last stop before the lap 74 restart. He emerged from the pits just in front of leader Gordon and fell down a lap when Gordon got by on lap 81.

At lap 100, Gordon led teammate Terry Labonte by half a second and he was 1.6 seconds in front of third-place Dale Earnhardt Jr. Rusty had climbed back to 17th.

Rusty exercised great patience and picked off cars one by one. He was up to 11th on lap 132, while Jimmy Spencer appeared to be the man on the move.

Mike Skinner tagged the turn two wall on lap 135 to draw the sixth yellow flag of the race. Rusty was among the lead laps cars pitting. Again he had a good stop (15.064 seconds), but was held up by the Schrader car which had the right rear hanging out of the pit box.

The lap 141 restart saw Gordon with the lead, Spencer second, Earnhardt third, Terry Labonte fourth, Kurt Busch fifth, Bobby Labonte sixth, Jerry Nadeau seventh, Rusty eighth and Matt Kenseth ninth. Ryan was 30th, running a lap down.

Only eight laps into the run, Jack Sprague sun in turn two to cause the seventh caution period. None of the leaders pitted.

Spencer got around Gordon on lap 161 to take the lead and he held it through the eighth caution, brought out on lap 181 for Sprague's backstretch spin.

During this yellow, several drivers including Spencer, Earnhardt, Bill Elliott and others pitted.

Gordon had the lead again on the lap 186 restart, with Bobby Labonte second, Terry Labonte third, Harvick fourth, Kenseth fifth, Busch sixth and Rusty seventh.

Rusty and the other leaders pitted after Mark Martin spun down the frontstretch to cause the ninth caution on lap 199. During that yellow, Gordon pitted for four tires, while Rusty over-ruled Bill's call and the team took on only rights.

Harvick led on the lap 204 restart, with Terry Labonte second, Spencer third, Nadeauu fourth and Robby Gordon fifth. Rusty fell to 15th and Gordon was 16th. Ryan was 29th at the time.

Nadeau crashed on the frontstretch on lap 218 to bring out the 10th caution of the afternoon. For the lap 221 restart, it was Spencer with the lead, with Harvick second, Terry Labonte third, Earnhardt fourth and Jeff Burton fifth. Rusty had climbed back up to 12th.

Busch and Bobby Labonte spun innocently in turn two on lap 230 to bring out the 11th yellow.

"Getting just the two tires instead of four made it too loose," Rusty radioed in on lap 234. "I should have listened to you, Billy, and we should have gone with four tires."

The drivers and crews were already attempting to lay out strategy for the remainder of the race long before the halfway point of the race. Bill radioed that he was looking at it coming down to a final stop with less than 150 laps remaining for tires and fuel, then going the distance after that.

Brett Bodine crashed Terry Labonte coming out of turn four on lap 243 to bring out caution No. 12 and Ward Burton got into Jamie McMurray in turn two on lap 256 to cause the 13th yellow. During this period, it was still Spencer in control of the lead. Rusty had managed to get back up to eighth for the lap 262 restart.

Kenseth was the driver on the move during the next green flag run and he overtook Spencer for the lead on lap 334.

At lap 350, there were 19 cars still in the lead lap, with Kenseth leading, Busch second, Spencer third, Gordon fourth, Bobby Labonte fifth, Jimmie Johnson sixth, Jeff Burton seventh, Rusty eighth, Earnahrdt ninth and rookie Greg Biffle 10th.

The first round of green flag stops were the order as Spencer hit pit road on lap 360. Rusty and Gordon pitted on lap 370. Unfortunately for them and many more, Dale Jarrett banged the wall and came to rest in turn two to bring out the 14th yellow on lap 390.

Five cars had yet to pit and they found themselves in a lap of their own. Bobby Labonte, Busch, Sterling Marlin, Ricky Rudd and Biffle benefited from the yellow. There were 11 cars running one lap down, while Rusty, Gordon, Spencer, Earnhardt and Jeff Burton were all two laps down.

After the lap 403 restart, a quick caution only two laps later, caused by Kyle Petty's backstretch spin, saw Kenseth and Gordon able to make up a lap each.

Busch led on the lap 412 restart, with Bobby Labonte second, Rudd third, Marlin fourth, Biffle fifth and Kenseth sixth, the only cars on the lead lap. Rusty was 18th, running two laps down.

Ward Burton spun down the frontstretch on lap 424 and collected Petty to bring out the 16th yellow of the race.

After the lap 438 restart, Busch and Labonte diced for the lead for several laps. Martin spun down the frontstretch on lap 472, but no yellow was thrown. However, Andretti slowed as he came out of the fourth turn. Tony Stewart ran into the back of him and Joe Nemechek rammed the Stewart car from the rear to bring out the 17th caution flag.

After the lap 481 restart, Busch took control of the lead. Kenseth got around Labonte for second and gave chase. But at the checkered flag, it was Busch holding off Kenseth by four car lengths to take his second win in this race in as many years. Labonte finished third with, Rudd fourth, Biffle fifth and Marlin sixth, the only cars on the lead lap. Harvick was seventh, Johnson eighth, Gordon ninth, Kenny Wallace 10th, McMurray 11th, Spencer 12th and Rusty 13th.

Kenseth holds the lead in the points with 935. Busch is second with 797. Stewart third with 791, Waltrip fourth with 783 and Earnhardt fifth with 749. Ryan is 15th with 668 and Rusty is now 16th with 653

The Winston Cup tour now heads out to the Lone Star State for next Sunday's annual stop at the Texas Motor Speedway near Fort Worth.

POST-RACE QUOTES:

RUSTY WALLACE (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Intrepid)
"That's two weeks in a row we got screwed on caution flags. We pitted last week and lost two laps when the caution flew. This week we pitted and got going. I thought we were going to be good, and the caution flew again. We had a good car. It was an easy top five, every week it's an easy top five, and we've just got bad pit luck right now. I can't blame it on anything else except bad luck."