Woes Hit Penske Drivers in The Winston

Although it was a valiant effort, Rusty Wallace and his No. 2 Miller Lite/Goo Goo Dolls Dodge Intrepid wound up having to call it a night after only 40 Laps in Saturday's running of The Winston.

The early exit for Rusty was due to a last lap pass by Ricky Rudd. Just before the start/finish line, Rudd managed to get by Rusty for the final transfer spot into the second segment. Only 20 cars would transfer and Rusty had been running 20th until seconds before the yellow flag waved. Crew chief, Billy Wilburn radioed to his driver that they didn't make the cut and to pull the car to the garage area. Nothing else was said after that.

"The qualifying thing really killed me, but the thing that really killed me was I was out there running and someone spins on the front straightaway and when he spins, I'm coming down pit road, so I get stopped. Then I take back off and get up on the race track. By that time, I've lost almost half a straightaway and the caution never came out. When I came back out I was so far behind the leaders because of that. We decided not to add fuel. The car was super tight and then it got loose at the same time. I didn't think there was any way in the world that Ricky (Rudd) was going to catch me in turn three and four, but he know he had to transfer into the next show. We all needed to transfer. Ricky (Rudd) took a dive for it coming off of turn four and got me. I feel bad about it, but there were two big problems that didn't help the situation. I was coming down pit road and I had to take back off and throw it in second gear to accelerate. That's what got us, but that's racing. It's not the 600 - watching that on TV would hurt worse than watching The Winston from the couch."

The No. 2 Goo Goo Dolls Dodge Intrepid was indeed loose. The crew made appropriate adjustments to get the car to perform, but their time ran out.

"This was an important race, just for the drama of it all, Wallace said. "The money, the stage that's set, it's all a big show and I would have loved to have been there at the end. We'll just have to get em' next Sunday."
Although Penske teammate, Ryan Newman advanced into the second segment, his chances at a repeat win in The Winston ended with four laps to go. The No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge was running in the 12th position when it slammed against the wall crossing the start/finish line. Hitting the wall was only the beginning of the show. Newman, whose car broke loose after a three-wide battle with Mark Martin and Ricky Craven, immediately radioed his crew, asking who hit him and exited his ALLTEL Dodge looking for someone responsible. Newman crawled out of his crumpled race car and raised his arms, apparently at Tony Stewart, who was behind Newman before the spin. Not knowing what just happened, Newman walked around to the right side of his car and tried to extinguish some flames coming out of the exhaust pipe with his foot. He then walked across the track, grabbed a piece of debris from his car and flung it into the infield grass.
The small flames weren't out, so Newman walked back to his car to put his foot over the exhaust. This time, they went out, but Newman was still heated up over losing another race car. Waiting for the ambulance, Newman took off his Hutchens Device and started walking up the front stretch to calm down. The commotion caused NASCAR to display the red flag and stopped the rest of the field on the backstretch until Newman made his mandatory trip to the infield care center.
"I don't know what happened," Newman said. "The ALLTEL Dodge snapped loose and I wrecked. At first I thought Tony Stewart hit me, but the guys on the team said he didn't. The car was really good. We only had four laps to go - I can't believe it."
"We wrecked "Daisy" - the car we would have brought here, but she was a mess after California," said Newman. "How many more will we go through before we catch a break? I hate it for the guys because The Winston means so much. The car was so good, we battled to stay in the fight and were running 12th and then wrecked. I just hate it."
Prior to Newman's misfortune, the ALLTEL Dodge had been tight during the first segment. The crew took advantage of their pit stops and made the necessary adjustments to free up the No. 12 car. The second segment proved that Newman had a better handle on the steering wheel and was positioning himself nicely in the field. Newman was never able to show what he had as his night ended early.