RACE DAY REPORT
COCA-COLA 600
LOWE'S MOTOR SPEEDWAY - CONCORD, N.C.
SUNDAY, MAY 25, 2003

PRE-RACE NOTES &
RACE INFORMATION:

"It's 600 miles and that's plenty of time to get the job done, regardless of where you start," Rusty told Speed Channel's Bob Dillner here yesterday afternoon. "The disappointing thing for us, though, was that we had a side window fall off the car early in the final practice and we lost much of the precious practice time. But the bottom line is that this is the longest race we run and the key will be to stay on top of it as the track conditions change throughout the race."

After doing several TV interviews and participating in some business meetings here yesterday afternoon, Rusty had the opportunity to enjoy his favorite pastime when he joined Mead Paper's Tom Gallagher for a late afternoon golf outing.

Much of the talk around the garage this morning focused on "the other race" of the day and many crew members, certainly including the Penske Team members, tuned in to much of the race in their team transporters.

But perhaps the major topic of discussion here throughout the day concerned the weather picture for today's race. A gigantic downpour hit the track just after noon here. The weather turned to mixed clouds and sunshine for almost three hours before another band of showers hit the track just after 3:15 p.m.

Guess you could say that the heat is on for the teams of Miller Lite driver Rusty Wallace and ALLTEL driver Ryan Newman, with their Penske Racing teammates finishing first and second in today's Indianapolis 500.

Gil de Ferran passed teammate and two-time straight winner Helio Castroneves with less than 20 laps remaining and held on to give Roger Penske his third consecutive Indy 500 win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The forecast here calls for a 50 percent chance of thunderstorms throughout the evening, but the hopes are that the race can be completed somehow and some time under the lights here tonight.

Rusty and his Bill Wilburn-led team pitted from the 29th spot. The Larry Foyt team pitted in front and the Ricky Rudd team pitted behind.

It was very evident that NASCAR officials had the potential for adverse weather in mind as they hurried the start of the race. The engines were fired at 5:25 p.m. and the cars rolled off the line at 5:30 p.m. There was an extended parade lap period as officials continued the track-drying process. Officials finally threw the green and the yellow flag after 10 laps and the race was officially started.

When the green flew alone at lap three, Ryan took off. From the start, it was easy to see that Stewart was the man on the move. Ryan continued to hold the lead at lap 40, with Jeff Gordon second and Stewart up to third and closing in. Rusty was also on the move and up to the 24th spot.

Stewart got around Gordon and closed in on Ryan, taking the lead on lap 50. Ryan held the second spot, with Gordon third, Bobby Labonte fourth and Kurt Busch fifth. Rusty was up to 21st.

The first round of green flag stops began on lap 52. Both of the Penske drivers were reporting tight conditions. Rusty pitted on lap 54. The stop was slow - a 17.737 - hampered by loose lugnuts on the front.

"Something's up with the glue," Bill radioed to his concerned driver. "Maybe it's the humidity, I don't know. It's just that their so brittle that they're breaking off the wheel."

"Get it fixed, Billy," Rusty shot back. "It's killing us."

Ryan pitted on lap 57 and had a decent 15.519-second stop. When the stops cycled around on lap 59, it was Stewart leading, with Gordon second, Busch third, Labonte fourth and Ryan fifth. Rusty was back in the 22nd spot.

The next part of the race turned into the "Tony Stewart Show" as he was in control.

"There's a little rain up here," reported Penske General Manager and Ryan's spotter, John Erickson on lap 94.

At lap 100, it was Stewart leading, with Busch up to second, Gordon third, Elliott Sadler fourth and Matt Kenseth fifth. Ryan was back in seventh, while Rusty had made it back up to 19th. Many eyes were on Jimmie Johnson, who started dead last - 43rd on the field - and now was up to 11th.

Both Penske teams were planning on addressing their tight handling conditions during their upcoming pit stops when the second yellow of the race flew on lap 103, this one for rain.

The caution flag stops saw Rusty hit pit road and experience the same problem as on the stop before. The 18.150-second stop put him further behind (back in 20th) when officials brought the field down pit road on lap 107 and displayed the red flag in order to dry the track.

Some 25 minutes later, the engines were fired again and the cars sent back out on the track.

"That's kinda weird to haul off into turn one like that and see a rainbow off the track in turn two," Ryan said before the race went back to green on lap 111.

Stewart faced yet another round of bad luck as his motor started souring on lap 123 and Kenseth got around for the lead. He held the point on lap 128, when Jeremy Mayfield crashed in turn two to bring out the third yellow of the race. Ryan and Rusty both experienced slow stops during the yellow and lined up 15th and 16th respectively for the lap 135 restart.

Kenseth was the class of the field and enjoyed a 2.0-second lead over second-place Busch at lap 150, but Johnson was all the way up to fifth and closing in. Ryan was 11th and Rusty 14th.

Another round of green flag stops began on lap 189. Rusty pitted on lap 193 and got four tires, fuel and a minor chassis adjustment in 14.031 seconds. "Great stop guys," Rusty radioed. "Let's keep that up."

Ryan pitted two laps later for a 14.988-second stop. The complexion of the race changed abruptly three laps later when Ricky Rudd spun on the frontstretch. NASCAR waited for two more laps before they threw the fourth yellow, this for Rudd's stalled Ford.

At lap 200, the cars of Labonte, Greg Biffle and Dale Earnhardt Jr. had yet to pit and they found themselves on a lap of their own. Kenseth, Busch, Johnson, Gordon, Ryan and all the way back to Rusty in 13th restarted in front of leader Labonte on the lap 205 restart.

Labonte was too strong for Rusty and he got around him before Earnhardt, who was experiencing brake problems, spun off turn four to bring out the fifth yellow on lap 222. The yellow allowed seven drivers, including Ryan, to get back into the lead lap. Ryan lost his side window during the yellow and was forced back to the pits to replace it. That could have been devastating if such would have happened during a green flag run. As was the case, he hit pit road and never lost a lap replacing the window.

Labonte led on the lap 228 restart, with Kenseth second, Gordon third, Busch fourth and Johnson fifth. Ryan was ninth and Rusty 16th. Only five laps later, the yellow flew again for Steve Park's backstretch spin.

Kenseth took the lead again from Labonte on lap 234. Earnhardt lost a brake rotor on lap 240 to bring out the seventh caution flag of the race During the ensuing yellow flag stops, Johnson beat everyone off pit road to take the lead for the first time of the race. Ryan lined up eighth, while Rusty's 17.332-second stop had him back in the 17th spot for the lap 245 restart.

Johnson got a great start as Kenseth was trapped behind some lapped cars. Busch spun out of turn four on lap 249, but didn't bring out the caution. At lap 250, it was Johnson leading, with Kenseth second, Labonte third, Gordon fourth and Sterling Marlin up to fifth. Jimmy Spencer, Ryan, and Michael Waltrip completed the eight cars remaining in the lead lap. Rusty was 16th and moving back up.

Johnson was almost two tenths per lap faster than anyone for the next several laps until a multi-car crash on lap 264 (involving Larry Foyt, Ricky Craven, John Andretti and Sadler) brought out the seventh caution of the night. The leaders pitted on lap 266. Rusty's 14.221-second stop on the next lap around helped him get up to 12th.

Once again, the rain came. This time it got harder and harder, forcing officials to bring the cars down pit road and bring on another red flag period.

Faced with a situation that would call for some three hours of drying time before the race could continue, plus the fact that more bad weather was headed toward the track, officials called the race official after the 276 laps had been completed. The call came at 9:32 p.m.

So Johnson completed an amazing two-week stretch here, taking a win in The Winston last weekend and then coming back to win the Coca-Cola 600 here today. He was only the fifth driver to accomplish the double win here . Kenseth finished second, with Labonte third, Spencer fourth and Ryan fifth. Waltrip, Marlin and Gordon completed the top eight, the only cars in the lead lap. Jarrett was ninth, with Ward Burton 10th, Joe Nemechek 11th and Rusty coming home in the 12th spot.

Kenseth padded his points lead here tonight and now has a 160-point lead (1,799 to 1,639) over Earnhardt. Gordon is third with 1,583, Busch fourth with 1,575 and Johnson fifth with 1,552. Bobby Labonte (1,546), Waltrip (1,511), Kevin Harvick (1,457), Marlin (1,405) and Rusty (10th with 1,401) round out the top 10 in points. Ryan moved up to the 24th spot and has 1,191 points.

The Winston Cup tour now heads up to Dover International Speedway in Delaware for next Sunday's 400-mile, 400-lap battle on that high-banked concrete race track.

POST-RACE QUOTES:

RUSTY WALLACE (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Intrepid)
"I think we had the car pretty close to where it needed to be when they called it off. We just kept on having the problems with the lugnuts during the pit stops and that got us behind. I told Billy that we just have to get in there and find out what that was all about and make sure it never happens again. That just killed us. We got a lap down early, but I think we could have made it back if the race had restarted. I think we easily had a top 10 car. Congratulations to Roger Penske and his Indy teams today. I was hoping Ryan and I could keep the ball rolling for him tonight at Charlotte, but we're gaining on it and we'll try it again next week at Dover."