RACE DAY REPORT
SAMSUNG/RADIO SHACK 500
TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
JUSTIN, TEXAS
SUNDAY, APRIL 4, 2004

RUSTY FINISHES FIFTH AT TEXAS; SOLID RUN
MOVES HIM UP TO 11TH IN POINTS

"But just like everything else lately, it was a smooth ride in with absolutely no traffic at all," Larry reported about an hour before the 10:00 a.m. drivers' and crew chiefs' meeting. "We had two great practice sessions yesterday and Rusty is really happy with the car. He ran the second most laps out there in the final session, so we're pretty sure we have a good handle on it all.

"The guys pitted Rusty's Busch car yesterday and that was good practice for them," Larry continued. "They hit it pretty hard twice this week back at the shop, so we look to be good on our pit stops here today."

Rusty had a Mobil 1 hospitality function visit this morning prior to the drivers' meeting. After that quick trip out of the track and back in again, it was straight to the drivers' meeting, where he rubbed shoulders with professional wrestler-turned actor The Rock, a special guest here at the track today.

The noon start didn't allow much down time before it was out to the frontstretch for the 11:30 a.m. driver introductions.

Rusty and crew pit from the 16th spot up pit road, just in front of his rookie teammate Brendan Gaughan and behind Kurt Busch.

The engines were fires at 12:20 p.m., with the cars rolling at 12:24 p.m. After the standard three parade laps, the green flag flew at 12:29 p.m.

Pole-winner and Texas favorite Bobby Labonte's time up front was short lived as Bill Elliott dove low out of Turn 2 and had the lead after the first lap. At Lap 5, he was up by 1.8 seconds over second-place Greg Biffle, as Labonte had faded to sixth.

At Lap 10, the three Penske drivers were all reporting that they had tight racecars. Elliott enjoyed a 0.7-second lead on Joe Nemechek, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. running third, Kasey Kahne moving toward the front in fourth and Biffle fifth. Rusty was 10th, Ryan 16th and Brendan 19th.

Rusty was already talking about chassis changes before the first caution flag of the race flew on Lap 17 for debris on the backstretch.

"Larry, let's try two tires and see what happens," Rusty radioed as the pace car slowed the field.

The resulting 7.522-second pit stop had Rusty in the lead for the Lap 24 restart. Sterling Marlin took only two tires and was second, with Ryan's two-tire stop getting him up to third.

Marlin passed Rusty for the lead after the restart, but it was the Evernham Racing Dodges of Elliott and Kahne that were really on the move. Elliott cleared Marlin for the lead on Lap 39, but it was Kahne with the lead 10 laps later.

After 50 laps, Kahne led, with Marlin second, Elliott third, Ryan up to fourth and Rusty running fifth. Brendan was running in the 23rd spot. All the Penske drivers were still reporting tight chassis conditions. "Man, we know to not do just the two tires again," Rusty radioed as he had faded back to 15th.

Kahne established a torrid pace up front and at Lap 75 only 27 cars remained on the lead lap, just before green flag stops started.

Rusty hit pit road for four tires and adjustments on Lap 82. Ryan and Brendan followed the next lap for their service. Rusty's stop was clocked at 15.243 seconds.

When the stops cycled around on Lap 87, Kahne led, with Marlin second, Elliott Sadler third, Elliott fourth and Biffle fifth. Ryan was 11th, Rusty 16th and Brendan 20th.

Just 23 cars were on the lead lap after 100 circuits were complete, with Kahne holding a 4.4-second lead on Marlin. Sadler was third and 7.8 seconds back.

Kahne got around Brendan on Lap 114 to put him a lap down, just before another caution for debris flew on Lap 117. Rusty was running only 3.8 seconds in front of the leader before the yellow was displayed for the second time of the race.

"It's sliding the whole front end of the car big-time," Rusty radioed prior to the pit stop that saw major chassis adjustments such as two rounds of wedge taken out.

There were 18 cars remaining on the lead lap for the Lap 125 restart. Again Kahne jumped out to a big lead over Sadler, Marlin, Biffle and Elliott - the top five at the time.

"It's tight, but a lot better," Rusty radioed on Lap 141, just before he passed Ryan for the 13th spot.

Kahne was 1.8 seconds in front of Sadler after 150 laps and increased that lead to 3.5 seconds at the halfway point (Lap 167). Another round of green flag stops started on Lap 177.

Rusty and Ryan hit pit road on Lap 183. Rusty's stop, clocked at 14.371 seconds, saw him again take wedge out.

The stops cycled around on Lap 186 and now there were only 15 drivers on the lead lap, Brendan losing a lap in the exchange.

Ryan's day came to a screeching halt on Lap 195 when he lost a right front tire and slammed hard into the wall between Turns 3 and 4. The car then careened across the track and impacted the inside wall. He emerged from the car unhurt, but the team was done for the day.

Rusty hit pit road on Lap 199 and used the yellow to allow the team to put a spring rubber in the right rear spring. "Hopefully, that'll do the trick," Larry radioed before the Lap 205 restart.

Up front, it was Bobby Labonte, who had taken fuel only on his stop, with the lead. Nemechek was second, Jimmie Johnson third, Kahne fourth and Jeff Gordon fifth. Rusty was back in the 12th spot.

Labonte faded immediately with electrical problems, as Nemechek took a turn out front. But it seemed like only a matter of time before Kahne would close the gap.

"It's a ton better with the rubber in it," Rusty radioed on Lap 225. Brendan's day ended seven laps later when he was forced to the garage after engine woes took their toll.

Kahne chased down Nemechek and grabbed the lead again on Lap 236. At Lap 250, he'd stretched the lead to 4.4 seconds.

Rusty was getting stronger and stronger. "Man, you're running top-five lap times," Larry radioed as Rusty passed Tony Stewart for the ninth spot.

Green flag stops were beginning again after 260 laps, with the leader hitting pit road on Lap 265. Just after Kahne had pitted, Ward Burton spun in Turn 2 to cause the fourth caution period of the day.

Rusty was fortunate yet another time, as he had yet to pit. Several lead lap cars were now a lap down.

There were only eight cars on the lead lap when the green flag flew again with 64 laps remaining in the race. Gordon led, with Sadler second, Dale Earnhardt Jr. third, Rusty up to fourth and Dave Blaney fifth. Casey Mears was sixth, Kurt Busch seventh and Kahne eighth, the benefactor of the "Lucky Dog" rule.

Elliott spun in Turn 4 on Lap 280 and Jeremy Mayfield crashed hard on Lap 287 after the restart to create a flurry of yellows.

The big question on the Lap 291 restart was if Kahne had the muscle - and enough laps - to get back to the front.

Only five laps after the race returned to green, Jeff Green's blown engine caused the seventh caution period of the afternoon.

There were 33 laps remaining when the race returned to green. Gordon led, with Sadler second, Earnhardt third, Rusty fourth, Busch fifth, Mears sixth and Kahne seventh.

Kahne wasted little time clearing Mears and he was around Busch for fifth on Lap 305. He got around Rusty for fourth with 26 laps remaining.

Up front, Gordon momentarily lost power, as he had to resort to the backup ignition box. Sadler got around for the lead and Earnhardt went up to second. Kahne passed Gordon for third, just as the 24 car got back up to speed just in front of Rusty.

Kahne cleared Earnhardt for second with nine laps to go and looked determined to catch leader Sadler. He closed within three car lengths with five laps to go and began trying the outside line with three laps remaining.

He was able to get on the outside briefly and staged a last lap run on Sadler for the win. But at the line, it was Sadler taking a 0.0028-second victory over Kahne and snapping a long winless streak. Gordon rallied to finish third, with Earnhardt fourth and Rusty coming home a strong fifth. Busch, Mears, Stewart, Johnson and Jamie McMurray rounded out the top 10 finishers. Brendan finished 38th and Ryan 39th on the day.

Rusty's second straight top-five finish moved him up to 11th in the point standings (with 825 points), as Busch took over the lead here today. Busch has 1,032 points, to second-place Matt Kenseth's 1,013. Earnhardt is third with 997, Stewart fourth with 946 and Sadler fifth with 942. Johnson is sixth with 923, Kahne seventh with 902, Kevin Harvick eighth with 897, Gordon ninth with 891 and Ryan 10th with 834.

The NASCAR NEXTEL Cup tour takes Easter weekend off next week before heading to Martinsville, Va., for the second short track battle of the season on April 18.

RUSTY WALLACE (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Intrepid)
"We were pretty good right there at the end," Rusty said after the race. "I never would have believed the track would have tightened up that much, but it sure did. My car was tight today, but you would have never guessed how loose you would have to have it last night. We learned a lot today for California, I can tell you that. I'll put it in my memory bank and take it back to the shop and put it in the car. We're laying some points down, and we came from behind today. We came close to getting in trouble early with the tight car, but the caution flags came out at the right time. We had fast pit stops today, and everything went good.

"The crew was good. I was real happy with them. They did a good job. It just got too tight all day long. I can't believe how loose we had that car. We raised the track bar an inch, took six rounds of wedge out, let four pounds of air out of the right front tire and put three pounds in the right rear, and it just got right at the end of the race. We kept working on it. It was a good team effort to keep working on the car and make it quick.

"We had a good finish at Bristol, and it was nice to come to another track and have another top five. It worked out good. We had a good time today. It was a good handling car late in the race. I wish we could have had it like that at the start, but it was just too tight."