RUSTY STARTS 17TH AT MARTINSVILLE ON SUNDAY

After having last weekend off for the Easter break along the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup tour, Rusty Wallace and his Larry Carter-led Miller Lite Dodge team couldn't wait to get back to action here this morning at Martinsville Speedway.

Coming off two straight top-five finishes and rocketing up to 11th in the point standings, Rusty and crew carry tremendous momentum into this weekend. The setting for this weekend's race couldn't be any better as Martinsville has always been a great track for the former series champ and 54-race winner. Rusty is the active statistical leader here with six wins, 15 top-five finishes, 22 top-10 finishes and three poles in 40 races.

The team opted to bring a brand new Dodge here this weekend, the new PC-70 chassis. They originally planned on testing here last week, but decided to save that test for Richmond during the first week of next month because that facility has undergone a complete repaving. So Rusty and crew come in completely "cold turkey" with this new car. The first time it ever hit a racetrack came here this morning when the two-hour practice session began at 11:20 a.m.

Sensational rookie Kasey Kahne clocked in with the fastest practice lap early in the session, circling this .526-mile track in 20.371 seconds. That lap was still fastest at the session's midpoint. Rusty's Penske South teammate Ryan Newman was second with a 20.406, while Joe Nemechek and Jeff Gordon turned identical 20.439 laps and Kevin Harvick was fifth with a 20.458. Rusty was 14th on the speed chart with a 20.513.

After trying a couple of different adjustments on the front end of the new Dodge, Rusty had whittled his fast time down to a 20.506 by the end of the session. That was 18th fastest, but the feeling was that there was more left in the car. Jeff Gordon, who won both poles and both races here last year, clocked in with a 20.325 with only four minutes remaining to pace the practice session. Newman was second with a 20.326, Jimmie Johnson third with a 20.332, Kahne's early lap fourth and Kurt Busch's 20.386 fifth.

Rusty and crew have to show their cards right off the bat in qualifying as the "new No. 2 car" is first in the order of 44 set to make runs against the clock. Gordon goes out second, while Newman is 14th to make his run.

Rusty took to the track as scheduled as the first out. His second lap, a 20.474 (92.488 mph) was his lap of record and a tick faster than he had practiced.

Gordon, up next, clocked in with a 20.252 (93.502 mph) on his first and faster lap and gave the remaining drivers the big numbers to shoot at.

Newman was a big threat to Gordon with his 20.339 (93.102 mph), but it was Jamie Mcmurray, out 19th, who posed the biggest challenge to Gordon. His lap of 20.309 (93.239 mph) came closest to knocking the No. 24 car from the top spot.

When the session concluded, it was Gordon taking yet another pole here at Martinsville, with McMurray grabbing the outside front row starting spot. Newman starts third, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. fourth and Harvick fifth. Ward Burton, Busch, Johnson Elliott Sadler and Jeremy Mayfield round out the top 10 qualifiers. Rusty will go from the 17th starting spot on the grid.

Sunday's Advance Auto Parts 500 features live media coverage by FOX-TV and MRN Radio beginning at 1:00 p.m. EDT.

RUSTY WALLACE (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Intrepid) - "The brakes are better but it lets you run the car harder, so it kinda nets out. Just about the time you get the brakes better you're driving it in deeper and not letting the brakes breathe," Rusty told Dodge's Ray Cooper after making his run. "You've still got to watch them. You've still got to be careful. They're not bulletproof, that's for sure. I really thought we could run faster, but when I went out the front end pushed up and it skated around. It just wasn't as grippy as I thought it would be. I contribute that a little bit to being the first car on the track. I think the oil has come out of the track. You get a car or two cars to get that stuff swiped off and I think it's better. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. I think this will be a great track to get the win. I can't wait to get the race setup in there and get out there and practice tomorrow. When we get the race setup in there, it'll be a lot different than qualifying."