Needless to say, after last Sunday's big win at Martinsville Speedway, it has been an unbelievably busy week for Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace leading up to today's opening day of activity here at Talladega Superspeedway.

Monday and Tuesday was full of media interviews, an advertising shoot for Comcast in Atlanta, his annual stop at the Boy Scout benefit function in South Carolina and more.

Rusty was still doing media interviews yesterday afternoon as he was boarding his flight to Talladega for last night's International Motorsports Hall of Fame ceremony here adjacent to the track.

Rusty's close friend and Miller Lite teammate Don "the Snake" Prudhomme was in town for last night's festivities and he stayed over today to visit with his NASCAR buddies in the garage area.

Even though the pats on the back continued here this morning for Rusty, crew chief Larry Carter and all the road crew, it was time to buckle down at 11:00 a.m. for the 90-minute practice session leading up to this afternoon's 3:10 p.m. qualifying.

It was Elliott Sadler, driving his Robert Yates'-powered Ford, fastest after the first 45 minutes of practice. Ricky Rudd was second with a 50.431, Dale Earnhardt Jr. third with a 50.479, Joe Nemechek fourth with a 50.486 and Michael Waltrip fifth with a 50.516. Rusty was struggling with his PC-66 Dodge, as he was 34th with a 51.365.

The 90-minute session ended under partly cloudy skies with the temperature climbing to 85 degrees. Rudd came back to pace the qualifying with his lap of 50.126 seconds. Earnhardt's 50.256 was second, with Sadler's 50.366 third, Penske teammate Ryan Newman's 50.451 fourth and Waltrip's 50.459 fifth. Rusty had lowered his lap time to a 51.193, but that was only 38th fastest on the final practice speed chart.

Rusty and team hope that their late draw in qualifying - they are 39th in the order of 46 cars - will offer some benefit in coming up with additional speed.

Terry Labonte was the fastest of the early qualifiers when the bid for official starting spots began with his 50.605-second lap. That held the top spot until Nemechek, out seventh, turned in a 50.371.

Jeff Gordon was a threat with his 50.561 and so was Sadler with his 50.599, but Jimmie Johnson was closest to knocking Nemechek off the top spot with his 50.490.

Rudd, out 20th, backed up his fast practice lap with a 50.089 (191.180 mph) lap to give his Wood Brothers Team hopes of picking up their first pole position in 20 years. Michael Waltrip, out two cars later, was swift with his 50.143. Rusty was faster than in practice by an impressive four tenths of a second, but still not up to snuff with his 50.863.

The last five drivers really had Rudd shaking as Sterling Marlin ran a 50.520, rookie Scott Riggs a 50.395, Earnhardt a 50.311 and Martin a 50.425.

But, at the end of the day it was yet another veteran shining in the spotlight with Rudd claiming the pole. Waltrip earned the third starting spot, with Earnhardt third, Nemechek fourth and Riggs fifth. Martin, Dale Jarrett, Jimmie Johnson, Marlin and Ward Burton rounded out the top 10 qualifiers. Rusty goes from the 32nd starting spot.

Sunday's Aaron's 499 has a 12:00 noon local (1:00 p.m. EDT) starting time and features live coverage by FOX-TV and MRN Radio.

RUSTY WALLACE (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Intrepid) - "We picked up a little more than four tenths, so you've got to be happy with that. I wish we could have gone faster, but we've been struggling. Some crazy things were going on in the front end. We undid those and got things back right. Another tenth and we would have been the same as our teammates. That's where we need to be. We'll draft good, and hopefully we can find some more speed and make it two in a row. Things were really great after winning last week, so hopefully we can do it again."