RUSTY OPTIMISTIC ABOUT SHOOTOUT PERFORMANCE

When the dust had settled Saturday night after the Bud Shootout at Daytona International Speedway, Miller Lite Driver Rusty Wallace wasn't entirely happy, but he certainly wasn't disappointed in his team's performance in the annual sprint race "warm-up" for the Daytona 500.

After starting 11th in the first 20-lap segment, Rusty ran as high as fifth before falling back to ninth at the scheduled 10-minute break. Opting for no chassis changes during the timeout, he had fallen back as far as 16th during the final 50-lap segment prior to a Lap 51 pit stop. Several teams went with two tires to gain track position. Rusty and his Larry Carter-led team went with four. Problems on the left front slowed the stop to 18.333 seconds and Rusty fell to last in the field with 17 laps remaining.

"I don't really have anything great to say, but hang in there and maybe we can get a caution," spotter Earl Barban said from high above. "You got that right - that's our only chance," Rusty shot back on his radio.

The team got the break they needed when leader Jeremy Mayfield smacked the wall in Turn 2 with nine laps remaining to bring out the yellow and then a red flag to repair a damaged retaining wall.

The teams were allowed to change tires and make adjustments on pit road during the break in the action. When the race returned to green, some 15 minutes later and with seven laps remaining, Rusty restarted in the eighth spot. He wasted little time moving to the front and he and Kevin Harvick were making the high side work and battling hard for the lead with two laps to go.

Rusty got shuffled back to the inside on the final lap as the outside line worked for winner Dale Jarrett and runner-up Dale Earnhardt Jr. as the pack approached the finish line.

At the checkered flag, it was Jarrett the winner, with Earnhardt second, Harvick third, Mark Martin fourth, Mike Skinner fifth, Jeff Gordon sixth and Rusty seventh. Skinner would later be penalized for racing below the line on the final lap and moved back to the 15th finishing spot, which moved Rusty up to a sixth-place finish.

"It was definitely a thrilling race for the fans, I'll guarantee you that," Rusty said after the race. "There at the end, I really needed Harvick to go with me there on the inside, but it just didn't work out that way. I'm proud of my team and I think it was a good start for our guys. We never gave up and Larry did a super job staying on top of everything. The fact is that only the No. 8 car and us were in every position from back to front except for the lead during the race. We were all the back at the tail end after the stop. Earl said to pray for a caution and we got what we needed. It didn't look good for us at all there for a while. Then it looked really great for us in the final few laps. We bounced back and got a good finish and actually put ourselves back in a position to win. What I'm really pumped up about is the fact that we have an even better car we're using for the 500. So, all in all, it was a pretty good night for our Miller Lite Dodge racing team."