RUSTY FINISHES SEVENTH AT ROCKINGHAM
-UP TO 13TH IN POINTS AFTER TWO RACES-

There was a special feeling in the air here at North Carolina Speedway on Sunday morning prior to the start of the Subway 400. As a matter of fact, there has been a very positive atmosphere around Rusty Wallace's Miller Lite Dodge team ever since the track opened here on Friday.

After having what Rusty labeled, "a super successful test" here last month, the team qualified their Dodge in the fourth spot here in Friday time trials.

Then here yesterday, Rusty and crew paced both practice sessions as far as the top speeds go. Very satisfied with his car, Rusty logged more laps than any other competitor in the final practice in an effort to fine tune their Dodge.

"I'll tell you what, it's almost like the start of a brand new season here this weekend," Rusty told USA Today's Chris Jenkins after practice had concluded. "We're down in Daytona for so long and the nature of restrictor plate racing is just so unpredictable. The bottom line is that Daytona is behind us and we're back to regular racing and we're really looking forward to it. We're pumped up and ready to go."

With his great qualifying effort here on Friday came the opportunity to get a good spot on pit road for today's race. The team pits from the 28th spot up the line. There is an opening in the wall in front and Penske teammate Brendan Gaughan pits behind.

The engines were fired at 1:25 p.m. and the field rolled off pit road at 1:29 p.m. After three parade laps, the green flag flew at 1:34 p.m.

Pole-winner and Penske teammate Ryan Newman hopped out front and held the spot until Jamie McMurray used the low side to grab the lead on Lap 3. Rusty got caught up on the high side, allowing Kasey Kahne and Jeremy Mayfield to get by.

All three of the Penske teams were a tick on the tight side in the early going and were planning their pit stop strategies. They got the opportunity to pit under yellow when Ken Schrader scraped the wall out of Turn 2 on Lap 38.

The field hit pit road on Lap 40 for four tires and fuel. Rusty went with air pressure adjustments on all but the right front tire, along with adding a round of bite. His crew serviced the car in 15.307 seconds. Further down pit road, Newman's team went with air pressure changes and their stop was clocked at 15.113 seconds.

Jeff Gordon led on the Lap 46 restart, with McMurray second, Kahne third, Dale Jarrett fourth, Newman fifth, Dale Earnhardt Jr. sixth, Rusty seventh, Mayfield eighth, Matt Kenseth ninth and Ward Burton 10th. Penske rookie teammate Brendan Gaughan was back in 30th and attempting to get his chassis situation sorted out.

The second yellow of the day flew only six laps later for Kyle Petty's backstretch spin. Most of the leaders hit pit road again for four tires and fuel.

Robby Gordon and rookie Scott Wimmer did not pit and led on the Lap 58 restart, with Newman third, Gordon fourth and Rusty fifth. Kenseth was sixth, with Jarrett seventh, McMurray eighth, Earnhardt ninth and Sterling Marlin 10th.

With the fresh rubber, Newman was able to grab the lead quickly from Robby Gordon, but the other Gordon cleared him for the point on Lap 61.

Kenseth was the man on the move as he cleared Rusty for third on Lap 72 and eventually around Jeff Gordon for the lead on Lap 90. Kahne was showing some muscle; too, as on Lap 93 he had passed Rusty for fourth.

Kenseth led at Lap 100 by 0.6 seconds over Jeff Gordon. Newman was third and running 1.2 seconds back. Kahne was fourth, Jarrett fifth and Rusty sixth, running 3.4 seconds behind the leader. Kenseth on Lap 105 put down Gaughan a lap.

Green flag stops began on Lap 117. Leader Kenseth was on pit road on Lap 131 when the third caution of the race flew after a crash involving Jimmie Johnson and Schrader in Turn 4. Under NASCAR's new rule enacted last season that ended drivers racing back to the yellow, Kenseth benefited as the field was "frozen" at the time the yellow flew.

All the other lead lap cars hit pit road on Lap 135 for fresh tires and service. A 14.564-second stop had Rusty up to third for the Lap 141 restart. Kenseth led, with Jarrett second, Rusty third, Newman fourth and Marlin fifth.

Kenseth wasted little time building a lead and at Lap 150, he held a 1.1-second advantage over Jarrett. Rusty was 1.9 seconds behind and Newman 4.9 seconds out of the lead.

Newman's handling started going away and he caught a break on Lap 195, when Larry Foyt made contact with the Turn 1 wall to cause the fourth caution of the afternoon.

The leaders hit pit road on Lap 196 for four tires and service. Rusty's 14.364-second stop had him up to second on the Lap 200 restart behind leader Kenseth. Kurt Busch was third, with Marlin fourth, Jarrett fifth, McMurray sixth, Newman seventh, Michael Waltrip eighth, Kahne ninth and Wimmer 10th.

Just 13th circuits later, the fifth caution waved for debris on the frontstretch. Again the leaders pitted and Rusty's 13.615-second stop kept him glued to leader Kenseth for the Lap 220 restart.

While Kenseth jumped out to a huge lead, Rusty got caught behind the lapped car of Robby Gordon and didn't get him cleared until Lap 235. He was 1.7 seconds behind the leader.

"Man, these tires are a little loose compared to all the others," Rusty radioed in on Lap 239.

McMurray was the driver moving forward at Lap 240 as he was up to fourth and moving fast.

Rusty's loose condition saw Busch and McMurray get around on Lap 257 and he fell to fourth. "Let's go a quarter-inch down on the track bar and drop the right rear down a half a pound," he radioed on Lap 260.

Carl Long flipped down the backstretch on Lap 264 to bring out the sixth yellow of the race. All the leaders hit pit road as Long quickly exited his car uninjured.

Rusty entered the pits fifth and that's where he exited for the Lap 280 restart. Kenseth led, with Busch second, McMurray third and Kahne fourth. Newman was 14th and Gaughan 20th as 18 cars remained on the lead lap.

With 100 laps remaining (on Lap 293), Kenseth had a 0.8-second lead on McMurray, with Busch third and 3.5 seconds back. Kahne was fourth and 4.0 seconds behind and Rusty fifth and 6.5 seconds back.

McMurray reeled in Kenseth for the lead on Lap 303, with Kahne closing in on the top two.

Newman was back on the move and into the top 10 again on Lap 305. Rusty reported that his car was still loose on Lap 314, but Carter assured him that he was still turning great lap times.

Kenseth regained the lead on Lap 332 and Rusty cleared Busch for fourth seven laps later.

With 50 laps to go (Lap 343), green flag stops were beginning again. Kenseth held a 0.5-second lead on McMurray and a 0.6-second lead on third-place Kahne. Rusty was fourth and running 8.7 seconds back.

Kenseth and Kahne hit pit road on Lap 350, just as Robby Gordon's backstretch crash brought out the seventh caution period of the day.

"Man, we've been lucky two times today with the cautions and we're never lucky it seems," Rusty radioed in as the yellow flag flew. "I'm your lucky dog there driver," crew chief Larry Carter chuckled back on his radio.

A bit of controversy arose, as there were questions about the location of the 17 and 9 cars when the caution flew, but they again benefited from the rule "freezing" the field.

Meanwhile, Rusty's luck soured as a 17.211 second stop during the yellow dropped him to sixth for the Lap 364 restart. Kenseth led, with Kahne second, McMurray third, Marlin fourth, Earnhardt fifth, Rusty sixth, Newman seventh, Busch eighth, Burton ninth and Martin 10th. Gaughan was shown as 18th

While Kenseth took off with the lead, Newman pressured Rusty relentlessly for the sixth spot and finally made an outside pass to grab the position on Lap 372.

The running order remained the same and with 10 laps to go, it was Kenseth leading Kahne by 0.4 seconds and McMurray by 0.8 seconds.

The top three drivers remained less than half-second apart with five laps remaining and they stayed that way until the end.

Kahne mounted a last-lap charge to the inside, which saw Kenseth come up the winner by the narrowest of margins (0.010 seconds) at the checkered flag. McMurray was third, with Marlin fourth, Earnhardt fifth, Newman sixth, Rusty seventh, Busch eighth, Burton ninth and Gordon 10th. Guaghan was credited with a 20th-place finish.

"It was a real nice run," Rusty told Dodge's Ray Cooper after the race. "I was happy with it. It was slipping and sliding all over the race track, but it was fast. Everything went well and my guys had som really fast pit stops today. Right when it counted, we had a problem in the pits and it killed me, though. We lost four or five positions and it got me back in the pack. When you get in the back of the pack and out there on the outside lane with all those cars line up on the inside, you just can't get back up there. My biggest race of the day was with my teammate there at the end with seven or eight laps to go. He got around me and then I was catching him. I thought we had easily a top-three car. I ran second for a lot of the day, but that's racing.

"We dodged two bullets today. A couple of times, we started to pit and the caution flew. It's amazing. We got lucky today with the pit calls. Larry and the guys did a great job, but it was a big guess when to hit pit road. When I saw all those guys hitting pit road and putting fresh tires on, it was just a matter of time for us because we were going to be in big trouble if we didn't do it soon.

"Last year our car was a little faster in the first half of the race, but this car was more of a solid car. It was with me most of the day. It was too losse in some spots and tight in the other spots. We'll get back and do some homework and see what we need to do."

Earnhardt leads the point standings after the first two races with 340. Kenseth is second with 333. Newman leads the Penske drivers with 225 (12th); Rusty has 222 (13th) and Gaughan 209 (22nd).

The NASCAR NEXTEL Cup circuit now takes a week off before heading out to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the annual visit to the "City of Lights."