RUSTY WALLACE WILL START 28TH IN SATURDAY'S PEPSI 400
-Hoping To Break Into Win Column In His 43rd Career Daytona Race-

After clocking in with the 11th-fastest lap in the afternoon practice session, Miller Lite Dodge driver was candid about his effort.

"We ran a (48.) 101 on the clock, but I know we got help from the draft," he said between practice an the 8:00 p.m. qualifying session. "It'd be nice if we could run that, but I'm thinking we'll run something in the (48.) 20s and that'll be okay. It really doesn't matter where we start this thing as long as we get the car handling well in tomorrow's practice sessions. Handling is the key deal here at Daytona."

Rusty certainly knew what he was talking about. Going out 22nd in the order, he turned in a lap of 48.290 seconds (186.374 mph) and will start 28th on the grid in Saturday's 400-mile, 160-lap battle.

"We didn't have any surprises in qualifying," Rusty said after making his run. "We ran a 48.40 in practice and this is the car I ran in the Bud Shootout, and I asked to bring it back. It's got a more conventional body on it. It's got more downforce on the front end. I really hope it's going to race good, and I think it will. I knew it was going to be off in qualifying a little bit, but I think it's going to be what we need for the race. It was so frustrating last week to run that long in the top five. It's been frustrating the past couple of weeks. We blew up at Michigan running fifth. Last weekend we ran out of gas running fourth. We lost a lot of points the last two races that we shouldn't have lost. I'm a positive guy. I think we can still do it (make the top 10), but I never thought we'd be this far behind. It'd be real important (to win at Daytona), but I've come close several times. In fact, in my mind I've left here feeling like I won the race and didn't get the trophy. Daytona has been good to me."

Up front, it was Jeff Gordon taking his third consecutive pole position, turning in a fast lap of 47.705 seconds (188.660 mph). That edged Michael Waltrip, the first driver to make his effort here today, who ran a 47.715-second (188.620 mph) lap. Ricky Rudd grabbed the third starting spot for Saturday's race, with Dale Jarrett fourth and Dale Earnhardt Jr. fifth. Joe Nemechek, rookie Scott Riggs, Ward Burton, Elliott Sadler and Greg Biffle rounded out the top 10 qualifiers.

Saturday's Pepsi 400 here on the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway features live coverage by FOX-TV and MRN Radio beginning at 7:30 p.m. EDT.