RUSTY WALLACE EARNS HARD-FOUGHT 11TH-PLACE FINISH
IN TROPICANA 400 AT CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY

Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace fought oppressive heat and overcame minor handling difficulties to post an 11th-place finish here at Chicagoland Speedway in today's Tropicana 400.

Rusty started in the 20th spot and battled all the way up to sixth before a tight handling condition cost him a top-10 finish at the end.

"We were tight at the beginning of the race and worked to free the car up," Rusty explained moments after the race concluded. "We made air pressure and track bar adjustments and got the car running almost consistently as fast as the 20 car (dominant winner Tony Stewart). We got up there and tried to tweak a little more out of it with more air pressure and track bar changes, but that made it way too loose. When we went back the other way, it was tight again. That cost us a top 10 here today because the car handling the way it did allowed the 29 car (Kevin Harvick) to get by us there at the end. But the way things have gone for us the last few weeks (finished 32nd at Pocono, 22nd at Michigan, 28th at Sonoma and 27th at Daytona), it sure felt good to be back up there running consistently in the top 10.

"It was a great run all day long for us, I thought," Rusty continued "The four-tire call at the end was definitely the right way to go. I got trapped in the middle, and little Waltrip got underneath me and we lost a couple of positions there. But, the biggest thing I screwed up on was, I was sitting there running sixth. I drove down into turn one, and I got up alongside the No. 25 car. I got super-ass loose and barely saved it. It went on, but I lost about three positions there. But, coming in at the very end there, with about 20 laps to go, to put four tires on was definitely the right call. That got us back up in there. All in all it was a good day. It was a good points day for us."

Stewart had the dominant car all day, taking the lead the first time with a two-tire pit stop under the second yellow of the race. He went on to lead five times for 160 laps en route to his first victory since last October at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Stewart crashed his primary car here on Friday and was racing his backup.

His win did not come without controversy, however. During a restart from a caution on Lap 127, Stewart, on probation for a run-in with Brian Vickers at Sonoma, Calif., hit then-leader Kasey Kahne from behind, triggering an eight-car accident that brought an abrupt end to Kahne's day.

The action spilled over into the pit area, with Kahne's angry crew running down to Stewart's pits and a near mob scene ensuing. Kahne's car owner, Ray Evernham, publicly called for an immediate suspension of Stewart.

At the end, the race boiled down to an 11-lap shootout after Jeff Green's crash in Turn 4 brought out the ninth and final caution of the race. Stewart got a good jump on the Lap 256 restart and held on to take his 18th career victory. Points leader Jimmie Johnson finished second, with Dale Jarrett third, Jeff Gordon fourth, Jeremy Mayfield fifth, Terry Labonte sixth, Sterling Marlin seventh, Joe Nemechek eighth, Waltrip ninth, Harvick 10th and Rusty 11th.

The top five in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings remained the same after today's finish. Johnson continues to lead with 2,720 points. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is second with 2,615. They are followed by Gordon in third with 2,478, Stewart fourth with 2,393 and Matt Kenseth fifth with 2,321. Rusty remains 17th with 1,965 points, but chopped his deficit to 10th place from 260 points to 208 with eight races remaining until the "cut-off date" at Richmond in September.

The NASCAR NEXTEL Cup tour takes next weekend off, before heading to New Hampshire International Speedway for the running of the New England 300 on Sunday, July 25.