RUSTY GRABS OUTSIDE POLE FOR SUNDAY'S INFINEON RACEWAY DODGE/SAVE MART 350
-Top Four Qualifiers Break Old Track Qualifying Record From Last Year-

Rusty Wallace, driver of the Miller Lite Dodge, showed he was among the best road racers on the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup tour here today at Infineon Raceway by winning the outside pole position for Sunday's Dodge/Save Mart 350.

Rusty turned the 10-turn, 1.99-mile road course in 76.072 seconds for an average speed of 94.174 mph.

Jeff Gordon, who was also fastest in practice, claimed the pole position with a lap of 75.968 seconds (94.303 mph).

Gordon was the 11th of 43 drivers to make his run against the clock and Rusty, out 24th, had the opportunity to watch the No. 24 make its official qualifying run before he headed out to pit road.

"I'm pretty satisfied with that lap. I got to sliding too much in turn 10," Rusty said after making his run. "That's where Gordon and the 32 went off. I got in pretty hot and it was a long time before it hooked up. I knew it cost me too much time right there. All-in-all it was a good lap. I really wanted the pole. I don't have a real big smile because I left too much laying on the table."

Gordon, Rusty, third-fastest Kurt Busch (76.333 seconds/93.852 mph) and fourth-place starter Mark Martin (76.456 seconds/93.701 mph) all broke the track qualifying record set here last year by Boris Said.

Matt Kenseth, Scott Pruett, Greg Biffle, Kevin Harvick, Joe Nemechek and Bobby Labonte rounded out the top 10 qualifiers.

Sunday's race begins at 12:30 p.m. local (PDT) time and features live coverage by FOX-TV and PRN Radio.

RUSTY WALLACE POST-QUALIFYING INTERVIEW (Courtesy of Dodge):

"I thought I could run a 15.10 or a 15.20. I ran a 15.50 pretty easy. I looked down and ran a 16.07 and thought I had the emergency brakes on, but I didn't. The track lost grip and that was it.

"I think this is a track where you get your choice left or right. We'll see who picks the right one. Gordon's got the option, so we'll see which one he picks. I know one thing. You don't want to get off course and ruin your day in the first corner. You've got to get up through there smooth and not screw up.

"I didn't have a problem. It was a clean track. I was real happy with the condition of the track. I had no problem whatsoever. I don't think I got into turn 10 any harder than I had all day long. When I got there I just noticed reduced grip and that was about it.

"(New tire) seems OK. I haven't had a problem whatsoever with it. We only did a one-day test here. If we hadn't tested here we would have been fine because we haven't changed much from last year's setup. There's not much difference. We verified some things. It's a brand new car with a new style of brakes. So far everything is going good on it. It's hard to evaluate the tire unless you're back in the back with one old one and the new style. It's the same for everybody. I'm happy with our performance and our starting position.

"It's hard for those guys (road racers) to run good in these cars. We run these things every week and understand what they do and how they feel. For a road racer to go out and get it done, it's hard for him. It'd be like me winning the Brickyard 400 and then going back and run the Indy 500. You're not going to be able to get out of a stock car into an Indy car and make it happen. It's a little easier for those road racers to run out here, but if they had more time, I'm sure they could run with us. I'm having a hard time figuring out where I'm going with this story…

"The track is smooth but the only grip I feel is in seven and in turn 11 but other than that you're still sliding around like you were last year. I'm confident. I've just got to not screw up. Last year we got the brakes hot and had a top five car and ended up seventh or eighth. We've just got to keep it on course, that's the main thing. You've got to log laps and keep it on the course. Track position is everything. You've got to get in the pits and get out before everybody else and keep that track position. Last year I spun and went from fifth to 30th. The caution flag came out and the whole field pitted. I stayed out and really watched my fuel mileage. I finished eighth by just staying out. I went to the gas pumps and it held 21.9, so I didn't have much left.

"It's a crucial race to get in the top 10 (series standings). I got myself out of it because of a crash at Talladega and a crash at California back to back. I went from eighth back to 15th. I'm trying to get back to the front right now. There are a lot of cars that are having problems. I think Jimmie Johnson qualified 31st. This is a track where you've got to run smooth and keep it on the track. A lot of guys are really good at other places that struggle a lot here."