RACE DAY REPORT
CAROLINA DODGE DEALERS 400
DARLINGTON RACEWAY
DARLINGTON, S.C.
SUNDAY, MARCH 21, 2004

WALLACE'S EARLY STRUGGLES MOUNT; RESULTING IN
29TH-PLACE FINISH IN CAROLINA DODGE DEALERS 400

Rusty had a very respectable qualifying effort here Friday, earning the seventh starting spot for today's grueling battle on this treacherous old 1.366-mile egg-shaped oval.

"It was a very good run for us and I am proud of the team," Rusty told a TV crew here in the garage area yesterday morning. "I've never been a great qualifier here and with them throwing the new SAFER barriers into the equation, we were very happy with the effort."

The makings of a successful weekend continued here yesterday as Rusty clocked in with the third-fastest lap in the final "Happy Hour" practice session.

"We were happy with the way the practice turned out," Wallace said after yesterday's NASCAR NEXTEL Cup activity had concluded. "We changed the gears in between practices and then went to work with the shocks and springs in the final 45 minutes and really got the car handling well. Rusty's happy with it and I was told that it's been a long time since he's been that pleased with a car going into race day."

Rusty had choppered back in this morning in plenty of time for the 11:00 a.m. driver and crew chief morning. The morning schedule also included a live shot on the NASCAR This Morning TV show. Rusty was itching to go racing by the time the 12:30 p.m. driver introductions began.

The team's qualifying effort gave them the seventh pick of pits for today's race. Rusty, Larry and crew went with the 10th spot up pit road. The Ricky Rudd team pits in front and the Jamie McMurray team go from behind.

It was a late race start here today as the engines were not fired until 1:22 p.m. and the green flag didn't fall until 1:30 p.m.

Pole-winner Kasey Kahne held the lead early as Rusty reported his car was a little on the tight side, but he wanted no adjustments.

Michael Waltrip's Turn 4 crash on Lap 9 brought out the first caution of the race and saw the leaders hit pit road. Rusty went with no changes and after the 15.894 service job, he was seventh for the Lap 15 restart.

Greg Biffle did not pit and held the lead on the restart. He learned a fast lesson as to the value of fresh rubber here on this abrasive track as Dale Earnhardt Jr. blasted by for the lead and Biffle continued to fall backward through the pack.

Andy Hillenburg was tapped sideways in Turn 3 by Tony Stewart on Lap 27 and Jeff Gordon plowed into him to bring out the second caution of the race.

Rusty and the leaders again hit pit road on Lap 30. Rusty again went with four tires and no changes. He was seventh on the Lap 36 restart. Kahne again had the lead up front, with Rusty's Penske Racing teammate Ryan Newman up to second and Kurt Busch running third.

Rusty had reported that his chassis was now loose on Lap 50, four laps prior to the third yellow of the race flying - this one for debris in Turn 3. During his ensuing Lap 56 pit stop, Rusty's 15.759-second pit stop saw him go down a pound of air in all the tires and the crew went down a round on the track bar.

Rusty was ninth on the Lap 60 restart, but the chassis changes didn't help the car at all.

"This set of tires isn't any good," he radioed on Lap 78 as he had slid back to 14th.

He continued to slide back through the field and was 23rd when green flag stops started on Lap 110 as Jamie McMurray hit pit road first among the leaders.

Rusty was running seven seconds ahead of leader Newman on Lap 115. He hit pit road six laps later for four tires and additional adjustments.

Newman finally pitted on Lap 123 and when the stops cycled around, McMurray's "short pitting" paid off as he inherited the lead on Lap 126. During the exchange, Rusty fell a lap down to the leaders. Newman was slapped with a "drive-through" (the pits) penalty for hitting the cones on the exit lane and went down a lap also.

Rusty's chances of making up the lost lap fell completely by the wayside with a little over 150 laps remaining. The team tried to take McMurray's lead by "short-pitting" on Lap 229 for the valuable fresh rubber, but the seventh caution of the race flew the very next lap and Rusty then found himself three laps down.

Busch and Bobby Labonte battled lap after lap for the lead up front during much of the final 50 laps. A late race caution saw Jimmie Johnson's crew get him out of the pits first to take the lead with 10 laps remaining. Labonte lined up second, with Robby Gordon third and Newman, strong enough to make his comeback from the lap down, in fourth.

Another caution, this for a spin by Kahne in Turn 4, forced a single-file restart with only four laps remaining. At the checkered flag, it was Johnson taking a 0.132-second win over Labonte, with Newman getting around Robby Gordon for third, Gordon taking fourth and Elliott Sadler coming home fifth. Rusty had to settle for a 29th finishing spot.

Matt Kenseth continues to lead the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings with 743. Earnhardt is second with 722, Stewart third with 708, Busch fourth with 687 and Kahne fifth with 679. Rusty fell to 23rd in the standings with 490 points.

Rusty will be at Texas Motor Speedway on Tuesday for his Busch Team's testing and will have his Miller Lite Dodge there testing on Wednesday.

The circuit heads on to Bristol Motor Speedway next weekend for the running of the Food City 500. Next Sunday's race features live coverage by FOX-TV and PRN Radio beginning at 12:30 p.m. EST.

RUSTY WALLACE (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Intrepid)
"Man, it was just one of those days when you get behind early and then nothing seems to go right the rest of the day. We really saw the handling go on the car early and didn't get a handle on it until we pitted. We had fallen back so far that we lost a lap during that round of green flag stops. The car was better, but we were already pretty far behind. We decided to short pit and try to gain back some of the ground we'd lost, but wouldn't you know it - we hit pit road and the darned caution flies for debris the very next lap. That put us a full three laps down and we just couldn't make any of it up. We finished 29th and lost some more in the points. It wasn't a great car that we had here today, but it was certainly a lot better than the finish showed. We have to get better on our pit stops - we just have to get that end of the deal all figured out once and for all. Oh well, it's back to Bristol next weekend. We had a great test there and everyone knows how much we love that place."