RACE DAY REPORT
AUTO CLUB 500
CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY
FONTANA, CALIFORNIA
SUNDAY, MAY 2, 2004

RUSTY INVOLVED IN EARLY CRASH AT CALIFORNIA; FINISHES 35TH AND NOW 14TH IN NEXTEL CUP POINT STANDINGS

“They’ve come down on their expected high for the day,” joked Roy McCauley in the transporter of Rusty Wallace’s Miller Lite Dodge team this morning as he was downing a bottle of water. “Yeah, yesterday they were saying that it’ll hit 100 degrees and now they say it’s only going up to 98.

“That’s funny, but the big thing is that this heat is different,” pointed out crew chief Larry Carter. “It’s a dry heat, with little humidity. It can reach out there and grab you if you’re not taking in plenty of fluids.”

By the time Rusty flew in from his hotel this morning, the news of young son Stephen’s performance last night had filtered through the garage area. Racing in the UARA 150-lap even at the Newport (Tenn.) Speedway, Steve won the pole with a new track qualifying record. He led until the final 25 laps. On a restart, he was spun out and forced to the rear. He managed to make it back up to the ninth spot before the laps ran out.

“The kid’s going to be a good one, that’s for sure,” Rusty said in the transporter after the driver and crew chief meeting had ended. “But the rest of the story from last night had Steve paying back the kid who spun him out by repaying the favor. Supposedly all heck broke out there after the race. Hey, that sounds like the good old times on the short tracks on a Saturday night to me.”

All joking aside, Rusty and crew were seventh fastest in yesterday’s final “Happy Hour” practice session. They continued to make minor adjustments on their race setup even after practice concluded.

With his ninth-place qualifying effort here on Friday came the opportunity to claim a good spot on pit road. The team chose the second spot, just behind the pole-winning Kasey Kahne team and in front of Jimmy Spencer’s team.

It was already 95 degrees on pit road when the engines were fired at 12:21 p.m. After the cars rolled off pit road, the green flag flew at 12:30 p.m. The Mobil 1 cars, starting fifth, seventh and ninth were back to back for the parade laps, but once the green flag fell, it was every man for himself.

Pole winner Kahne led the first lap, but outside-front-row starter Joe Nemechek was at the point after two laps. Kahne grabbed the lead again on the next lap.

Only five laps into the race, Tony Stewart was into the side of Rusty’s car and Rusty tagged the wall down the backstretch.

“Stewart ran me up into the wall, but I’m okay,” Rusty radioed, as he fell back to 10th in the order.

Up front, Ryan was on the move and into second on Lap 7. Kahne and Ryan had a two-cal pull-away at Lap 10. The same was the case at Lap 20.

Stanton Barrett crashed hard in Turn 2 on Lap 21 to bring out the first caution of the day. During the yellow, Stewart pulled up beside Rusty and “flipped” him off.

Pits stops were the order on Lap 24, with all the Penske teams going with air pressure and track bar changes. Brendan’s crew also began taking wedge out.

“Stewart’s in and out of the pits and maybe his deal with us has taken himself out of this thing in the process,” Larry radioed just before the field went back to green.

For the Lap 31 restart, it was Kahne leading, with Ryan second, Jeff Gordon third, Jeff Green fourth and Greg Biffle fifth. Brendan was ninth and Rusty back in 19th.

Gordon had gotten around Kahne for the lead on Lap 50, just as Caution No. 2 flew for debris that came off the Todd Bodine machine.

The cars again hit pit road on Lap 52. Rusty had his crew remove a spring rubber from the left rear under the yellow, hoping that would address a handling condition, which saw him have difficulties getting the car to turn better in the center of the turns.

It was Matt Kenseth with the lead for the Lap 56 restart, with Kahne second, Biffle third, Gordon fourth and Jimmie Johnson fifth. Kevin Harvick was sixth, Mark Martin seventh, Green eighth, Ryan ninth and Robby Gorodn 10th. Brendan was 11th and Rusty 18th.

Disaster struck for Rusty on Lap 58 when Kurt Busch got up in the loose stuff out of Turn 4. He spun wildly down the track, shooting straight in front of Rusty. Rusty tried to take evasive action, but there was nowhere to go. He got substantial damage on the right front and a punctured radiator in the altercation and was relegated to the garage for repairs.

“We were making changes and getting the car better and the 97 car spun out and just shot back across in front of us,” Rusty said while watching his crew start making repairs. “I don’t know what Stewart’s problem is. He’s gotten me for four straight races. I’m gonna have to have a talk with him, that’s for sure. He puts me into the wall and then flips me off under the yellow. He needs that finger stuck up his rear end.”

Kenseth still had the lead for the Lap 64 restart, with Jeff Gordon second, Biffle third, Johnson fourth and Harvick fifth. Brendan and Ryan were racing three wide with Kahne for the 10th spot two laps later.

That kind of action got interrupted twice during the next 40 laps for two different cautions for debris on the track. Rusty lost 41 laps making repairs, but returned to the track to get all he could out of the day.

At Lap 110, Johnson had shown his muscle and wrestled the lead away from Kahne. He had a 2.1-second lead 15 laps later, as Jeremy Mayfield had moved up to third. Robby Gorodn was fourth and Jeff Gordon fifth. Ryan was running eighth and Brendan 10th.

Green flag stops had already started when another caution for debris flew on Lap 139.

“You’ve got a strong horse there, cowboy,” Brendan’s coach/spotter Buddy Baker radioed during the yellow. “We just keep on getting the wedge out and you’re flying.

“Yeah, but it takes us about 15 or 20 laps to really get going,” Brendan offered. “We can run with anybody once we get 15 to 20 laps under our belts.”

Jeff Gordon had the lead for the Lap 143 restart, with Johnson second and Kahne third. Brendan was seventh and getting stronger when the race returned to green and Ryan was holding his own in eighth.

The sixth yellow of the race flew on Lap 148 when Green blew his engine in Turn 4.

Rusty, Larry and crew decided to use the remainder of the race as a test session for the return here in September. They took the car back to the garage on Lap 151 to test another sway bar and spring setup.

“Well, maybe we can make something out of the day anyhow,” Rusty radioed as the crew met him back in the garage.

Brendan was really on the move after the restart. He was into fourth with 90 laps remaining and around Johnson for third with 85 to go.

With Jeff Gordon leading, Kahne running second, Brendan third, Johnson fourth, Mayfield fifth and Ryan sixth, insiders were already talking about the potential for the race to turn into a fuel mileage ordeal. Naturally, with Ryan’s history of pulling out wins under those circumstances, there was already much interest in whether Ryan could go the distance with only one more stop.

The big concern for Brendan with 80 laps to go was his water temperature of 250 degrees due to trash collected on the front end of the car.

There was great racing for the lead between Jeff Gordon and Kahne when another round of green flag stops began with 53 laps remaining.

After Kahne and Gordon hit road, Brendan led the first lap of his big league career before hitting the pits himself with 51 laps remaining. Ryan took his time at the point before pitting on Lap 200.

Brendan was fifth when the stops cycled around, but had fallen to sixth with 40 laps remaining. Gordon had the lead, with Kahne second, Johnson third, Bobby Labonte fourth and Mayfield fifth. Kenseth was seventh and
Ryan ninth. Brendan’s car developed a slight push, which took its toll in the final laps.

While Labonte had moved up to second and was closing in on leader Gordon with 25 laps to go, the best battle was the one staged for sixth between Brendan, Kenseth and Ryan.

Gordon held a 2.1-second lead over Labonte with 20 laps remaining and the biggest question was how many cars would come up short on fuel at the end.

Cars began running out of fuel with 10 laps to go as Elliott Sadler was forced to pit for a splash of gas. Ryan split Kenseth and Brendan up the middle to finally grab the sixth spot with 7 laps to go, dropping Kenseth to seventh and Brendan to eighth.

Labonte’s serious threat to Gordon ended after the two passed the white flag. Labonte pulled down to the inside as his engine began sputtering in lack of fuel. Kahne and Mayfield were already on pit road getting fueld.

As Gordon powered on around to his second win here and second in as many weeks on the circuit, Johnson got by Labonte for second and Ryan passed for third. Kenseth got by for fourth, before Labonte crossed the line for fifth. Brendan came home sixth and was the highest finishing rookie again, Terry Labonte finished seventh, Casey Mears eighth, Harvick ninth and Ward Burton 10th. Rusty was credited with a 35th-place finish, completing 193 laps.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. continues to lead in the points with 1,453. Johnson is second with 1,428, Gordon third with 1,426, Kenseth fourth with 1,357 and Busch and Harvick tied for fifth with 1,316. Ryan is seventh with 1,299, Stewart eighth with 1,284, Labonte ninth with 1,265 and Sadler 10th with 1,265. Kahne is 11th with 1,209, Jamie McMurray 12th with 1,200, Mark Martin 13th with 1,135 and Rusty 14th with 1,132.

The NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series now takes Mothers’ Day weekend off next week before heading to Richmond International Raceway for the next even on Saturday, May 15.

RUSTY WALLACE (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Intrepid)
(on Stewart’s antics): "I'll talk to him, right in the eye. He needs to a good talkin' to by somebody. I'm gonna do a lot better job talking to him than NASCAR will. I'm going to talk to him driver-to-driver. He needs some help. He's in a ditch right now. I don't know what's wrong with the guy. I like the fella. He's a good friend, but he's really screwing up a lot lately. He got me in the back really hard at Bristol, got me in the back real hard at Martinsville, caused a huge darn wreck last week at Talladega then runs me right through the fence this time. I'm on the outside, right against the wall, and he comes flying up and drives through me, knocks the side off of it, completely ruins the car.
"Then, he pulls up alongside and starts flipping me off on the restart. I wanted to get out of the car and whip his rear end, I'll tell you what. The kid needs to calm down a little bit. He's really frustrated for some reason I'm not sticking up right now, 'cause I'm about sick of this childish action. The boy needs to grow up a little bit. I think he's just frustrated. I don't know. He's just got to keep his emotions in check. I'm tired of getting taken out by him. This is ridiculous. He's a good kid, but hey, we respect everybody out in this field and I'm not respecting him at all right now. Half the garage area's not respecting him. He's going to have to get out there and earn the respect his peers again, because he's screwed up a lot of cars because he's pouting. I had a good top-10 car. I don't know what (Stewart is) driving like that for. I'm tired of poor lil' ol' Tony right now. He needs to get his act together. He's a good driver and needs to act like one instead of driving like an idiot and taking a bunch of cars out."