RUSTY STARTS SEVENTH IN SATURDAY’S RICHMOND RACE

A last-minute change of plans saw Rusty Wallace and his Larry Carter-led Miller Lite Dodge team bring their No. 64 chassis here to Richmond for Saturday night’s Chevy American Revolution 400.

“We had hoped to have the Martinsville winning car (The Predator) ready to go again,” said Larry prior to this morning’s 11:20 a.m. practice session. “But after putting a new body on it, we weren’t completely satisfied with how it turned out, so we brought this car here instead.

“It’s a great car, too,” Rusty chimed in. “We debuted it here last fall and finished fifth. It was getting stronger and stronger and was the fastest thing out there at the very end of the race.”

Rusty, who was 13th fastest in practice, turned in a lap of 20.894 seconds (129.224 mph) in his qualifying run, which stood fourth after 24 cars had made their attempts. However, the remainder of the session saw Jimmie Johnson, Robby Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. all turn in faster times.

“I was worried about everybody being so loose, and I drove it too easy,” said Rusty, the statistical leader here on this .750-mile track that has a win and a runner-up finish in the two short-track races held so far this season. “I shouldn’t have drove it that easy. I think we could have got the pole based on what’s going on. I should have got it in deeper. I was waiting for it to go all over the place, and it didn’t do it. I didn’t hustle it enough. We’ll get ready to race now. We had a good test here a couple of weeks ago, so I feel good about it. I wanted to get a good, smooth lap in for qualifying and that’s what I did. I didn’t anticipate it to be that good and it was. I should have charged it harder, and I could have at least picked it up a couple of tenths.”

Rookie Brian Vickers starts Saturday night’s 400-lap, 300-mile battle from the pole, with Rusty’s Penske Racing teammate Ryan Newman second. Jeff Green goes from the third spot, with Earnhardt fourth, Johnson fifth, Robby Gordon sixth, Rusty seventh, Joe Nemechek eighth, Casey Mears ninth and Greg Biffle 10th. Jeremy Mayfield, Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, Elliott Sadler and Ward Burton rounded out today’s top 15 qualifiers.

Saturday night’s Chevy American Revolution 400 has a 7:30 p.m. EDT starting time, with FX-TV and MRN Radio providing live coverage of the race beginning 30 minutes earlier.