"It was a total team effort and I think I'm happier for my team than I am myself," Miller Lite Dodge driver Rusty Wallace said after taking the pole for Saturday night's NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Challenge at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Rusty was elated with the performance of his Larry Carter-led team in their efforts on pit road. Rusty finished three laps and a pit stop with an average speed of 130.647 mph. Drivers had a minimum speed of 45 mph on the entry into the pits, with no limit on the exit, and eight of the 22 drivers were caught speeding on their stops.
"I was hoping we'd get a real good pit stop, and the guys busted off a good one," Rusty said. "We had a good first lap, and the boys knocked a 12.40 second pit stop. That was super killer, and the hotrod ran really great."

In a bit of irony, it was Penske Racing South teammate Ryan Newman who was knocked off the pole by Rusty and his team. Newman, who was heavily favored to take the pole here tonight, went out sixth and held the top spot for the next six cars. He averaged 130.347 on his run.
But Rusty was a man on a mission when he took his special "Vote Miller for President of Beers" Dodge onto the track.

"I almost messed us up," Rusty said later after making his successful bid for the pole. "We didn't do any blocked up banzai runs when we first went out there in practice. I spent all my time practicing for the NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Challenge (race). I drove it down the backstretch really deep and got into three. I bottomed out. I went down and cut it too deep. I hit the left front fender on the apron and shot up the racetrack. It handled real good. I was hoping we'd get a real good pit stop, and the guys busted off a good one. It feels good to be up top right now. Let's hope it stays.

"Roy (McCauley) and the boys dreamed the setup up for qualifying. I went down into three and it turned a lot better than I anticipated. I almost ran it through the infield. It bent the fender all up, but the car handled perfect.

"I was on it. The team was on it, too. Larry (crew chief) Carter worked real hard on the race setup for tomorrow night. They got it handling real good, and then the guys dreamed up the setup for qualifying. We had a good first lap, and the boys knocked out a 12.40 on the pit stop. That was a super killer, and the hotrod ran really great. We're on the pole. It's really cool. I did a good job out there for the guys because they always do a good job for me. We put a can on whup on 'em on that pit stop. They were screaming around the car with those lug wrenches."

Saturday night's NEXTEL All-Star Challenge features live coverage by FX-TV and PRN Radio beginning at 7:00 p.m. EDT.