WALLACE AND MILLER LITE TEAM PENSKE HOPE "WAITING GAME" IS OVER

-Breaking Through With Talladega Restrictor-Plate Race Win Would Claim Bonus-

TALLADEGA, Ala. (Oct. 16, 2001)

Everything comes to those who wait.

The origin of that famous quote may be unknown, but Rusty Wallace and his Robin Pemberton-led Miller Lite Team Penske are trusting it holds truth as they enter this weekend's EA Sports 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

"We're bringing our best car, the 18 car, the one that we've had so much success with at Daytona," said Wallace, "and it'd be great to break through with a win this weekend with the No Bull bonus on the line. We've waited for so long trying to win one of these things (restrictor-plate races) and it would be huge for us to win at Talladega."

Sunday's race on the 2.66-mile Alabama tri-oval, the Winston Cup circuit's longest race track, will mark the 37th visit for Wallace and he is still seeking his first Talladega win. The race will also mark the fifth time that he has been eligible for Winston's No Bull 5 $1 million bonus and he is still in quest of cashing in on that prize for the first time.

"We've had some good runs through the years at Talladega, but just always seemed to come up short," said Wallace, whose fifth-place finish in the second race of 1988 stands as his best career Talladega finish to date. "As for the bonus, we've come so close to winning it. The last time we were eligible for it was in Charlotte back a few races. We led the thing with about 12 laps to go and (Jeff) Gordon came along and got us."

Wallace is teamed with Daniel Lewis, a fan from San Jose, Calif., for this race's special bonus program. If Wallace can pilot his Miller Lite Ford Taurus to Victory Lane, both driver and fan will be $1 million richer come Sunday afternoon.

"It'll be the same typical Talladega race under these rules," said
Wallace, who doesn't mince words on his dislike of the current setup. "It's the same 'bunch 'em up' rules that we've been running there. I'll admit that we're discouraged that NASCAR didn't change the rules regarding the spoilers after all the extensive testing we did for them at Talladega several weeks ago. We made a lot of 20 and 30 lap runs and I thought that everybody really liked the 60-degree deal we were trying out. We all told them that we liked it.I know that I did. But, they chose to come back with what we've been running.just gave one manufacture a little something and nothing for the Fords.

"It'll be the identical thing where it doesn't matter where you
qualify," Wallace said. "They'll be all bunched up three and four wide and no margin for error for the whole race. The fans will love it and the drivers all dreading it. We just hope to have the best car, the most horsepower and pick the best lane to be in right there at the end and be lucky enough to win the thing."

Crew chief Robin Pemberton is equally optimistic about his team's chances in Sunday's 500-mile, 188-lap battle.

"We're bringing our old reliable race car and have done the standard wind tunnel tweaking coming into the race," said Pemberton. "It's great for the fans, but really nerve-wracking to watch that going on for three hours or so, but it's the same for everybody out there. At Talladega, anything can happen and anyone can win. We hope it's us."

This weekend's Talladega schedule calls for Friday practice from 11:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. preceding the 3:05 p.m. qualifying session which allocates all 43 starting spots in Sunday's race. Saturday's activity features practice sessions from 10:00 a.m. until 10:45 a.m. and from 11:15 a.m. until noon. Sunday's EA Sports 500 has a 12:00 noon CDT starting time and features live coverage by NBC-TV and MRN Radio.