NASCAR Winston Cup Series ACDelco 400 Preview: #2, Rusty Wallace
22 October 1997
#2 Rusty Wallace, Miller Lite Ford Thunderbird
NASCAR Winston Cup Series
ACDelco 400 Advance
North Carolina Motor Speedway
WALLACE AND MILLER LITE TEAM PENSKE A STEP CLOSER TO GOAL OF
"SALVAGING" THE 1997 WINSTON CUP SEASON
ROCKINGHAM, NC - Rusty Wallace and his Miller Lite Team Penske took another
step closer to the goal of "salvaging" the season with their 10th-place
finish in the circuit's most recent race, the Oct. 5 DieHard 500 at
Talladega, Ala.
"That's another one down and just three races to go," said Wallace after the
Talladega finish helped him climb back into the top 10 in the current Winston
Cup points standings. "That's two straight top-10 finishes in the restrictor-
plate races (finished sixth at Daytona in July) and it shows just how far
we've come in gaining ground in that part of our operation. Again, I can't
say enough about the great job Mike Ege and his engine guys are doing with
our restrictor-plate program.
"But, it's a giant step when you look at the big picture, too," said
Wallace. "I said about six races ago when we were back in 15th in the points
and really struggling that the best we could hope for was to get some
consistency going, maybe win us a race and get back up into the top 10 in the
points before the year is out. We're headed in that direction. We're trying
to save face...trying to salvage something out of the season. We need to wind
it down on a positive note and have something to build on for next year."
After his third DNF (did not finish) of the year in the May race at Sonoma,
Calif., Wallace fell from the top 10 in points. He fell to a low of 17th
during the 12-race stretch ending at the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis in
August, due to suffering an additional seven DNFs.
"Our team really started turning the corner right after we hit rock bottom at
Darlington where we started last and finished last," said crew chief Robin
Pemberton. "We finished fifth at Richmond, got crashed on the last lap while
running 10th at Loudon...and then there was the Martinsville fiasco. The big
thing is that we've been gathering a lot of momentum even though the results
sheet don't show how competitive that we've really been."
With three points-paying races left for the year, Wallace enters Sunday's
ACDelco 400 at North Carolina Motor Speedway at the head of a six-man battle
for the top-10 pride. Only 62 points currently separate 10th-place Wallace
from 15th-place Ricky Rudd.
"We prefer to not look behind, but instead look ahead," said Wallace. "We can
still go forward from where we are. We're only 80 points out of ninth. That's
what we're shooting for.
"The bottom line is that we don't want to finish out the year like we did
back in '92," said Wallace. "It was embarrassing. It was the worst finish
points-wise I've had and it wasn't any fun at all, I'll tell you that. We
went to New York (for the annual NASCAR Awards Banquet) and got completely
overlooked. We didn't get to take to the stage and thank all the sponsors.
We wound up having to sit in the 'cheap seats' in the back of the room. It
was no fun at all. It was pretty embarrassing."
Since winning his first race during the 1986 season and finishing sixth in
the points standings that year, the 1992 season was the lone year that the
1989 points champ has finished outside the top 10.
A brief comparison of the '92 season and this year shows that with three
races remaining in the 1992 season, Wallace was 12th in points (with 3,217).
He was 44 points behind 10th-place Terry Labonte. After finishing 21st at
Rockingham, 28th at Phoenix and sixth at Atlanta, Wallace found himself
ending the year in the 13th spot, 47 points behind 10th-place Sterling
Marlin. For the 29-race season, he had one win, five top-five finishes, 12
top-10 finishes, one pole position and five DNFs. During the 29 races already
completed this year, Wallace has recorded one win, seven top-fives, 11
top-10s, one pole and an unbelievable 11 DNFs.
Wallace finished eighth in last year's ACDelco 400 at N.C.M.S. He started
23rd and finished sixth in the Goodwrench 400, held earlier this season
(2/23/97) on the 1.017 track near Rockingham, N.C. In 27 career starts on the
track, Wallace's record sports five wins, eight top-five finishes and 13
top-10s. He has won one pole, coming in the first event of his 1989
championship season.
Qualifying sessions for Sunday's 400-mile, 393-lap race are set for Friday at
2:00 p.m. (for positions 1-25) and Saturday at 9:30 a.m. (to complete the
potential 43-car starting field). Saturday's excitement also includes the
annual Rockingham Pit Crew Race at 11:00 a.m.
Sunday's 33rd Annual AC-Delco 400 has a scheduled 12:30 p.m. EDT starting
time and features live flag-to-flag coverage by TNN and MRN Radio.
By Tom Roberts Public Relations
