NASCAR Winston Cup ITW DeVilbiss 400 Preview: #2, Rusty Wallace
14 August 1997
#2 Rusty Wallace, Miller Lite Ford Thunderbird
NASCAR Winston Cup Series
ITW DeVilbiss 400 Advance
Michigan Speedway
MICHIGAN SPEEDWAY IS STILL M.I.S. FOR MILLER LITE TEAM
PENSKE DRIVER RUSTY WALLACE
BROOKLYN, MI - Even though Michigan Speedway is now the official designation
of the 2.0-mile speed plant located near Brooklyn, Mich., the track should
still be considered as M.I.S. for Miller Lite Team Penske driver Rusty
Wallace.
M.I.S. as in Major Important Site...that is.
After all, it's on this lightning fast oval where the racing star has
experienced many Memorable Impressive Scenarios:
Scenarios like the one that occurred on June 24, 1987. That's the date when
at the Michigan track Wallace scored his first career NASCAR Winston Cup
pole position. It came in his 110th career start.
Scenarios like the one that occurred on June 26, 1988. That's the date when
at the Michigan track Wallace scored his first career NASCAR Winston Cup
superspeedway oval win. It came in his 139th career start. He started second
and led three times for a total of 106 of the 200 laps during the dazzling
performance.
Scenarios such as when on Aug. 20, 1989, he won the Michigan race and became
only the ninth driver in the history of the sport to eclipse the $4 million
mark in career winnings...and on June 19, 1994, at Michigan when another win
helped him surpass the $10 million mark...and on June 23 last season when he
won again and topped the $13 million mark in the first win for his team's new
in-house-built "PC"-style chassis race cars.
"The track has certainly been good for me and my career," said Wallace. "I
just love racing at Michigan. I remember winning the pole there back with the
Blue Max Team in '87.
"But, probably my favorite memories were the great runs we had in my
championship year back in '89 when we won one of them and finished a close
second in the other.
"And, of course there were the big wins in the Miller races in 1994 and again
last season. We led a bunch (led 83 laps) of the race in '94. I remember that
we ran out of gas on pit road. Buddy Parrott was the crew chief back then and
he was hanging onto the car shooting ether into the thing while I was trying
to get out of the pits. That made all the television highlight reels. We
named the car 'Captain' in honor of Roger (Penske, team co-owner and Michigan
Speedway head). I think it was the first time he'd had one of his cars win at
his track. Miller (his team sponsor) also sponsored the race. It was just a
really neat deal all the way around.
"What made the win in last year's Miller 400 so extra special was the way
that we won it," said Wallace. "Without a doubt, the four car (Sterling
Marlin) was the strongest thing out there all day long, but we snookered them
there at the end with the gas strategy and pulled us out a win.
"We probably had at best a fifth-place car or so, but due to using our heads
and taking advantage of so few cautions, we came home the winners," said
Wallace, who led only the final 10 laps of the race. "When I look back across
my career, I can think of a ton of races that we lost to others because of
situations like that with fuel mileage and all. When you get right down to
it, that win in the Miller 400 at M.I.S. last year is about the only one that
comes to mind where we actually won a race that way. It just seems like we've
always been on the short end of the stick in those situations. That's the one
exception where it all played out in our favor."
One thing Wallace and crew are hoping for in Sunday's DeVilbiss 400 at
Michigan Speedway is a Much Improved Showing over their last visit in June.
In this year's Miller 400, Wallace started 19th and finished 29th. He led 12
laps before a series of problems hampered the effort and left him three laps
down at the finish.
"That truly is one race that I'd just as soon forget," said Wallace. "There
we were running in third place behind Mark Martin. We both had flat tires at
the same time and had to hit pit road under the green. We lost a lap, but
later made it up only to see our day go to crap with just 20 laps left in the
race. During another pit stop my guy left the wrench in the thing after
making an adjustment and we had to come back down pit road. Then the NASCAR
officials said that I was speeding and they brought me back in for a
stop-and-go penalty. The day ended with us running out of gas so I guess you
could say that we had all the problems possible in one race without crashing
or blowing up."
Wallace and his Miller Lite team will be using the "PC-3" in this weekend's
Michigan race activity.
In 27 career Michigan races, Wallace has recorded four wins, 14 top-fives
(including two second-place finishes) and 17 top-10s.
Rusty Wallace Career Track Records
MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
(2.0 miles)
Date Event Car St Fn Laps $ Won Status
6/15/97 Miller 400 Ford 19 29 197/200 32,505 Fuel Out
6/23/96 Miller 400 Ford 18 1 200/200 71,380 Running
8/18/96 GM Goodwrench 400 Ford 20 39 77/200 28,615 Engine
6/18/95 MGD 400 Ford 5 3 200/200 44,780 Running
8/20/95 GM Goodwrench 400 Ford 24 5 200/200 37,690 Running
6/19/94 MGD 400 Ford 5 1 200/200 66,980 Running
8/21/94 GM Goodwrench 400 Ford 7 4 200/200 34,070 Running
6/20/93 MGD 400 Pontiac 15 5 200/200 26,160 Running
8/15/93 Champion 400 Pontiac 10 6 200/200 24,115 Running
6/21/92 MGD 400 Pontiac 8 37 69/200 13,465 Cranksh.
8/16/92 Champion 400 Pontiac 33 21 198/200 15,040 Running
6/23/91 MGD 400 Pontiac 23 17 198/200 6,925 Running
8/18/91 Champion 400 Pontiac 9 3 200/200 23,600 Running
6/24/90 MGD 400 Pontiac 3 17 200/200 18,400 Running
8/19/90 Champion 400 Pontiac 6 3 200/200 33,900 Running
6/25/89 Miller 400 Pontiac 9 2 200/200 53,025 Running
8/20/89 Champion 400 Pontiac 2 1 200/200 67,900 Running
6/26/88 Miller 400 Pontiac 5 1 200/200 64,100 Running
8/21/88 Champion 400 Pontiac 7 2 200/200 37,200 Running
6/28/87 Miller 400 Pontiac 1 5 200/200 25,150 Running
8/16/87 Champion 400 Pontiac 20 4 200/200 20,650 Running
6/15/86 Miller 400 Pontiac 7 19 195/200 9,860 Running
8/17/86 Champion 400 Pontiac 7 6 199/200 12,525 Running
6/16/85 Miller 400 Pontiac 13 26 194/200 5,635 Running
8/11/85 Champion 400 Pontiac 26 7 199/200 11,395 Running
6/17/84 Miller 400 Pontiac 11 14 199/200 7,965 Running
8/12/84 Champion 400 Pontiac 8 35 93/200 2,715 Engine
Races Wins Top-5 Top-10 Poles $$$$$
Miller 400 14 3 7 7 1 446,330
GM Goodwrench 400 13 1 7 10 0 349,415
TOTAL 27 4 14 17 1 795,745
Lap completion percentage: 5,018/5,400 = 92.9%
By Tom Roberts Public Relations