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 “It seems like everything I lost last week I gained back this week." |
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Rusty Wallace
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By Denise N. Maloof, CNNSI.com
INDIANAPOLIS -- For two 40-somethings chasing each other around the track, Bill Elliott and Rusty Wallace put on quite a show in Sunday’s ninth annual Brickyard 400.
They battled nose-to-tail for much of the final 20 laps, swapping spots until the slightest bobble allowed Elliott to roar by Wallace for the win.
Still, after last week’s crash at Pocono cost him some valuable points, Wallace was more than happy to settle for second place.
“It seems like everything I lost last week I gained back this week,” Wallace said. “Talk about a teeter-totter. Unreal.”
Last week, Wallace was involved in the first-lap crash that collected Steve Park and Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and sent Park on three frightening barrel rolls. Wallace eventually returned to the track, but after two red-flag delays -- one for crash cleanup, the other for rain -- the best he could manage was a 40th-place finish. Subsequently, he fell from fourth to eighth in the Winston Cup standings.
This weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway seemed like an aggravating continuation. Wallace started 37th, but didn’t stay there long. He was 20th by lap 20, and 10th by lap 40.
“I got up there pretty quick," he said. "And then after I four-tired it, the car got a little tight on me. Then I just kept chasing it throughout the race.”
Wallace, who presides over most of his car setups, lost some of his track feel during the race’s mid-point. He fell back as far as 23rd on lap 70, but during the final 30 laps, he nosed his way back to the lead pack. A big factor in his charge was his crew’s two-tire change during the day’s seventh of eight cautions on laps 128-133 after Elliott’s teammate, Casey Atwood, slapped a wall.
Wallace was third on the lap 134 restart. Elliott sat fifth. Three laps later, Wallace zoomed past Tony Stewart into the lead.
“I went out there and it was like perfect,” Wallace said. “Then it turned really good. I passed Stewart and got the lead, and really checked out. With 10 laps to go, I’m sitting there, I said, ‘Man, I got this thing won. I think I can hold ‘em off.’”
In his mirror, and on his bumper, was Elliott, who would lead a race-high 93 laps. The two veterans yo-yoed, with Wallace sprinting ahead by a few car-lengths on the straightaways, and Elliott closing in the corners. Elliott finally grabbed the lead on lap 149, when Wallace slipped just an instant in turn two. A final two-lap caution for track debris didn’t matter. Elliott was gone on the lap 157 restart, and Wallace accepted second.
“Rusty had a good piece,” Elliott said.
“When he passed me, I kind of got a grin on me because I remember so vivid when all the media was just blasting [Dale] Earnhardt and blasting Elliott,” Wallace said. “'It's time to retire. You guys are washed up.' You have one bad year and it's gone.”
Sunday wasn’t Wallace’s first time as a Brickyard bridesmaid. He finished second to Earnhardt in 1995 and to Bobby Labonte in 2000. He led late in both races, only to be boxed in by a late pit-road accident in 1995. In 2002, Labonte overtook him with 12 laps remaining.
Still, Indianapolis has been good to Wallace. He has eight top-eight finishes in nine Brickyard 400s and has led 148 laps, the most by any non-winner. With owner Roger Penske in his pit Sunday, Wallace would have liked to do more than log his 12th top-10 finish of the season.
“He had those four fresh tires versus my two and I just couldn’t hold him off,” Wallace said of Elliott. “But you gotta keep putting yourself in position. I’ve had a great record here and I like coming here. Pays a lot of damn money, too. That’s one reason I like it.”
As for last week’s lost points, Wallace regained nearly all of them. He leaves the Brickyard in fifth place behind leader Sterling Marlin.
“To come from 35th up to the front and finish second, I’m real proud of my team,” he said.
