| | Associated Press
DARLINGTON, S.C. -- A trophy for winning at Darlington Raceway can't be found among Rusty Wallace's racing treasures. He'd like to change that Sunday in the Southern 500, his 34th start on 1.366-mile oval.
"We've come so close to winning at Darlington, finished second, third and fourth a ton of times, and it would be a thrill to
finally beat the old track," said Wallace, seeking his third consecutive victory. "We know that we have a car capable of
winning because it already has a name, doesn't it?"
Wallace, who seeks to increase his lead in poles this season to nine in qualifying Friday, was referring to "Lite-ning," the name
given to his Ford in a fan contest that elicited 6,700 entries. A Wallace tradition is to name a car after it wins for the first
time, and that happened six weeks ago in Long Pond, Pa.
That was the second of a Winston Cup-leading four wins this season for Wallace, and began a roll that includes victories the
last two weeks in Brooklyn, Mich., and Bristol, Tenn. No driver has
won more than two straight races since Jeff Gordon strung four
together in 1998.
Wallace knows it will be difficult to beat Gordon _ whose four-year run of superiority in the Southern 500 ended in 1999 _
and Jeff Burton, who won both rain-shortened events last season on
the "Track too tough to Tame." Victory has taught them much about
Darlington, but Wallace figures defeat also can be a valuable
tutor.
He finished 16th in Darlington in March.
"We've been on the money almost everywhere we've been this year with the chassis, but if there's an exception to that, it has to be the first Darlington race," he said. "We missed it with our shock
package, really missed it big time on the right rear.
"We'll get it all nailed down this time around, though."
He speaks with the confidence of a competitor who has regained the winning formula he had when he took the series title in 1989, and dominated in 1993-94. Wallace broke a 32-race losing streak
with a victory in Bristol in March, and has been among the cars to
beat in virtually each race since.
The 44-year-old driver from St. Louis is trying for victory No. 54, which would tie him with Lee Petty for seventh place on the
NASCAR career list. In that quest, Wallace will rely on the basics.
"We just have to massage that chassis, conserve the tires and stay out of trouble," he said. "I'm really looking forward to
it."
So is Burton, who, like Gordon, will be seeking his third win of the season. Burton knows how tough the track can be.
"You don't expect to come here and win," he said. "But we expect to come to Darlington and run well."
Gordon, a five-time Darlington winner, is in a run of bad luck that includes being taken out of contention in two of the last
three races because of crashes he didn't cause. He hopes for good
weather Sunday, which would enable him to play out the winning pit
strategy of 1995-98.
Rain prevented that last year.
"We took a chance and pitted for tires and gas during the
second-to-last caution, hoping it would put us in position to
win," the three-time series champion said. "But we were also
hoping the rain would hold off.
"Unfortunately for us, it didn't."
Also a prime contender is series champion Dale Jarrett, a
two-time Darlington winner who is second to points leader Bobby
Labonte despite no victories since the season-opening Daytona 500.
Top-five fixture Tony Stewart, second last Saturday night in Bristol, and Ward Burton also are threats. Burton won at Darlington in March, and his 1996 lap of 173.797 mph is the track qualifying
record.
Ward, second to Jeff last year in the only 1-2 Southern 500 finish by brothers, credited his Mall.com 400 victory in March to
the crew led by Tommy Baldwin.
"All I had to do was make it 400 miles," Ward said. | |
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Furr: Darlington no longer super, but still a special speedway
Weber: A letter to the Lady in Black
Southern 500 Breakdown
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