Wallace

INDIANAPOLIS -- Rusty Wallace knows what it takes to get to the front at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The NASCAR Winston Cup driver has finished second in the Brickyard 400 three times in nine races.

What Wallace would like to know, however, is what it takes to get into Victory Lane.

Wallace came close to scoring his first win at the 2½-mile oval Sunday. But just as he lost the 2000 Brickyard 400 when Bobby Labonte passed him with 14 laps remaining, Bill Elliott took the lead away from Wallace with 12 laps left.

"It's real frustrating because I lost it in '95 when Dale (Earnhardt) won the race, I led it all day long and then had a big pit road accident, got hung in the pits and couldn't make it out, and he won," Wallace said. "But still I had like 30 laps to try to pass him. When I got behind him, I got this big aero push, and I couldn't pass Dale. We come across the line just boom-boom in first and second.

"The year before last, I led all day long right up to 14 laps to go, and Bobby Labonte got past me. I had a bad push that day and finished second. Basically, that's the same doggone thing that happened now, almost the same identical lap."

At 45, Wallace is one of the older drivers on the circuit. But don't bring up that subject to the driver from St. Louis because he believes age doesn't matter as much in auto racing as in other sports.

"That issue right there just gets under my skin," Wallace said. "I don't even feel like talking about it because we're all race car drivers. These guys are all great drivers, and we're all doing our job. I will tell you it's not like stick and ball, how fast you can run and how much weight you can lift. In NASCAR, it's about how much you know and how long you've been there and understand the springs and shocks and your competitors."

Wallace had his Ford in front for 12 laps after he had picked his way through the field and appeared to be in prime position to give team owner Roger Penske a win at a track where he has won the Indianapolis 500 a record 12 times.

"I know that everybody saw Team Penske out there, and they're real good," Wallace said. "But, you know, just for him, I would like to win it for him. I think it would be pretty special, as many wins as he's had in the Indy 500, to finally get a stock car win would be cool."

Wallace can get the car to the front of the field at the world's most famous racing facility. The key question that remains to be answered is what will it take for him to finally keep it there?

"For me to win this race, I'm going to have to keep plugging and have a good handling car," Wallace said. "We had a lot of horsepower today that was one thing I was able to look at all day long. I mean, the last 30 laps with Bill Elliott, he would be right on my rear end coming off the corner, but by the time we'd get down to Turn 1, I had almost a car and a half on him, almost two car-lengths. I would pull him in the straightaways. But he just had those four fresh tires vs. my two, and I just couldn't hold him off.

"You've got to keep putting yourself in position. I've had a great record here, and I like coming here. Pays a lot of damn money here, too. That's one reason I like it."

Wallace is winless this season but is determined to get back into victory lane before the year is over.

"We had a great run going in the Daytona 500 and got in that wreck with five laps to go," Wallace said. "And I thought we had a shot to win that thing. We had a good run in the Firecracker 400 in Daytona, good run at Loudon, good run today. A lot of great runs going on, but just no wins.

"I'm really dying to win real bad. I've won 16 consecutive years right now in a row. I'd like to at least win 18 and say I tied Richard Petty's record of the longest winning streak in NASCAR history. That would be cool. That's what I am gunning for."