Wallace remains a bridesmaid at Brickyard

INDIANAPOLIS -- They often say that nobody remembers who finishes second in a race. Rusty Wallace can vividly remember who finished second in the Brickyard 400 three times in the last nine years.

Him.

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Wallace came from 35th on the starting grid to garner a second-place finish in the Brickyard 400 on Sunday. After leading 12 laps and being the same number shy of that elusive victory here, he was passed by eventual winner Bill Elliott.

For Wallace, while he was disappointed of the outcome, he did take solace in the achievement on a hot, humid day that hung over the 2.5-mile historic oval.

"It was a great second place," he said. "We used four-tire stops a lot and got way in the back. Then, we two-tired it and got back up front.

"We made so many changes to the car today it was unbelievable. Actually, we made more changes than I would have. Towards the end, Roger (Penske, team owner) came on the radio and said I should get myself in position.

"I totally agreed with that, too."

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Wallace finished second here to Dale Earnhardt in 1995 and again in 2000 to winner Bobby Labonte. Both times, Wallace was leading with less than 15 laps to go before getting passed for the victory.

"Basically, that's almost the same darn thing that happened to me today," Wallace said. "It was good to be passed by someone like Bill Elliott. I remember a few years ago when everyone was saying that Earnhardt and Elliott were done and should hang it up.

"Then, Dale won the Daytona 500 in 1998 and the Atlanta race (2000) and was kicking everybody's butt. That made me feel real good. Then, Bill went from the point that racing was a struggle to now he's the man to beat.

"I kind of smiled when Elliott passed me because the only two guys I would have liked to do that today would have been him or Ryan (Newman, teammate)

The evil aeropush was prevalent for any of the cars that were running second or worse during the race. Wallace could tell the difference once he took the lead from Tony Stewart on lap 137.

"Yeah, I could tell the difference because the aeropush was horrible," he said. "Oh my goodness, when you got behind a car you could just feel the whole front end of the car lift up. It was unbelievable.

"My car started to get real tight after awhile and I kept chasing it throughout the race. I took so much wedge out of it, raised track bars and did a lot of crazy things with the car.

"Right at the end, we finally got it just right."

Elliott took on four tires to Wallace's two on the last caution pit stop on lap 130 of the 160-lap race.