Penske helps fiery Wallace stay on track

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- In this most bizarre of recent Winston Cup seasons, Rusty Wallace has survived by emulating some of the desert creatures outside Phoenix International Raceway.

He's become a chameleon.

This isn't easy for most 46-year-olds. You tend to trust what's worked, yet Wallace has adapted. He's accepted rookie sensation Ryan Newman as a teammate. He's warmed to the idea of embracing more of Penske Racing's considerable computer and engineering resources. Until three weeks ago, Wallace was even in the 2002 title hunt despite enduring what has become the longest winless streak of his career.

But right now, all he'd like to do is a little monkey-tossing.

"I gotta win, you know?" Wallace said.

	Rusty Wallace says Roger Penske has kept him smiling through adversity. Credit: Autostock

With no championship left to pursue, breaking his current 60-race drought is paramount. So is capturing his best points finish since 1998, when Wallace finished fourth and shattered another significant winless streak (that one 59 races). The drought-buster came at Phoenix, so good karma appears available. It's his only win at this mountain-nestled, mile-long track.

"There's just not a lax bone in my body anywhere as far as, 'It'd be OK,' none of that BS," said Wallace, who starts 29th in Sunday's Checker Auto Parts 500. "Doing all I can do, you know?"

He's determined not to wait until February. Wallace is so obsessed that the car that finished second at Indianapolis was completely re-bodied last weekend for Phoenix. Sunday's race marks only the second career start for Penske Racing chassis No. 51, which was originally scheduled for next week's season finale at Homestead, and Wallace's shop crew worked around-the-clock last weekend to prepare it for Phoenix.

"Right now we gotta take our very, very best car if we're going to try to get the damn victory," Wallace said.

Adjustment has been the norm this season, which began with a new crew chief, Bill Wilburn, and advanced to tougher, more rigid setups (read: aerodynamic woes and harder tires). Surrounded by successful youngsters who aren't beholden to a traditional "feel," Wallace and other veterans have converted by varying degrees. After initially vetoing Newman's and crew chief Matt Borland's engineering-driven approach, Wallace has re-visited that science in recent months and done some computer dabbling.

Wallace said he drove Newman's car briefly during a preseason session, but found it nearly impossible to get in and out because of different seat and cockpit designs.

"There is no seat-of-the-pants stuff," Wallace said. "Basically what Matt and him have learned together -- they're taking their education and absolutely putting it to work. NASCAR's always slam this, slam that. Try this, try that, you know? And they're not taking that approach."

Owner Roger Penske said he encouraged Wallace to experiment during a Fourth-of-July weekend conversation during a recreational boating outing.

"I said, 'You got to try some things, you got to think out of the box,'" Penske said. "'You can't use the same old golf club. Today they got fancy clubs, you gotta have that.' He agrees with that."

Constant throughout all the change is Wallace and Penske's relationship. They're wrapping up their 12th consecutive season together, and Penske's Sunday presence has been a constant since the Sept. 29 race at Kansas.

With the future -- Newman -- in the fold, and the flagship -- Wallace -- still a lion, Penske has made time for both, which has not been easy. One of motor sports' marquee figures, he's renowned for several auto-oriented business empires and an overriding devotion to his open-wheel teams. But the stock-car guys have commanded more of his attention.

"Most drivers don't want to have a second driver," Penske said. "They want to do it themselves. They don't want to be benchmarked every week. But I think Rusty sees now the advantage of having someone else out there because it helps set the benchmark. I think both drivers key off each other. I've had it in the Indy car team. One might have a better setup today, and the other one might not, but they can at least know what's there."

This, of course, can lead to radio confusion.

LOTS TO DRIVE FOR  It’s never easy to call off the hunt, but Rusty Wallace’s drive for a second Winston Cup championship finally came to a mathematical halt several weeks ago.  Following his ninth-place finish at Martinsville on Oct. 20, Wallace sat fifth in the points, only 182 behind leader Tony Stewart.  Wallace's 17th and 27th-place finishes at the next two races -- Atlanta and Rockingham -- dropped him back in the top-10 pack. But there’s still something to drive for.  Behind Stewart and the second-place Mark Martin, five guys are fighting for third. Only 48 points separate third-place Jimmie Johnson, fourth-place Ryan Newman, fifth-place Kurt Busch, the sixth-place Wallace and seventh-place Jeff Gordon.  The difference? In NASCAR’s year-end payout, third place is worth $1,050,000. Seventh is worth $550,000.  You do the math.  -- Denise N. Maloof, CNNSI.com

"Sometimes I'm flipping back and forth saying the wrong thing to the wrong guy," Penske admitted. "Saying, 'Excuse me guys, I'm on the wrong car. Don't hit me in the head.'"

"All his peers and people working for him call him Mr. Penske or Roger," Wallace said. "I call him Boss, you know? Cap. Whatever. It's easier for me to call him a nickname than, 'Hello, Roger.'"

Wallace, who deepens his tone at, "Hello, Roger," laughs. He says he and the Boss are close. They talk often during the week, yet usually see each other only on Sundays. Over the years, Penske has introduced Wallace to some of their now-mutual hobbies, boating, beaching and golf. He also sees himself as Wallace's biggest cheerleader.

"He's a tremendous guy," Penske said. "I've never seen [that] amount of enthusiasm out of any driver."

In turn, Wallace uses Penske and his son Greg, another good friend, as business sounding boards for his five Southeastern auto dealerships.

"He's absolutely spit-shined us more," Wallace said of the way the elder Penske runs his teams. "Our operation's a pretty slick operation."

And although personality opposites -- the self-admitted-hyper Wallace calls his silver-haired boss, "a real dry guy, you know?" -- driver and mentor have meshed since 1980, when the still-raw Wallace drove one Cup race for Penske (the National 500 at Charlotte on Oct. 5) and finished 14th.

"He's a real calming factor," Wallace said. "If I got an idea, he's more like a been-there, done-that-one-before [influence]. And when he tells you, 'No, that's right,' oh man, 99-point-nine [percent of the time], he's dead-ass right. He's not too much of a guesser. He's got a lot of facts behind him to back up a lot of things."

Penske's radio voice is pure comfort to Wallace, who wasn't happy that the Boss had to leave the rain-delayed Atlanta race several weeks ago for a business appointment. Wallace said Penske's penchant for detail would've rescued him and Wilburn from a pit road decision that eventually cost them a good finish. Wallace finished 17th after not pitting with the leaders during a critical juncture.

"If Roger was there, Roger would've said, 'Hey guys, what you think about pitting now?'" Wallace said.

Penske is also the source of a now-familiar radio phrase between the two men -- "float it in." The description originated several seasons ago at Rockingham, when Penske thought Wallace was over-aggressive in the corners.

"He didn't say, 'Let out of the gas early,'" Wallace said. "He said, 'Float it in.' And for some reason when he said that, I knew exactly what he was meaning. So instead of driving in and jumping on the gas, I'd drive in and roll out of the gas, and do everything slower and smoother. Damn, my lap times started picking up and I drove off and won the race."

"Floating" doesn't always work, even when it's Penske's voice suggesting it. But some other Penske words delivered during that July outing still ring in Wallace's ears.

He had asked Penske's opinion of how he was driving following a second-place finish in the Pepsi 400. Penske replied, "You wanna know?"

Wallace said yes.

"And he says, 'To me, I think you're driving better than I've ever seen you drive ever since you drove for us,'" Wallace said. "I'd just come out of this great finish at Daytona. Maybe that's the reason he said it, I don't know. [But] I said, 'If you ever don't think that, let me know, will you?' And he said, 'OK.'

"It made me feel really good, you know?"