Wallace tops Dodge camp in qualifying

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. - Rusty Wallace trying to wind his way out of the Watkins Glen International garage Friday afternoon when he heard a familiar voice.

"You were on the gas!"

Wallace stopped and looked around, recognizing the voice but not sure from where it was coming.

"You were on the gas, man!"

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Finally, Wallace noticed Mark Martin poking his head out from his transporter, and Wallace broke into a wide grin.

"I left something down in Turn 1," Wallace said back to Martin, raising his arms in mock frustration. "Everything else was great."

That's for sure. Wallace was fifth-fastest in qualifying for Sunday's Sirius at the Glen, turning a lap of 124.255 mph in his No. 2 Penske Racing Dodge. Had he hit it in Turn 1, maybe Wallace would have been on the pole.

"It was a good, solid run for us," Wallace said. "I left a little too much on the table in Turn 1. I didn't get in quite as deep as I wanted to, but going down the back straight I got in there real deep. I got through the carousel good. Really, I didn't leave much laying out there except maybe in Turn 1.

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"That was a tenth or two, and that's the difference in the pole and fifth right now."

Wallace ended up .185 seconds behind polesitter Jeff Gordon, but not winning the pole isn't the end of the world for the 46-year-old driver. He's won a pole here before, back in 1999, and has won this race twice before (in 1987 and '89).

"I was happy with the qualifying run," Wallace said. "Maybe I left the pole in Turn 1, but it was good everywhere else. This place hasn't really changed much. They've made a lot of upgrades.

"They still need to knock the garages down and fix that mess, but other than that, their whole facility is great."

Wallace's qualifying speed was a bit quicker than his practice speed, but he said the team didn't make too many adjustments.

"We didn't make any big changes," Wallace said. "I had a dark shield on my helmet, and it was too dark, so we had to hustle and get a clear shield. Other than that, everything went pretty good. We haven't had any problems yet.

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"Now we'll get it race ready. Our engine department is the best in the world. Just about every time I foul things up in the corners, they'll fix me up down the straightaways."

Now, Wallace and his Bill Wilburn-led crew will get ready for Sunday's 90-lap race and look to end Wallace's lengthy losing streak. For the record, it's at 83 races.

Wallace said he feels "real good about the race" and will use the same car he drove to an eighth-place finish at Infineon Raceway in June.

"We'll work on the setup and do laps and make sure the car is there all the time," Wallace said. "We'll work on air pressure and do a lot of shock work tomorrow. It's a typical thing. You get all you can in the small amount of time you've got."

Winston Cup teams get two 45-minute practices Saturday, depending on the weather. There's a 60 percent chance of rain in the Watkins Glen area.

One thing Wallace and his team have worked on his race strategy. Wallace isn't a big fan of all the strategy moves in Winston Cup these days, but his team has worked on a few plans for Sunday.

"I'm really sick of all this strategy," Wallace said. "I think the whole world is sick of strategy racing. I wish we'd just get back to racing these cars. Our guys have got three or four scenarios put together, and that's all they've been thinking about all week."