Daytona 500 win eludes R. Wallace yet again

DAYTONA BEACH -- One of Rusty Wallace's most elusive opponents doesn't even have wheels.

Daytona International Speedway, long a thorn in Wallace's side, stuck it to the veteran driver once again Sunday in his 22nd career Daytona 500 start.

	Rusty Wallace

Wallace, after starting 18th, had eased his way through the field when, on lap 60, Jeff Green spun him into the outside wall on the backstretch.

His car was demolished, he and his crew demoralized.

"I was following the 43 car, he was really holding me up -- wasn't doing nothing wrong," said Wallace, seated atop a shelving unit in the Nextel Cup garage. "I went into 1 and 2, had a good run and tried to blast down into the middle, and I drove down through the center and didn't clear him.

"As I was exiting his left front corner got my right rear quarter panel. Turned me into the wall and that was it. I just didn't clear him. It was my fault."

Wallace's fortunes here have never been stellar. He finished 37th in his first career start, in 1982, and 30th in his second two years later. In '87 he finished 41st, and started his 1989 championship season with an 18th-place finish.

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Between 1991 and 1997 he failed to finish in the top 15 once, and 31st or worse five times.

Then, from 1998 to 2001 he finished in the top five three times. But even in his grandest Daytona hour, a third-place finish in 2001, Wallace lost his best friend Dale Earnhardt. Last year he finished 25th following an 18th-place run in 2002.

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After repairing the car well enough to return to competition Sunday, Wallace made up several positions to finish 29th.

"I'm very disappointed. I wanted it real bad but it wasn't to be done today," Wallace said. "That's a real sad deal."