Rusty Wallace has come close to winning the Brickyard 400 -- but has yet to visit Victory Lane. Credit: Autostock

'Runner-up Rusty' hopes to change Indy fortunes

SPEEDWAY, Ind. -- There are tales about big-name drivers and their quest to win the sport's biggest races.

Mario Andretti won the 1969 Indianapolis 500, but he was so good at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway through the years that he probably should have won three or four more.

But Andretti's bad luck was so infamous at the Brickyard that the four most famous words in motorsports weren't "Gentleman, start your engines," but "Andretti is slowing down."

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The late Dale Earnhardt, he of the seven NASCAR titles, dominated at Daytona International Speedway through the years. But bad luck struck him time and again in the Daytona 500, and it wasn't until 1998 when he won the Great American Race.

Rusty Wallace's quest for a Daytona 500 victory has been well-chronicled. He's failed at Daytona more times than he cares to count. But the difference between Wallace and the other drivers is that at least they had plenty of opportunities to win, while Wallace hasn't been close that often at Daytona.

But at Indianapolis for the Brickyard 400, Wallace has been up front a lot. He's finished in the top 10 in nine of the 10 races, including three runner-up finishes and two fourth-place finishes.

It's those three second-place finishes that has Wallace steamed, however. Finishing second three times is a little like being the best man at a wedding three times without getting married. It's nice, but ...

"I've been saying for a few years now that before I hang it up, I'd love to have trophies from the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 -- they're the last two on my hit list," Wallace said. "We'll get another shot at Daytona next February and right now, we're fully focused on finally getting us an Indy win. I've said all along that those are the biggest races and carry the most prestige. Man, it'd be great to finally close the deal at Indy.

"We've been so close to pulling it off at both tracks -- and it's particularly true in the Brickyard 400. We've been the bridesmaid there so many times that it makes you stop and ask if the racing gods are all working against you.

"We keep on getting close and the wins are snatched away from us at the last moment. Somebody last year referred to us as 'Runner-up Rusty,' and we're out to change all of that this weekend at Indy."

In each of Wallace's second-place finishes, he led late in the race.

Wallace has three second-place finishes at Indy. Credit: Autostock

Two years ago, Wallace led with 10 laps to go but was passed by Bill Elliott.

"It was a bitter pill to swallow, but I was so happy for Bill Elliott winning the thing," Wallace said. "He and I go way back, and he's definitely paid his dues. I even went to Victory Lane to personally congratulate him on his big win. But at the end of the day, it was yet another one that got away."

Wallace started 35th in that race but with the help of a two-tire pit stop with 32 laps to go got to third place behind Mark Martin and Tony Stewart. On the restart, Stewart and Wallace darted past Martin, and nine laps later, Wallace slipped past Stewart for the lead.

"It was yet another one of those really great second-place finishes where with just a little luck we could have put our name on that big trophy," Wallace said. "We went from 35th up to 10th in nothing flat. We four-tired it and got way in the back -- two-tired it and got back up front.

"It was another close, but no cigar experience for us. I fought a real tight car all day long. We two-tired it and took a bunch of bite out the last stop, and the old hot-rod took off then. We took the lead, and I really thought we were gonna win it, but I got a little loose up off of 2 and Elliott got me."

Two years before that, it was Bobby Labonte who stole the lead and the victory from Wallace. With 50 laps to go, Wallace held a two-second lead over Labonte. But Labonte slowly closed in, and after green-flag pit stops, was on Wallace's bumper.

The two ran that way lap after lap, but with 13 to go, Labonte got a run on Wallace down the long frontstretch and dove underneath going into Turn 1. Once Labonte got past, he pulled away, leaving Wallace to hold off Elliott for third.

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"That last set of tires just made me too tight," Wallace said. "Bobby caught me, got around me, and I just couldn't do anything with him at that point. We had a great car all day long. Man, it was really flying. I just couldn't do anything with him. He was right on my bumper all day long, and I knew if he ever got around me he might get away from me, but I was tight for about the last third of the race - just too tight.

"He got underneath me. I drove it in too deep going into Turn 4 there to try to hold him off. My power started taking over at the end of the straightaway, but there's no way to go side-by-side into Turn 1. We could do it everywhere else, but not Turn 1. I knew I had to get the thing freed up in order to beat him, but it just didn't happen. I wanted to win the thing so bad for (car owner) Roger (Penske), not really for myself but for Penske. It was another one of those woulda-shoulda-couldas."

Wallace led 110 of the 160 laps but not the one that counted.

"It was another tear-jerker," Wallace said. "We had almost a half-straightaway lead pretty late into the thing before the 18 car got by us and went on to win."

But the one that really bothers Wallace was the 1995 race. He led with 30 laps to go, but after a green-flag pit stop, Wallace slowed on pit road when two cars in front of him collided. That gave Earnhardt the lead, and Wallace couldn't get around him.

"Now that's certainly a race that really sticks out in my mind as one of the biggest fish that ever got away," Wallace said. "We didn't qualify that well, but once the race started the car took off like a rocket. The guys gave me great pit stops all day long. We got to the front and set sail, led a ton of laps and stretched our lead out before having to pit under the green.

"We had another quick pit stop, but just as we were on our way out of the pits, two cars in front of us collided. That slowed us down enough that Dale got the lead away from us. It came down to a battle between Earnhardt and us. We made a charge and reeled Dale in, closing the gap, but we just ran out of laps. It was a shame because we had them covered. We had the thing won before those two cars got together and blocked pit road in front of us."

But maybe this year will be different. Wallace, so much an optimist you'd swear he was an evangelist, believes it will.

"I've said it last year and I'll say it again that we've been so close to winning the thing that we could almost taste it," Wallace said. "We're bringing a strong car again to Indy, the one we debuted and almost won with at Bristol, and we had a pretty darn good test with the thing a couple of weeks back."

Does that mean "Runner-Up Rusty" will give way to "Winning Wallace"?