Rusty Wallace wound up in 26th place at Bristol. Credit: Autostock

Fuel miscalculation takes Wallace out of contention

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- For the second time in just 10 races, Rusty Wallace ran out of gas on the racetrack.

At Sonoma in June, Wallace ran out of gas on the final lap, costing him a top-five finish.

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That error damaged his chances at making the Chase for the Nextel Cup. His chances since then have long since evaporated, but this time, he lost a shot at the win.

Early on in the Sharpie 500, Wallace seemed to be the only car capable of staying with the dominant car of Dale Earnhardt Jr., as Wallace led 79 of the first 200 laps.

Wallace's car performed beautifully, as he wrestled the lead away on three occasions. But Wallace's tank ran dry on Lap 205, and after coasting to pit road, Wallace couldn't get his Dodge refired.

SHARPIE 500 •   Results •   Standings Victory Lane Dale Jr. celebrates his Bristol weekend sweep In the Hunt Newman moves into top 10 after finishing second Final Laps Dale Jr. streaks to the checkers ahead of Newman Check and wreck Drivers get tangled up after checking up for Vickers Oh, Ricky! Craven and Rudd are involved in seperate crashes Early Trouble Spencer, Wimmer, Nemechek bring out cautions

He reentered the race three laps down after going from second place to 27th.

Wallace, who has scored just one top-10 finish since his April win at Martinsville, was furious.

"My car felt great all day long and then my guys run me out of gas," Wallace said. "I don't know how the hell they did that."

Wallace has raced at Bristol for 20 years. He says he had never before run out of gas at the half-mile track.

"No, never (have run out at Bristol)," Wallace said. "Today was my first time and I think we missed it by almost 10 laps. (Crew chief Carter) Larry thinks the fuel cell wasn't picking up the correct amount of fuel."

After the fuel miscalculation, Wallace was caught up in a multi-car crash on lap 389. He wound up 26th, 10 laps down.

That sort of finish was not the kind of one Wallace had hoped to get going into this Monday, when he is expected to announce that 2005 will be his final full year in the Nextel Cup Series.

Unofficially, the finish dropped Wallace to 21st in the standings, his worst position since Darlington in March.