Rusty Wallace will start second Sunday at Martinsville. Credit: Autostock

Wallace keeps adjusting, keeps going fast

Most recent Martinsville winner quickest in final practice

MARTINSVLLE, Va. -- Though the newly repaved Martinsville Speedway track surface has given several competitors headaches throughout the Subway 500 weekend, Rusty Wallace appears largely unaffected by the alteration.

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Wallace won here in the spring on the old track surface, then returned this weekend and qualified on the outside of the front row Friday before pacing Happy Hour practice Saturday morning.

It's all about flexibility.

"The winning up from last time was so off it was unreal," Wallace said following the Happy Hour session. "That wasn't even in this hemisphere. So we had to go to Plan B. The car is totally different."

Plan B involved several alterations.

"I honestly don't have one spring, shock, anything, like I won with here in the first race," Wallace said. "Both rear springs are different, both front springs are different, sway bar's different, track bar, shocks.

"It's totally different. But we hit on it. I just kept giving it what it wanted, just kept sitting in the car saying 'Do this. Do that.' I kept saying 'Change rebound, change springs, shocks, this, that.' My onboard computer was rolling, ya know?"

Rusty Wallace has been a popular subject for the media all weekend at Martinsville. Credit: Autostock

So was the Miller Lite Dodge. Wallace's 19.755-second lap would have qualified him in the top 10. And this was race setup.

"I think he'll definitely be one of the guys you have to beat," Jeff Green said. "There's so many of them. I don't know if you can single out any, but Rusty knows how to get around here and he knows what it takes at the end of the day to stand up over there in Victory Lane.

"With winning the spring race here, he's got the momentum from that, but a lot of guys that can step up and do the same thing."

Kasey Kahne, Bobby Labonte, Ward Burton and Ricky Rudd joined Wallace in the top five during Happy Hour. Kahne was just three-hundredths of a second off of Wallace's top speed, but all five were within a tenth of a second of one another.

Greg Biffle ranked seventh in Happy Hour, while Ken Schrader was an impressive ninth in the No. 49 Dodge. Travis Kvapil, full-time driver of the No. 24 Toyota in the Craftsman Truck Series, qualified fourth Friday in the No. 06 Penske Racing Dodge and backed that effort up with the 10th-fastest lap in Happy Hour.

ALSO •   Happy Hour Speeds •   2nd Practice Speeds

Jeremy Mayfield was sixth fastest in Happy Hour, the best effort among those chasing the Nextel Cup championship. Pole-winner Ryan Newman was eighth, while Jimmie Johnson (12th), Jeff Gordon (13th) and Kurt Busch (15th) all ranked in the top 15, as well.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. posted the 18th-fastest Happy Hour speed after qualifying third Friday. Elliott Sadler was 20th, Tony Stewart 21st, Matt Kenseth 25th and Mark Martin 29th.

Many of those vying for the championship tested here in recent weeks. Wallace was slated to, but canceled the trip when heavy fog made it impossible to land his helicopter.

He feels that may actually have been a blessing.

"It might have hurt me if I'd tested, because I'd have reverted to those settings," Wallace said. "I believe it helped me."