Rusty Wallace with longtime Penske crewman Jeff Thousand (right). Credit: Autostock

In Review: Rusty Wallace

Veteran driver suffers through another off season

This is the fifth of our driver reviews for 2004. This month, NASCAR.COM will review the top 20 drivers.

Thursday: Dale Jarrett

Unfortunately for Rusty Wallace, the concept of givebacks doesn't exist in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series.

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If it did, the veteran from St. Louis would probably rewind his season's clock to Martinsville in the spring and restart it, because for the second consecutive season, the former Cup champion struggled to put solid results on the board as he flailed his way to his worst position in the standings since 1985.

But in the spring, things were looking good for Wallace. After a battle-scarred 29th place finish in the Daytona 500 knocked him way back in the standings, Wallace used five top-10 finishes in the first eight races to rumble back into the top-10.

The victory at Martinsville in April was the high point of virtually the last three years for Wallace, but amazingly, it also signaled the end of his year, with 28 races remaining.

Wallace at Dover in June Credit: Autostock

A variety of woes doomed him to a best finish of 10th in the next 16 races, with nine finishes of 25th or worse, and knocked him back to 21st it the standings, when he was a mind-boggling 873 points behind leader Jeff Gordon.

A late run with the 10th best point total overall in the final 10 races allowed Wallace to move up to 16th in the standings, but that statement alone for a former fixture in the top-10 proves the general futility of this season for the No. 2 Dodge.

So one of the things he definitely won't give back is a decision he announced at the end of the summer, to completely retire from driving following the 2005 season.

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"It's everything in the world to go out on top," Wallace said when he made the announcement. "You know what? If I go out next year and I don't have a great year, I'm still going out on top, because I've won this year, I've had tons of top-five runs only to get spoiled by mechanical failures."

It was fitting that his brightest moment of the last two seasons came at Martinsville Speedway. But it was also emblematic of the issues of the same period that one of his bitterest disappointments came at the half-mile short track as well.

Wallace scored his ninth victory at the track in the spring, breaking a three-year victory drought.

But in October Wallace had a shot to sweep Martinsville for the third time in his career before a collision with Penske Racing South teammate Ryan Newman in the last 10 laps put paid to that effort.

Wallace's win at Martinsville broke a three-year losing streak. Credit: Autostock

It emphasized one of the issues that Wallace opined on, but didn't seem capable of solving from the driver's seat, namely the inability of the Penske teams to work together more efficiently and productively.

Wallace's frustration with the season was evident by the eve of the Homestead finale.

"Another win would cure a lot of problems," he said then, but despite leading 26 laps in the Ford 400, eighth place was the end result.

Wallace, who owns the team in conjunction with Roger Penske, Don Miller and John Erickson, was more competitive this season than the figures do show, though only three top-five finishes was a bitter reminder of his ill luck.

Along with his worst career total of top-10 finishes in a season, 11, since 1985 -- his second full season in the league -- he was only 12th best in laps led with 308 and 16th best on the miles led chart.

He led 16 times, but was only on the point for eight of the 36 races. For the second consecutive season, he failed to add to his career total of 36 Bud Poles, despite accruing $4,447,302 in race purse winnings.

For 16 of the 17 seasons prior to 2003, Wallace occupied a spot in the year-end top-10. He doesn't know for sure if he'll return to that stature in 2005, but with a larger ownership role looming, he's comfortable with the near future, including next season's "Rusty's Last Call" tour.

"I know I'll run good next year because that's just me," Wallace said. "I feel like, at age 48, I'm one of the youngest feeling 48 year olds out there.

"I'm going to give back to the fans with this tour we're going to do, and I just want to let these fans know that I appreciate what they've done for me."