Rusty Wallace is one of only 11 drivers with at least 50 wins in Cup history. Credit: Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

Wallace's career littered with significant moments

Rusty Wallace hasn't been around since the advent of bearing grease, it only seems that way. Name a track, and he's probably raced on it. If not won.

To date, Wallace has started at 26 tracks in the Cup series and has wins on 16 of them. He's raced more than 242,701 miles, won $35,525,207. He's been there, won that.

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As Rusty's "Last Call" tour rolls on -- he's currently third in the point standings, his highest ranking since April 2002 -- NASCAR.COM is looking back at some of the most memorable moments of his 22-year career. And for a driver who has experienced as much as Wallace, boiling down his most significant starts is akin to choosing which of your children you admire the most; it's a pointless task.

The 1988 fall race at Charlotte. Any race at Martinsville. Or Richmond, the '95 fall race in particular. There have been road-course and all-star races too good to forget. But these five are the ones we cannot disregard:

This week:
Significant races

• November 23, 1996, at Suzuka, Japan

The Suzuka Thunder Special 100 was a postseason exhibition race in the Land of the Rising Sun -- and possibly the first brick in the wall that has become NASCAR's international plan. The big boys -- Wallace, Earnhardt, Gordon among others -- were part of the 27-driver field that featured two 50-lap segments, with the top 10 finishers inverted after a break at the midway mark.

Wallace won the race despite a problem with his brake pedal. He had led for 38 laps in the first half of the race over the 1.4-mile road course, then had his problem and gave way to Jeff Gordon.

With the brake pedal problem fixed during the break, Wallace needed only five laps to overtake second-half pole-sitter Terry Labonte. Wallace got underneath Labonte in the first corner, and led the rest of the way.

But it wasn't as easy as it looked. "I kept pulling away from Dale and Jeff," Wallace said. "They kept me pushing, and I had to pull a little harder each corner."

From Suzuka, Japan, to Bristol, Tenn., Rusty Wallace has racked up wins across the globe. Credit: Yukio Yoshimi/ AFLO and Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

Inside the Numbers Rusty Wallace's career victories (Cup points races only) No. Track Date 1. Bristol April 6, 1986 2. M'ville Sept. 21, 1986 3. Watk. Glen Aug. 10, 1987 4. Riverside Nov. 8, 1987 5. Riverside June 12, 1988 6. Michigan June 26, 1988 7. Charlotte Oct. 9, 1988 8. N. W'boro Oct. 16, 1988 9. Rockingham Oct. 23, 1988 10. Atlanta Nov. 20, 1988 11. Rockingham March 5, 1989 12. Richmond March 26, 1989 13. Bristol April 9, 1989 14. Watk. Glen Aug. 13, 1989 15. Michigan Aug. 20, 1989 16. Richmond Sept. 10, 1989 17. Charlotte May 27, 1990 18. Sears Pt. June 10, 1990 19. Bristol April 14, 1991 20. Pocono July 21, 1991 21. Richmond Sept. 12, 1992 22. Rockingham Feb. 28 1993 23. Bristol April 4, 1993 24. N. W'boro April 18 1993 25. M'ville April 25, 1993 26. New Hamp. July 11, 1993 27. Richmond Sept. 11, 1993 28. Dover Sept. 19, 1993 29. N. W'boro Oct. 3, 1993 30. Rockingham Oct. 24, 1993 31. Atlanta Nov. 14, 1993 32. Rockingham Feb. 27, 1994 33. M'ville April 24, 1994 34. Dover June 5, 1994 35. Pocono June 12, 1994 36. Michigan June 19, 1994 37. Bristol Aug. 27, 1994 38. Dover Sept. 18, 1994 39. M'ville Sept. 25, 1994 40. M'ville April 23, 1995 41. Richmond Sept. 9, 1995 42. M'ville April 21, 1996 43. Sears Pt. May 5, 1996 44. Michigan June 23, 1996 45. Pocono July 21, 1996 46. Bristol Aug. 24, 1996 47. Richmond March 2, 1997 48. Phoenix Oct. 25, 1998 49. Bristol April 11, 1999 50. Bristol March 26, 2000 51. Pocono July 23, 2000 52. Michigan Aug. 20, 2000 53. Bristol Aug. 26, 2000 54. California April 29, 2001 55. M'ville April 18, 2004

When the checkered flag fell, he raised his fist high from his car window, holding American and Japanese flags.

• March 16, 1980, at Atlanta International Raceway

The first sign of activity at Mount St. Helens in the spring of 1980 was a series of small earthquakes that began on March 16. That same day, about 2,600 miles to the southeast, Wallace sent this own seismic waves through NASCAR by finishing second in his first Cup series race.

Wallace qualified seventh, rolling onto the track behind Ricky Rudd (fifth), to the inside of seven-time Cup champion Richard Petty (eighth) and in front of 1983 series champ Bobby Allison (ninth), Wallace's admitted hero. Also in the field that day: Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, Benny Parsons, Terry Labonte, Bill Elliott and Dale Earnhardt -- all former or soon-to-be series champions.

He eventually finished second to Earnhardt that day, and the seeds for a partnership were sown. Wallace drove for Roger Penske at Atlanta, the first of two races for the pair in 1980. They reunited full time in 1991, when Wallace left Raymond Beadle, who had fielded Wallace's car since 1986 and with whom he'd won the 1989 Cup championship.

• April 9, 2000, at Martinsville Speedway

Two weeks after posting his 50th career victory, Wallace assured that his 500th start would be especially memorable by winning the pole at Martinsville. His lap was 11-hundredths of a second faster than younger brother Kenny and completed a dominant day for the family. Earlier, middle brother Mike had won the pole for the Truck series race.

Race day, however, would prove to be bittersweet. Rusty led 343 of 500 miles, but with 64 laps to go he pitted after Jerry Nadeau hit the wall between Turns 3 and 4. While the leaders came to pit road, Mark Martin remained on the track; he had pitted 25 laps earlier. And in the end that track position proved paramount.

''It was all track position,'' Wallace said. ''With 50 and 60 laps to go, I should never have pitted.''

Wallace led 230 of the first 253 laps until brake heat melted the seal around his right front tire, causing it to lose air and Wallace to nearly crash before limping around the track and into the pits under a green flag. He got four tires, but was two laps down in 31st position when he got back onto the track. He needed only 73 laps to get both of them back, one by blazing through the field and the other thanks to an opportune caution with the leaders in the pits.

But Wallace couldn't duplicate the rally on fresh tires after Martin went ahead and eventually finished 10th.

As for the other Wallaces: Kenny finished 42nd in the Cup race; Mike was the runner-up in the Truck race.

• April 6, 1986, at Bristol International Speedway

Race No. 72 was win No. 1 -- even if it was held up by Mother Nature.

The race, delayed for more than an hour because of rain, began under caution because of the wet track; the yellow flag stayed out for the first 11 laps. But once the green flag fell, Wallace began moving up from his 14th-place starting position.

After working his way through slower traffic during the early stages of the race, Wallace first took the lead on Lap 240. Two caution periods scrambled the standings until Wallace finally took the lead for good by passing Darrell Waltrip, a then-nine-time winner at Bristol, with 100 laps remaining.

"I just knew we'd have a caution with 40 or 50 laps to go," Wallace said. "That would've given everybody else a chance to get right up behind me and we might've gotten a bad set of tires, or something. Those last 20 laps seemed like 16,000 miles."

Credit: Chris Stanford/Getty Images

Inside the Numbers Most wins since 1986 (Year of Wallace's first win) Rank Driver Wins 1. J. Gordon 71 2. D. Earnhardt 61 3. R. Wallace 55 4. M. Martin 34 5. D. Jarrett 31 6. B. Elliott 29 7. B. Labonte 21 8. D. Allison 19   R. Rudd 19   T. Stewart 19 Best winning percentage since 1986 Rank Driver Pct. 1. J. Gordon .174 2. D. Earnhardt .132 3. J. Johnson .127 4. D. Allison .101 5. R. Wallace .090 6. R. Newman .089 7. T. Stewart .086 8. D. Earnhardt Jr. .078 9. K. Busch .070 10. M. Martin .060

Wallace became the 11th different winner in the past 11 Cup races, establishing a modern-day record for parity, breaking the mark set in the 1983-84 seasons. The all-time record for such a streak is 13, set twice in 1961 -- a season with 52 events.

"I had a hard time getting around Darrell mainly because he's a doggone good driver," Wallace said. "I was running good down low on the track and he was running high, but I couldn't get around. Finally, Darrell just let me by."

• March 26, 2000, at Bristol Motor Speedway

It had been almost a year -- April 11, 1999 -- since Wallace had posted his 49th career Cup victory. That one came at Bristol, and Wallace left the Tennessee mountains thinking he would win ''five or six more times" that year. He didn't, posting 10 top-10 finishes but ultimately unable to climb the hill to No. 50 in '99.

However, a return to the site of his first victory, 14 years earlier, was just the ticket for Wallace to become only the 10th driver in NASCAR history with at least 50 wins. Wallace qualified sixth and eventually passed Dale Jarrett with 75 laps left and held on for the victory, his eighth of nine wins at Bristol.

It helped Wallace that Dale Earnhardt got caught in a wreck while leading the race, and Jeff Gordon, who led 225 laps, hit a tire leaving the pits and fell from first to 17th and finished eighth.

"I felt like an addict, I had to have it," Wallace said of his milestone victory, which him with Ned Jarrett and Junior Johnson for eighth on the all-time list. "When I hit 47 and 48 wins and 49, I started thinking, 'Man, I'd really like to have that 50th. That would be a special deal.'

"Everybody has a goal and 50 sounds a lot better than 47 or 13."

• Last week: Near-misses