Rusty Wallace missed out on a top-10 because of a late-race decision to take four tires that cost him track position. Credit: Autostock

Wallace continues trek toward second Cup title

JOLIET, Ill. -- Legendary football coach Vince Lombardi once said, "Winning isn't everything, but the will to win is everything."

Well, Rusty Wallace is trying his best in 2005 to prove the ol' ball coach right.

Wallace started 33rd and finished 12th in Sunday's USG Sheetrock 400 at Chicagoland Speedway, his worst finish over a remarkable seven-race stretch. That moved him into fourth place in the Nextel Cup standings, 248 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson.

	Inside the Numbers Rusty Wallace in 2005 Track Start Finish Chicago 33 12 Daytona 9 4 Sonoma 14 4 Michigan 12 10 Pocono 12 11 Dover 11 5 Charlotte 20 10 Richmond 8 19 Darlington 12 12 Talladega 20 22 Phoenix 9 36 Texas 6 10 Martinsville 4 5 Bristol 3 13 Atlanta 32 27 Las Vegas 21 12 Fontana 23 10 Daytona 36 10 Averages 15.8 12.9

The last time Wallace was this close to the title this late in the season? He was fourth with four races to go in 2002 and wound up seventh behind eventual champion Tony Stewart.

"We ended up 12th but with a little luck we could have been in the top five and we easily had a top-10 car," Wallace said. "We moved up to fourth in the standings, and we've only got eight races left to make the Chase, so we can't let up."

Starting 33rd, his worst starting position since the season-opening Daytona 500, Wallace spent 104 laps in the top 10 Sunday, getting as high as fifth by lap 220. In fact, Wallace only missed out on a top-10 finish because of a late-race decision to take four tires that cost him valuable track position.

"We should have taken two tires at the end," Wallace said. "That killed us. We took four tires and came out 15th and I knew we were in trouble.

"I think we could have made it on two tires. Staying out might even have been a good deal. We went for four. Larry [crew chief Carter] and I talked it over and we know we shouldn't have done it. That cost us a lot of positions."

Remember the fable about the tortoise and the hare? Wallace's No. 2 Dodge is hardly a slow-poke, but he's using the same analogy. Since Richmond, Wallace has finished on the lead lap in seven consecutive races -- moving from 12th to fourth in the standings. In fact, he's been running at the finish of every race this season, despite getting caught up in multi-car crashes at Phoenix and Talladega.

Contrast that to the day some of Nextel Cup's hares had on Sunday:

USG SHEETROCK 400 •   Unofficial Results •   Unofficial Standings Victory LaneDale Jr. celebrates his USG Sheetrock 400 win Final lapsJeff Gordon wrecks and Junior makes a late pass for the lead Video archiveCatch all the highlights from the USG 400 at Chicago Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

• Three-time winner Jeff Gordon ran in the back for most of the race, then found the wall and wound up 33rd, dropping him to 15th in points.

• Back-flipping Carl Edwards has two wins this season, but crashed and returned to the track many laps down. His 39th-place finish leaves him 12th overall.

• Kasey Kahne won at Richmond but had a lousy day at Chicagoland. He was involved in an accident and returned to the track, only to have his engine expire, leaving him 41st.

• Bristol winner Kevin Harvick had a top-five car all day, but a late-race unscheduled pit stop put him one lap down. He rallied to finish 19th but expected much more.

Sure, Wallace would like to visit Victory Lane again, but he's aware of the big picture in what will be his last full-time season: acquiring another championship trophy on the mantle to match the one from 1989.

"We had a good car [Sunday], and we had another good points day, I think," Wallace said. "I thought we were going to get our first top-10 finish here at Chicagoland, but we were just too tight all day."