DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The union of two families with passionate racing backgrounds has led Rusty Wallace to seriously consider a 2009 Cup Series debut with his own team, and a possible full-time venture in the near future.

Rusty Wallace Racing started in NASCAR's second division in 2004, ran complete schedules with a single car from 2005-2007 and fielded two cars in 2008. Wallace's younger son Steve, 21, made his series debut in 2005 and started his third full season Saturday.

“

I would do some Cup races this year. I personally have to do everything right to make it happen.

”

RUSTY WALLACE

In the offseason Wallace did a deal with Las Vegas businessman Michael Gaughan, whose family excelled in off-road and Truck Series racing. The deal put his son Brendan Gaughan, 33 -- an eight-time Truck Series winner and Wallace's former Cup teammate at Penske Racing -- in RWR's re-numbered 62 car.

That partnership, along with signing a new sponsor that secured full-season backing for Steve Wallace's car, forged an idea for the elder Wallace, he said at Daytona International Speedway before Saturday's race.

"We put the deal together because of what [Brendan and I] did with Team Penske," Rusty Wallace said, "from me knowing I needed a second car, knowing I needed to do a lot for my son and me thinking I've got all the components -- the pieces and parts and all the trick [stuff] -- just as good as most teams', to take this team to another level. I do have aspirations of taking this team to Cup, I really do. I've never said that before. It really opened up for me last year when ESPN called me and said, 'If you want to be a car owner, we'll allow it.'

"So I do have aspirations. Do we have it ready to do that? No, not right now -- but I do have aspirations. I don't want to have my Nationwide team just stall out, and I think Stephen's going to be a lot better than people think. I would do some Cup races this year. I personally have to do everything right to make it happen. We've got a nice, long-term contract with [sponsor] US Fidelis ... and I'm very comfortable with that relationship.

"Now, [Saturday] is only the first race and I've got to get out of this box and see how it goes. I do want to run some Cup races with Stephen this year, I do. And probably my best avenue to do something with that would be with Richard Childress. I'm a Chevy team; Richard builds all our motors [Earnhardt Childress Racing Technologies] -- it just kind of makes sense."

Wallace can make more sense now out of a gradual transition that he says began while he was still driving for Roger Penske earlier this decade, when he decided he wanted to have a race team "to give me a reason to come to the race track, which I still wanted to do."

The transition evolved from a part-time team in 2004, for which Jamie McMurray scored the organization's only victory to date. It went to a full-time schedule using multiple drivers in 2005 and 2006, then became a full-blown labor of love for Steve Wallace's career. (Continued)