Columnist Rusty Wallace: Speedway aids in Third place finish

Rusty Wallace

Monday, March 2, 1998 | 5:27 a.m.

RUSTY WALLACE driver of the NASCAR Miller Lite Ford Taurus, is a former Winston Cup champion. This is the last of six columns he will write for the SUN in conjunction with the inaugural Las Vegas 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

JUST AS I THOUGHT, this new Las Vegas Motor Speedway proved to be a great race track to race on. The new Ford Taurus finally got a win after Chevy won the first two races of the season and although I would have loved to win the race, I'm pleased with my third-place finish.

This track has got a little bit of Phoenix International Raceway, it's got a little bit of Fontana, Calif., and -- believe it or not -- it's got a little bit of Richmond, Va., all mixed into one track.

All in all, the track is a great track. It was easy to pass on -- I could pass on the top, I could pass on the bottom. It's a real horsepower track, though; you've got to have a lot of horsepower here. We changed engines before the race and that really paid off for our Miller Lite Ford Taurus with a solid third-place finish.

This week was a really good week for us. We're still leading in points and that's important. We have a fifth, a second and a third in our first three races and I know the way we're running, we'll win a bunch of races this year.

I really thought I should have won at Rockingham last week and I thought I could have won Sunday. When I looked up early in the race and we had a half a lap lead on everybody I thought, man, this car is truckin' and we're going to be OK. Then the caution flags came out and everything you've gained, you lose.

There weren't any wrecks to speak of in the race and I think that's a direct result of the track, because the track is as smooth as silk and it's not hard to drive. If you get in the corners too deep, you've got about four lanes to walk that baby right up to the top and get after it again.

Seriously, this track has got a lot of room for mistakes. I ran the bottom of the track a lot and I ran at the top a couple times passing traffic and it wasn't a problem. The preferred lane was on the bottom -- it was faster on the bottom -- but you could run anywhere on the track.

Some people might have expected a little closer race Sunday, but on these big tracks like this, the cars can get strung out quite a bit. Usually, the flatter the banks, the tougher it is to pass on and that's what you saw Sunday.

I didn't have one complaint about anything out here the whole week -- I loved coming out here to race and I can't wait to come back out here next year. I sure enjoyed writing these columns for all you race fans and I hope to see you all back out here next year.