Columnist Rusty Wallace: Crash put early end to day with big expectations

Rusty Wallace

Monday, March 5, 2001 | 10:12 a.m.

Rusty Wallace, driver of the Miller Lite Team Penske Ford Taurus, wrote a daily column exclusively for the Sun in conjunction with Sunday's UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Well, race fans, this was not the race I was expecting. The Miller Lite car was running great -- for five minutes, anyway. I think I made it up to sixth or seventh in the first couple of laps. I was real happy with the way I was running, and as I told you in Friday's column, I still thought this was going to be my day.

Then it happened. Man, I don't think I've ever been involved in a deal like this so early in the race. I was going down into turn one and I was on the top side of the track and Jeremy Mayfield, my teammate, got underneath me and somehow he lost it. It got up in my quarter panel and spun me. And I got the wall really hard. Just tore up the left rear corner really bad. Tore up the left front real bad.

They were saying there might have been oil down there (in the low groove) or something. I don't know. I didn't have no problem with the racetrack. Ain't nothing wrong with the racetrack. It's just my guy got into me, that was it.

We didn't have any problems all week long. We qualified good, had a good week. Then this happens, so it's just a tough thing to take.

I'd like to have had a chance to battle some of those guys at the end. I really thought we would be there this time. Sorry I can't tell you more about the race, but for us, it didn't last very long. We were on the truck and headed down the road before the first pit stop.

Man, this hurts a bunch. And, God darn it. We lost a bunch of points just when I thought we were looking good. So it was a rough day for us.

Like I said, I thought I had a real good shot at winning here because the DC-26, my car, was the same one I was driving when I won in Bristol back in August.

I'm disappointed, I really am. I'm not happy right now. It's just a tough one, really a hurting situation right now.

The year was starting out really good and it's still going to continue good, hopefully. We had a bad race here last time and got out of it; survived it. And we've just gotta have good runs from here on out.

Next week, we'll go to Atlanta. That's where we'll be.

Again, thanks to the guys at the Las Vegas Sun for letting me share my thoughts with you during race week. I just wish there was a little more to talk about today.