NASCAR 2005: Big finish

Thursday, March 10, 2005 | 8:51 a.m.

1973 -- Rookie of the Year, Central Auto Racing Association

1979 -- USAC Rookie of the Year

1980 -- Finished second in NASCAR Winston Cup debut at Atlanta Motor Speedway

1983 -- ASA National Champion

1984 -- NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year

1986 -- Earned first NASCAR Winston Cup victory (Bristol Motor Speedway)

1988 -- Runner-up to Bill Elliott for NASCAR Winston Cup championship

1989 -- NASCAR Winston Cup champion

1991 -- IROC champion

1993 -- Runner-up to Dale Earnhardt for NASCAR Winston Cup championship; won career-high 10 races

1994 -- Finished third in NASCAR Winston Cup points with eight wins

2000 -- Earned 50th career victory (Bristol Motor Speedway)

2001 -- Extended streak of at least one victory each season to 16 years

2004 -- Earned 55th career victory (Martinsville Speedway)

After 21 full seasons in NASCAR's premier series, Rusty Wallace isn't about to rest on his laurels.

Wallace, 48, announced last August that the 2005 season would be his last in the Nextel Cup Series and he said he wanted to go out at the top of his game.

"You always hear about the importance of making first impressions but, for us, we're determined to leave some great last impressions during the 2005 season," Wallace, the 1989 series champion, said. "We want them to be able to look back for years to come and say that we were still out there turning heads all the way 'til the end.

"The key to our team doing that is pretty simple; we just have to keep on doing what we've been doing, but eliminate some of the mistakes we made last season. If we can do that and have a little better racing luck, we can go out with guns a-blazin', with race wins and a championship bid to look back on when the season ends."

So far, Wallace's farewell tour -- dubbed "Rusty's Last Call" in deference to his longtime sponsor, Miller Lite -- has been a hit. Wallace opened the season with a 10th-place finish in the Daytona 500 and then followed up with another 10th-place effort at California Speedway and he comes into Sunday's UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway eighth in points.

His ranking in the series matches his high-water mark of 2004, when he won his lone race of the season at Martinsville in the spring. The victory snapped a 105-race winless streak and was the 55th of his illustrious career. The rest of the season largely was unforgettable for Wallace, who had only six top-10 finishes in the final 27 races.

"People look back on the 2004 season and see that we did win a race, but we finished 16th in the final points," Wallace said. "The fact is that we had a much stronger team than the record indicated and most of the insiders of our sport recognize that.

"The 2004 season really didn't come close to showing the potential our Miller Lite team had, that's for sure. We had a top-10 effort week in and week out but we didn't make the cut in the new points deal and that was it. We had so many strong performances last year and for some reason or another, we just couldn't close the deal. We definitely had a super fast car, but we just didn't have the statistics to back up how competitive we were."

Last month, during a two-day test session at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Wallace acknowledged having second thoughts about announcing his retirement ("Looking back, maybe I would have run another year before I did it.") but said the reasons that pushed him toward making that decision still exist.

"I did it was because I don't like running 36 races -- I hate running 36 races," he said. "I don't like being away from home that much. I've got a lot of cool things going on right now and I feel like I've got my life in order.

"I'm not going to close the door (on racing again) ... but I can't think of a scenario right now (where I would come back)."

With 34 races remaining in his career, Wallace ranks eighth on NASCAR's all-time victory list with 55 and is tied for sixth in NASCAR's modern era (1972 to present). He also ranks eighth in the modern era with 36 career poles.

Wallace has earned 37 victories and 27 poles since joining team owner Roger Penske in 1991, but he captured his lone series championship while driving for Raymond Beadle's Blue Max Racing in 1989.

Penske said he thought Wallace made the right decision to retire while he still is competitive and predicted Wallace would go out on a high note.

"I think it's absolutely a smart move," Penske said. "I think Rusty can have a great season -- he's not at the bottom of his game. We don't want to see him do like some other great drivers and wait until it's almost too late and then decide to close the door.

"He made his decision a couple of years ago and he stayed on track. I take my hat off to him. I think we're all going to see him have one of his very best seasons; I see it in his eyes."