RUSTY WALLACE Career Statistics

Rusty Wallace Season Statistics

Rusty Wallace Track Statistics

(Click the track name to see Rusty Wallace's race results at that track.)

Rusty Wallace Track Type Statistics

Rusty Wallace Bio

Russell William Wallace was born on August 14, 1956. He is a native of Fenton, Missouri.

He has retired from NASCAR Cup racing and now owns a NASCAR Busch Series team and will fill a role as television broadcaster for ESPN's NASCAR race coverage starting with the 2007 race season.

Rusty got his racing start in the late 1970's by winning a pair of local track championships. During that time, Rusty won more than 200 local short track races. In 1979 he won the USAC Rookie of the Year. In 1983 he won the ASA championship.

In 1980, Rusty Wallace came in 2nd in his very first NASCAR race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It wasn't until 1984 that Rusty started racing full time in the NASCAR Winston Cup series for Cliff Stewart in the #88 Gatorade car. He won the NASCAR Rookie of the Year and finished a respectable 14th in the driver points standings.

In 1986 he switched teams to the #27 Alugard Pontiac for Raymond Beadle. Rusty's first win came on April 6, 1986, at Bristol Motor Speedway. Bristol would also eventually become the site of his 50th career NASCAR win.

In 1987 he reached a new sponsorship, and his early career is most remembered for his #27 Kodiak Pontiac. He dominated at short tracks and road courses.

In 1989, Wallace won the NASCAR Winston Cup Championship, beating out close friend and fierce rival Dale Earnhardt by twelve points.

In 1990, Raymond Beadle switched sponsors, to Miller Genuine Draft. That association lasted one year, before Wallace took the sponsorship with him to Roger Penske/Penske Racing, and he continued in the #2 MGD Pontiac.

He also won the 1991 IROC championship.

While 1992 only carried him one win, the win at the Miller 400 was satisfying; it was the first win for Rusty in a car which arguably was Rusty's best known chassis for his career, one affectionly known as "Midnight" after the win. "Midnight" would be raced for six seasons, carrying various race wins, before being retired in 1997.

1993 was arguably his most successful season. He won 10 of the 30 races, but finished second in the final points standings, 80 points behind Earnhardt. He ended the season strong, finishing in the Top-3 in all but two of the final ten races of the season (4th and 19th).

Penske switched to Ford in 1994.

In 1997, Miller changed the teams sponsorship to Miller Lite, replacing the black and gold with a blue and white scheme.

In 1998, Wallace won the Bud Shootout at Daytona, A non-points race for the previous years pole winners and past winners of the race. It was the first win for Ford's new Taurus, and Wallace's only victory at NASCAR's premier track (as well as his only victory in any restrictor plate race) in a Cup car

In 2003, Penske Racing switched to Dodge, and appropriately, in 2004, Wallace won his 55th, and final, race on a short track: the 2004 spring Martinsville Speedway race. It was also the last win for the track under the ownership of the H. Clay Earles Trust; the death of Mary Weatherford (matriarch of the trust) forced the Trust to sell the track a month later.

On August 30, 2004 Wallace announced that the 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup season would be his last as a full-time driver. Although at the time the possibility remained that he may have continued to run a limited schedule after the 2005 season -- as semi-retirees Bill Elliott and Terry Labonte also have done, Wallace's current broadcasting contract forbids him from doing so.

In 2006, Wallace returned to his Pontiac roots when he raced a Crawford-Pontiac sportscar, painted black and carrying the familiar stylised #2, also sponsored by Callaway Golf, in the 24 Hours of Daytona at Daytona, teamed with Danica Patrick and Allan McNish.

To date, Rusty had 55 NASCAR wins, which is tied for 8th on NASCAR's all-time wins list. He retired after the 2005 season with a 14.4 career average finish.

Source: Wikipedia GNU