April 9, 1999

Rusty qualified on the Pole at Bristol!. The pole makes the third straight pole Rusty has had at Bristol, and the 5th pole at Bristol in his career. Starting next to Wallace on the front row will be Jeff Gordon. Bobby Labonte will start in the third position with Tony Stewart fourth and Ricky Rudd qualified fifth.

Nascar reported the following:

"Wallace won his 3rd straight Bud Pole at Bristol and the sixth of his career at the fabled track. He turned a track-record lap of 125.142 mph in his Miller Lite Ford Taurus. The performance netted Wallace his first Bud Pole of 1999, and the 23rd of his career. "

An interesting note here.. the top 12 drivers all were faster than the previous track record set by Mark Martin back in 1995. Also of interest. the entire top twenty five qualifiers were all less than a second apart.

Rusty is driving a brand new car for this race.

 

April 11, 1999

RUSTY WINS AT BRISTOL!

  After dominating the race for 422 of 500 laps , it all wound down to a tight race between Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin in the last 18 laps.

 

Rusty celebrating a much needed win from the pole at Bristol. Champainge fills the air as team members all spray each other in celebration.

 Martin charged hard after a late caution but was unable to outrun Rusty to the finish line. It was win number 7 for Rusty at Bristol, the forty ninth of his career. The win moves Rusty to 8th in points. A much needed boost. Rusty received 5 bonus points for leading the most laps.

  Immediately after winning the Race, Rusty turned around on the front stretch and in honor of Alan Kulwicki, a good friend and previous Winston Cup Champion, did the Polish victory lap. The fans were cheering as hands and hats alike waved from the stands. Kulwicki was killed in an airplane crash on his way to this same race at Bristol back in the early nineties. Kulwicki and Rusty were good friends.

 Not sure but Jerry Nadeau may have set a record for spinning out the most in one race. Jerry spun out three times. :)

Top five finishers were Rusty Wallace, Mark Martin, Dale Jarrett, John Andretti and Jeff Burton.

 A note of irony here, during the race, ESPN broadcast another 'Jeff Gordon Moment' that actually showed Gordon hitting Wallace on the last lap of a Bristol race to take the win. As in this weeks race, Wallace lead most of that race as well.

 After winning the race Rusty named his car Banker. It has been his tradition to name his cars only after they win.