Ford Atlanta car notes

2 RUSTY WALLACE
Wallace made his NWC debut at this track in '80 and finished 2nd...since then he has posted 2 wins and 13 more top-10 finishes at AMS...this weekend he has a special paint scheme commemorating his 10th anniversary with sponsor Miller Brewing Company..."Mad Max" gets the call this weekend...car debuted at Charlotte in May for the Coca-Cola 600 and finished 8th...earned its name by winning at Michigan in June.

6 MARK MARTIN
Martin has finished among the top 6 in the final point standings for 11 straight seasons, but that streak is in jeopardy ...he comes into this weekend 8th and trails 6th-place Ricky Rudd by 122 points...plans on running JR-85, which is the same car he ran two weeks ago at Phoenix (finished 6th)...car was built this year and debuted at Charlotte last month...finished 5th in that race after a final two-tire pit stop. 9 STACY COMPTON
This marks the final race for the Melling Ford as the team will switch to Dodge for the 2001 campaign ...Compton hopes to have better luck with this particular car than the last time it came to a track...car did not qualify at Michigan, but it ran well at Indianapolis in the Brickyard 400 and even led a lap before finishing 37th.

11 BRETT BODINE
Bodine is coming off his best weekend of the year at Homestead in which he qualified 9th and finished a season-high 14th...that effort exceeded Bodine's previous best finish, which just happened to be here at Atlanta in the spring when he qualified 16th and finished 16th...not surprisingly, he will have that same car from the spring race this weekend...car has been used extensively in 2000, having raced at Texas, Michigan, both Pocono races and most recently at Charlotte.

12 JEREMY MAYFIELD
Mayfield has been strong the last month, posting three second-place finishes in the last five races...figures to be a contender this weekend because the last time he raced this particular car he nearly ran away and hid from the rest of the field at Darlington...sat on the pole for the Southern 500 and was clearly dominant until getting into an accident while trying to pass Dave Marcis on lap 121...to show how dominant he was, he got credit for leading the most laps (104) despite completing only 120 of the 328-lap event.

13 ROBBY GORDON
Gordon did not compete at either Phoenix or Homestead, but he's hoping to end the season on a solid note...the last time he competed was at Rockingham, but he got involved in an accident on lap 155 and finished 41st...the last time this car raced was at Charlotte...team has put a new body on since that event, which ended with an accident on lap 185.

16 KEVIN LEPAGE
Lepage earned the first pole of his NWC career here at this event a year ago, but the car that achieved that feat was lost in an accident at Rockingham earlier this year...as a result, the team is going with the same car they ran a week ago at Homestead...this will actually mark the third straight week for this piece, which finished 21st at Phoenix...car debuted at Indy and also competed at Martinsville in Sept.

17 MATT KENSETH
Kenseth will be making his 40th NWC start this weekend and he'll be driving the same Taurus he took to victory lane for the only time at Charlotte in May...passed Bobby Labonte with 25 laps to go in that event to post his first NWC win...car followed that up with a 9th-place finish in the fall Charlotte race last month...in between, the car was involved in an accident at Darlington, but it was obviously fixed in time for its strong Charlotte run.

21 ELLIOTT SADLER
Sadler will be sporting new sponsor Motorcraft this weekend as it gets a one-race jump on its 2001 sponsorship ...the only race in which Sadler has driven this car came at Charlotte last month and it ended with a 16th-place finish...this is the third car the team has received as part of their alliance with Roush Racing.

26 JIMMY SPENCER
Fresh off his second 5th-place finish of the season, Spencer is looking to go into the winter months with some momentum, and he'll look to do that with the same car he had at Homestead...car qualified 4th at Charlotte last month and finished 15th, but was particularly strong at Michigan with a 7th-place showing.

28 RICKY RUDD
After finishing 31st in points last season, Rudd is poised to finish in the top 10 this year...he'll be looking for that elusive first win for RYR this week with the same car he ran well with at Charlotte last month...led a race-high 98 laps in that event and appeared headed for victory until a late-race debris caution led to one final round of pit stops...that enabled Bobby Labonte to get out first and win while Rudd finished 3rd.

32 SCOTT PRUETT
Pruett has struggled down the stretch, but he and his Tide crew will try to turn it around going into the off-season...crew chief Scott Houston said they've decided to bring their short-track car to Atlanta this weekend because it's shown to have good downforce...car ran at Rockingham and finished 30th after needing to take a provisional to make the field.

46 TODD BODINE
Haas Carter Motorsports has decided to run three Kmart cars this weekend and give Todd Bodine a jump on the 2001 season by running him in the No. 46 Ford...Bodine was introduced as the new driver for the No. 66 Taurus last weekend at Homestead...the car he'll drive is the same one Waltrip drove in The Winston...car was new for that event, but hasn't raced since...Bodine has tested the car twice here at Atlanta in preparation for this weekend.

66 DARRELL WALTRIP
Waltrip has won this event once ('77) and has three career victories at AMS...he will close out his legendary career this weekend with the same car he had at Homestead...was forced to park the car early due to handling problems after 94 laps and finished 36th...car sat on the outside pole at Indianapolis in August, which remains DW's biggest highlight of 2000.

75 WALLY DALLENBACH
Dallenbach will conclude his first season with Galaxy Motorsports driving a car that last raced at Darlington on Labor Day weekend...had one of the teams five top-20 finishes with this car in that race as he placed 19th...this will be the fourth time this car has raced in 2000, having finished 27th at California and 24th in the first Michigan race.

77 ROBERT PRESSLEY
Pressley has posted two top-20 finishes in the last three races and comes into this weekend with a 131-point lead over Kevin Lepage for 25th-place in the point standings...that would be a marked improvement from 1999 when the team finished 39th...team is running car #2005 which last appeared at Charlotte in October...qualified 15th and finished 35th after being involved in an accident on lap 239...car has also ran in the first Atlanta race and qualified 12th before finishing 33rd due to an accident on lap 272.

88 DALE JARRETT
Jarrett has an outside chance of continuing his streak of top-three point finishes, but he'll need some help in order to do it...DJ trails 3rd-place Dale Earnhardt by 129 points and 2nd-place Jeff Burton by 148...has been in the top three each of the past 4 years...the car he'll drive this week hasn't seen a track since it hit the wall at Texas and finished 33rd...car had a new snout and body put on since then and crew chief Todd Parrott says it's ready to go...car also ran in this race a year ago and finished 2nd.

90 HUT STRICKLIN
Even though he didn't make the race at Homestead with this car, Stricklin is going to give it one more shot this weekend...car has been the team's most durable, having run at Indy, Michigan and Darlington in the second half of the campaign.

94 BILL ELLIOTT
This will mark Elliott's final run for Ford after 25 years before he moves to Dodge in 2001...will be running "Heavy D" for the second straight week after it finished 22nd at Homestead...Elliott ranks 2nd on the all-time Ford win list with 40, trailing only Ned Jarrett, who won 43 times in a Ford.

97 KURT BUSCH
This will be Busch's first trip to Atlanta in a Winston Cup car, but the car he will be driving has a lot of laps around this speedway...Chad Little drove this car in each of the last three Atlanta races and posted finishes of 9th, 6th and 6th...the last time it saw a race track was in April when Little drove it to a 15th-place finish...this will mark Busch's seventh NWC race of the season.

99 JEFF BURTON
Burton holds a 19-point lead over Dale Earnhardt for 2nd place in the point standings coming into this weekend...regardless, Burton will finish 5th or better in the point standings for the 4th straight season...while every other team has brought cars that have raced before this season, the 99 team has a brand new piece to try out...car has never seen a race track until this week.