Ford Racing Phoenix car report

2 RUSTY WALLACE
Rusty debuted this car at Richmond in September, so this will mark its second career race...car ran well at Richmond, but something broke in the engine and Wallace was eventually forced to the garage early...finished 34th after limping around on seven cylinders, but prior to that he led one 88-lap stretch before being forced to retire on lap 313 of the 400-lap feature.

6 MARK MARTIN
After debuting as a brand new car at Charlotte four weeks ago, JR-85 returns for its second start of 2000... Martin, who has one win and five runner-up finishes in his 12 PIR starts, struggled at times with this car in the UAW-GM Quality 500 last month... even though he qualified 8th, he fell back in the pack before taking on only two tires during his final pit stop...the track position proved crucial as he ended up with a 5th-place finish. 9 STACY COMPTON
Crew chief Chad Knaus will make his debut with the Melling team this weekend, but they've already had a couple of opportunities to work together...team has tested at Daytona and Homestead in the last two weeks...have brought the car they tested at Homestead for this weekend's race.

11 BRETT BODINE
The car Bodine has this weekend was strong in its last start, which happened to be at Loudon in September... qualified 22nd, but moved all the way up to 13th by lap 55...fell out of the event, however, on lap 61 after blowing an engine...car qualified 4th in the first Martinsville race this year and had a 20th-place finish in the first Loudon event.

12 JEREMY MAYFIELD
This will mark the second consecutive race for this particular Taurus, which proved to be strong its last time out at Rockingham...sat on the pole and led a total of 7 times for a race-high 180 laps before engine problems sent him to the garage...ended up with a 29th-place finish and his eighth DNF in the last nine races.

13 ROBBY GORDON
Crew chief Mark Tutor said this car is brand new, but has gone through extensive testing...team tested it at Greenville-Pickens prior to coming out west and also had it in the wind tunnel on a couple of occasions ...Gordon is looking to bounce back after an accident on lap 154 ended his day early at Rockingham.

16 KEVIN LEPAGE
Lepage will be driving JR-101 this weekend, a car he has driven twice so far this season -- both coming in the second half...car debuted at Indy and finished 36th...in its last start at Martinsville Lepage wound up 29th...has two career NWC starts at Phoenix and has posted a pair of top-25 efforts (24th in '99 and 25th in '98).

17 MATT KENSETH
This will mark Kenseth's first race at PIR in a Cup car...he does have experience at the track, however, having raced in a Busch and a Southwest Touring car...the car Kenseth will have this weekend ran last at Richmond in September when it started 20th and finished 32nd after having engine problems...car was originally part of Jeff Burton's fleet in '98 and '99...Kenseth ran it for the first time last year at Dover, where he ended up 4th.

21 ELLIOTT SADLER
This car debuted brand new in the first Richmond race this season, which ended up in a 24th-place run...it sat in the team's shop until showing up in September at Loudon, where Sadler qualified 7th and finished 13th...this will be the car's third all-time NWC race.

26 JIMMY SPENCER
Spencer has four top 10s this season and two of those came in the car he will have this weekend...that came at Martinsville last month when he started 25th and charged all the way to a 7th-place finish...also ran at Pocono and Loudon, finishing 9th and 23rd, respectively.

28 RICKY RUDD The only place this car has run in 2000 is Loudon...in fact, those are the only two races this car has ever raced...finished 10th in its debut event and followed that up with a 3rd-place finish in September...currently tied for fourth with 12 top-five finishes in 2000.

32 SCOTT PRUETT
This is one of Pruett's most used and favorite cars or, as crew chief Scott Houston put it, "this car's battle tested"...ran in both Michigan races and finished in the top 20 both times (19th and 17th)...car had its best run at Indianapolis when Pruett finished a career-best 10th.

66 DARRELL WALTRIP
With three races remaining in his stellar NWC career, Waltrip will try to end on an up note...he'll be driving the same car he had at Martinsville and Loudon the second half of the season...finished 27th with the car at Martinsville and placed 33rd and 29th in both Loudon races.

75 WALLY DALLENBACH
This car was brand new for the second Loudon race, but was involved in an accident and forced to retire after 233 laps...car was fixed and tested last week at Homestead...crew chief Newt Moore deemed it ready to go for this weekend.

77 ROBERT PRESSLEY
This car debuted two weeks ago at Rockingham and will be back in action again here at Phoenix...car had never seen the track prior to Friday's practice at the Rock, but it proved to be strong all weekend...qualified 26th, but ran in the top 15 most of the day and ended up finishing 12th...led two laps during the first third of the race, marking the third time in 2000 he's led at least one lap.

88 DALE JARRETT
Jarrett has brought the same Taurus he had last year here at Phoenix when he started 5th and finished 6th...has run in both Loudon and Martinsville races this season and has four top 10 finishes in those four events...5th in the first Martinsville race, 7th in the first Loudon event, 4th in the second Loudon race and 6th in the second Martinsville race.

90 HUT STRICKLIN
The Donlavey Racing team is going to try it again with this brand new car...hoping to have better luck than when it debuted at Rockingham and did not qualify.

94 BILL ELLIOTT
Elliott has not driven this car in a race for quite some time, but he did have a chance to test it last week in Homestead...the last race for this Taurus actually came on Labor Day weekend in Darlington, but David Green was behind the wheel as Elliott nursed his broken left knee...Elliott last drove the car at Pocono in July and finished 32nd.

96 ANDY HOUSTON
Houston will be attempting to run his fourth NWC race and he'll have the same car he ran at Michigan and Charlotte the second half of the season...had a strong run at Michigan and was in the top 10 when his motor blew 44 laps from the finish...ended up 35th officially...had a 26th-place finish at Charlotte.

97 KURT BUSCH
Busch will be making the fifth NWC start of his career this weekend, but he's already got some experience with this particular car...Busch drove this piece at Martinsville last month and learned a lot in his first NWC short track event...took a provisional starting spot (40th) and finished 37th...car has three top-20 finishes in 2000 with Chad Little at Vegas (19th), Texas (13th) and Pocono (20th)...Busch is coming off a win in last week's NCTS finale and a second-place showing in the standings...tested the 97 NWC car at PIR Oct. 17-18.

99 JEFF BURTON
This car has been stellar on short tracks in 2000...has competed in two Richmond races, the second Loudon event and the second Martinsville race...finished 7th and 5th at Richmond and then won the Loudon event in which it led wire-to-wire...in its last outing, Burton drove the car to a 3rd-place finish at Martinsville.

02 RYAN NEWMAN
Newman will be trying to make his NWC debut this weekend after a successful ARCA stint that has seen him win 3-of-5 events he's competed in, which includes last month's dominating triumph at Charlotte...the '99 USAC Coors Light Silver Bullet Series champion will be driving the same car his teammate Rusty Wallace drove here at PIR last year...Rusty started 9th and finished 32nd after getting sandwiched between Steve Park and Geoffrey Bodine while leaving pit road on lap 122.