Ford Racing Rockingham chassis notes

2 RUSTY WALLACE
The first and only time Rusty ran PC-26 was in the night race at Bristol in August...to say it had an impressive debut would be an understatement as Rusty put it on the pole, led the most laps and won the Goracing.com 500 in dominant fashion...led 5 times for 280 laps, which included the final 37 after passing Ward Burton...as a result, the car was named "Flash" and it is making its second all-time start this weekend...car represents the 26th in-house chassis built at Penske South.

6 MARK MARTIN
Martin will be racing JR-57 this weekend and, unlike "Flash", this car got off to a rocky start...it debuted earlier this year in The Winston, but didn't have much time to show off as it got hit from behind and sailed into the wall...car returned to the track at Michigan in August and was decent, qualifying 7th and finishing 11th...it's last start came Labor Day Weekend at Darlington and that proved to be its best start...qualified 5th and was a contender most of the day until a late pit stop just before the final rain shower pushed Martin to 14th...Martin has won the pole for this race each of the last two years and is still looking for his first pole of 2000.

9 STACY COMPTON
Compton made his NWC debut at this event one year ago with Melling Racing...he took a provisional and started 42nd before finishing the race 11 laps down in 36th...will try to make this weekend's race with the same car that did not qualify at Charlotte two weeks ago...last race it competed in was at Dover when he started 39th and finished 29th.

11 BRETT BODINE
The last time Bodine ran this car was at Indianpolis in August and he qualified 26th...eventually finished five laps down in 39th...Bodine is coming off a solid effort last week at Talladega where he finished 26th and was the final car on the lead lap.

12 JEREMY MAYFIELD
Mayfield once again showed great strength last Sunday at Talladega, but engine problems on lap 69 forced him out of the race for the seventh time in the last eight NWC events...the good news is that the last time he finished a race was at Charlotte two weeks ago...had a great day finishing second to winner Bobby Labonte and that same car is back this weekend...car also sat on the pole and led much of the race at Dover last month...led 80 laps and was a threat to win until a valve broke in the engine and ended his day on lap 229.

13 ROBBY GORDON
Gordon qualified 25th in the first race at Rockingham this year and would like to better that with the same car this weekend...car has been dubbed "The Vegas Car" by the team after finishing 13th and leading eight laps earlier this year at Las Vegas...after competing in two of the first three events this season, the car has been used sparingly...its last appearance came at Michigan in June when Gordon qualified 25th and finished 28th...team had originally planned on using the car it ran in Charlotte a couple of weeks ago, but some damage incurred during the race couldn't be repaired in time.

16 KEVIN LEPAGE
The car Lepage will drive this weekend might have more races under its belt this season than any other car in the garage...JR-95 will be making its sixth start of 2000 and second here at Rockingham...qualified 28th and finished 27th the first race here...since then the car has competed in both races at Pocono and Charlotte, in addition to Atlanta, where Lepage qualified fifth...posted 12th and 15th-place finishes with this car at Charlotte and was 15th and 23rd at Pocono...car made its debut in the 1999 fall race at Charlotte and finished 9th.

17 MATT KENSETH
Kenseth will look to further increase his rookie of the year bid with a car that is well rested...this particular piece has not raced since the spring event at Martinsville...in fact, that's the only race it's ever run (finished 21st)...Kenseth does have some experience with this car here at Rockingham, however, having tested here for two days last week..

21 ELLIOTT SADLER
Sadler will have Eddie and Len Wood as co-crew chiefs this weekend after it was announced on Tuesday that Mike Beam had been released...the car Sadler will run here is the same one that was so strong in The Winston Open at Charlotte in May...Sadler was in the midst of passing Mike Skinner for the lead in that event when contact was made and Sadler hit the wall...car has not raced since then, but it performed well a few weeks ago during the team's Charlotte test, so they opted to bring it this week.

26 JIMMY SPENCER
Spencer is coming off a disappointing run at Talladega after he experienced handling problems and was forced to retire after 134 laps...will look to bounce back with a brand new car this weekend...the only track experience for this particular Taurus came during the team's test session at Indianapolis.

28 RICKY RUDD
Rudd is only 33 points behind teammate Dale Jarrett for fourth place in the NWC standings...he comes into this weekend with a car that has raced only once in 2000...not surprisingly, that race was the spring event here at Rockingham, where Rudd qualified on the outside pole and finished sixth.

32 SCOTT PRUETT
Pruett had engine problems last week at Talladega and was forced out of the race on lap 120 (finished 39th) ...hoping to have better luck this time around at Rockingham than in the spring when he did not qualify...the car he's driving this week has been repaired after it hit the wall during qualifying at Richmond...was forced to a backup for that event and finished 16th after starting 43rd.

66 DARRELL WALTRIP
Waltrip has four career NWC wins at North Carolina Speedway and he hopes to have one more solid run this weekend...will be driving the same car that has competed at both Dover and Bristol races this season...car qualified 13th for the first Bristol race and has a season-best finish of 31st.

75 WALLY DALLENBACH
Dallenbach will have a new figure to work with from here on out after it was announced Mike Beam joined Galaxy Motorsports as team manager earlier this week...this Red Cell Batteries Taurus last ran at Dover in September and finished 21st.

77 ROBERT PRESSLEY
Pressley is coming off a 25th-place finish at Talladega last weekend in which he was one of 26 cars to end on the lead lap...figures to move into the 25th place in the NWC standings this week as he trails Chad Little for that spot by only 25 points...has a brand new car to race this weekend, one that will be seeing the track for the first time in Friday practice.

88 DALE JARRETT
Jarrett has also brought a brand new car for this weekend's race...the '99 champion trails third-place Jeff Burton by 94 points...Jarrett has finished first-second or third in the final point standings each of the past four seasons...figures to be a favorite this weekend as he's finished second here in six of the last eight races.

90 HUT STRICKLIN
Stricklin has high hopes for this weekend at Rockingham, which happens to be the site of his only NWC pole...qualified in the top spot for this event (known back then as the AC Delco 400) in '95 while driving for Kenny Bernstein...driving car No. 29, which happens to be the first brand new downforce car for owner Junie Donlavey since '98...car is equipped with a standard Hopkins chassis.

94 BILL ELLIOTT
Elliott is hoping that his car named "Redi-Mix" will be Ready Made for this track...car ran at Dover a few weeks ago and qualified seventh before finishing 19th...led once for nine laps during the middle stages of that event...car was also raced by David Green at Bristol in August.

96 ANDY HOUSTON
Houston will be attempting to make his third NWC race after qualifying for Michigan and Charlotte...he will be driving the very first NWC car ever built by PPIM...the car, known as WC01, is the same car Scott Pruett attempted to qualify here at Rockingham in the spring, but he got in an accident during practice before second-round qualifying and ended up not making the race.

97 KURT BUSCH
Busch will be making the fourth NWC start of his career this weekend, but he's already got some experience with this particular car...Busch drove this piece in his series debut at Dover last month, when he qualified 10th and finished 18th...came here and tested with the 97 team Oct. 10-11 to prepare for this weekend.

99 JEFF BURTON
This may be the winningest car in the Burton fleet...this is the same car that led wire-to-wire at Loudon last month in which Burton posted his third win of 2000...besides that, this car also won the Winston No Bull $1 Million Bonus twice...captured the money for the first time at Darlington in the fall of '99 and did it again earlier this year at Las Vegas.