Ford Talladega chassis notes

2 RUSTY WALLACE
Rusty has driven the same car in each of the first three superspeedway plate races and this weekend will be the 4th as PC-18 completes the Daytona-Talladega sweep in 2000...car debuted in the Daytona 500 and was in position to win before finishing 4th...was battling for the lead at Talladega until his engine blew on lap 117 (finished 41st), and finished 3rd in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona in July...even though he has been one of the best on restrictor-plate tracks this year, he has led only one lap with that coming here at Talladega in the spring...has 34 career starts at Talladega and is still looking for his first victory.

6 MARK MARTIN
Like Wallace, Martin will also be driving the same car this weekend that he's used in the previous three superspeedway restrictor-plate events...JR-59 opened with a strong run in the Daytona 500 as Martin led one time for 65 laps before ending up 5th...the car was equally strong at Talladega, where he led 7 times for a race-high 98 laps...held the lead for a 20-lap stretch during the final stages, but Jeff Gordon passed him with seven laps to go and Martin eventually finished 6th...did not lead in the Pepsi 400 in July, but still managed a 4th-place run.

9 STACY COMPTON
This weekend could be a potential boost for Compton and the Melling team because this car is one that was built completely in-house from the ground up...MRE-25 will make its NWC debut primarily because the team's previous restrictor-plate car was destroyed after an accident at Daytona in July...Compton got clipped by Bill Elliott's spinning car after he had been hit from behind.

11 BRETT BODINE
Brett Bodine has struggled all year on the superspeedway restrictor plate tracks...he has yet to qualify for any of the 3 previous events, missing out on the Daytona 500, DieHard 500 and Pepsi 400...team feels optimistic this weekend because crew chief Mike Hillman has had some time to work on the problem...Hillman had just joined the team prior to the July Daytona race and didn't have enough time to prepare for that event...the team will have the same car that attempted to qualify for the Pepsi 400, but with a number of changes.

12 JEREMY MAYFIELD
Mayfield would just as soon forget his last trip to a superspeedway restrictor plate track...he was forced to take a provisional for the Pepsi 400 at Daytona in July and then couldn't avoid a spinning Michael Waltrip on lap 82...the damage ended Mayfield's night and resulted in a 43rd-place finish...team has done extensive body work on the car, however, and it's back in time for this weekend's event...car also ran in the Daytona 500 (finished 11th) and DieHard 500 (finished 14th).

16 KEVIN LEPAGE
Lepage and his crew are hoping for better results this time around at Talladega because the last time was not kind...team failed to qualify for the DieHard 500, marking the only race it has not made in 2000...the car he will try to qualify this weekend is JR-103, which has raced only once before... that came at Daytona in July and resulted in a 37th-place finish after a shock mount broke during the race.

17 MATT KENSETH
Technically speaking, the car Kenseth will be driving this weekend has never been in a race before...it qualified 22nd for the Pepsi 400 at Daytona in July, but was involved in an accident during the Friday morning practice session and was forced to the hauler...car was built brand new for that Daytona race, but it has some on-track testing experience here at Talladega as well having run here during a one-day test in June.

21 ELLIOTT SADLER
Sadler hasn't had a whole lot of luck in restrictor-plate races this season and he had absolutely zero his first trip to Talladega...did not qualify for the DieHard 500, marking the only race he has not made in his two-year NWC career...the car he has this weekend, however, is much different than the one he had in the spring...this is the first car the team received from Roush Racing as part of their alliance that was announced in June...car debuted at Daytona in July and Sadler was much more competitive as he qualified 10th and finished 18th.

26 JIMMY SPENCER
This will mark the third time Spencer has run this particular Taurus in a restrictor plate race at Daytona and Talladega this season...he raced it here in the spring and had a season-best 5th-place finish...led 4 times for 14 laps during that race, but got hung out on the outside down the stretch and could not get back in position to win...ran the car again at Daytona in July and qualified 17th, but managed only a 32nd-place finish...one of his two NWC wins came here in '94.

28 RICKY RUDD
This car was not part of the 28 team's restrictor plate fleet, but when Rudd flipped on his roof in the Bud Shootout that all changed...this car was built last winter, but didn't see a race track until the July Fourth Holiday when it ran at Daytona...Rudd qualified the car on the outside pole for that event and finished 5th.

32 SCOTT PRUETT
Pruett will look to rebound from a disappointing week at Charlotte in which he did not qualify for the race...has been pretty solid all year, however, on the restrictor plate tracks...finished 19th in the Daytona 500 and 20th in the DieHard 500... luck ran out in the Pepsi 400 when he was clipped in an accident involving Terry Labonte...that led to a cut tire and a trip into the wall...this is that same car, which has an entire new body, including a new front and rear clip...this was the second car ever built at PPIM and this week it will be carrying a special University of Alabama paint scheme.

66 DARRELL WALTRIP
Waltrip has 4 Talladega victories in his career, including a sweep of both events in '82...will try to recover from last week's happy hour accident at Charlotte in which he suffered some soreness in his shoulder that forced him to get out of the car early in favor of Todd Bodine...will have the same car he raced at Daytona in July...that was built new for the Pepsi 400 and it ended up 27th after qualifying 33rd.

75 WALLY DALLENBACH
Dallenbach has had decent success in two of the three superspeedway restrictor plate races this season...he finished 16th here at Talladega in the spring, which coincided with Newt Moore's hiring as crew chief...came back with a 21st-place showing at Daytona in July after starting 35th...team will have a brand new Taurus this weekend that's had some testing done on it in the wind tunnel...car was built by Tim Weaver, who also does work for both of Travis Carter's teams.

77 ROBERT PRESSLEY
Pressley has also had pretty good success at Daytona and Talladega this year...came out of the chute with a 20th-place run in the Daytona 500 and then had a 23rd-place showing here at Talladega in the spring...last time out he was 17th in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona...as a result, the team hasn't changed a thing and will bring the same car that has raced in each of those three previous events.

88 DALE JARRETT
Jarrett would no doubt love to have the car he won the Daytona 500 with this weekend, but it still sits in Daytona USA...as a result, the 88 team will go with a car it debuted in July for the Pepsi 400...it was built because the team lost its 500 car and it performed well under the Daytona lights...Jarrett qualified on the pole with this car and led two times for a race-high 57 laps, but finished 2nd to winner Jeff Burton.

90 HUT STRICKLIN
This will mark race No. 4 for the car known in the shop as car No. 26...Ed Berrier ran it in all three previous superspeedway restrictor plate races...has qualified first round in 2 of the 3 events, starting 23rd at Talladega and 11th in the July Daytona race...Stricklin, an Alabama native, will be looking for a home track advantage this weekend as he looks for his first top-20 effort of 2000.

94 BILL ELLIOTT
Elliott has been a contender in just about every superspeedway restrictor plate race this season...he sat on the outside pole here at Talladega in the spring, but got shuffled out of the draft late in the race and ended up 15th...he was also strong in the Daytona 500, finishing 3rd...his best chance at winning, however, came in the Pepsi 400 with a brand new car...Elliott qualified 3rd and had a dominant car, leading for 50 laps until he got tapped from behind by Mike Skinner and went crashing into the wall...that car, known as "Mac Momma", has been rebuilt and will run again this weekend...Elliott was able to test the revamped machine here at a test session two weeks ago.

97 CHAD LITTLE
This will mark Little's final race with the 97 team as plans call for Kurt Busch to finish out the season...Little will be driving a car originally nicknamed as "The Bandit"...it was later dedicated in honor of Dave Rush, a fabricator who died in a boating accident on Lake Norman in June...the car is now known as Rush's Rig...car has two races to its credit this season, finishing 25th in the DieHard 500 and 16th in the July Pepsi 400 at Daytona.

99 JEFF BURTON
Jeff Burton has been on a restrictor plate roll of late, winning each of the last two such races at Daytona and Loudon...the Citgo SUPERGARD team will look to make it three straight with the same car they took to victory lane in the Pepsi 400 three months ago...car was also strong in the Daytona 500, finishing 2nd to winner Dale Jarrett, and was in the lead pack down the stretch here at Talladega before getting shuffled back to 12th.