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Wallace, Gordon are among those looking for success at Martinsville
April 14

The all have their reasons.

One hasn't won in ages and is almost to the point of desperation, another needs the momentum as he hunts for the larger prize.

Wallace hopes this weekend will be the race where he breaks his winless streak

Rusty Wallace and his Larry Carter-led Miller Lite Dodge team are riding the thrust from two straight top-five finishes.

"Keeping that momentum going this weekend at Martinsville, that' s it plain and simple," Wallace offered Monday when asked about his team's goal in this weekend's Advance Auto Parts 500 at Martinsville Speedway. "That's the mission we're on and Martinsville is a great track for us to continue riding that wave. This team is getting stronger and stronger and it's just a matter of time when we break through and win again."

Wallace enters this weekend as the active statistical leader at Martinsville with six wins, 15 top-five finishes, 22 top-10 finishes and three poles in 40 races.

"The guys have been putting great racecars out there all year long and we finally got the problem with the pit stops fixed," said Wallace. "We really have everything clicking for us right now and we're looking forward to keeping that going this weekend at Martinsville.

"Our in-house chassis has been super through the years and this latest version we've been using recently has been exceptional," said Wallace, whose Penske Racing South organization has been building "ground-up" (Penske Chassis or "PC") racecars since Wallace debuted the team's "PC-1" at Pocono on June 16, 1996 and won with the same car at Michigan the very next week. "We've now seen well over 70 cars that have been built at our shop and we've been having some great runs with our newest cars.

The (PC-) 71 car is the one we debuted at Atlanta and bounced back to finish fifth with out at Texas. We brought out the (PC-) 73 car at Bristol and turned heads with it right out of the box with our runner-up finish there.

"Now the car we have ready for this weekend is another brand new piece - the (PC-) 70 car," said Wallace, whose last Martinsville win came in April 1996 and most recent pole came in qualifying for the April 2000 race.

"We looked at taking it to Martinsville and testing there last week, but decided to save that test for Richmond, where they're finishing up a complete repaving job. We had thought about taking the car down to Greenville-Pickens to shake it down before heading to Martinsville, but with the weather forecast like it is, that looks doubtful."

"Several years back, it was a time when it seemed we were winning every time they opened up the gate at Martinsville," said Wallace, who enjoyed a stretch during the 1993-1995 seasons when he won three consecutive races and five out of seven on the .526-mile paper clip-shaped short track.

"We've still been strong in every race there, leading a bunch of laps and having some really good finishes."

The record book shows that Wallace has eight straight top-10 starts at Martinsville and a 4.5 average start in the races held since the beginning of the 2000 season, but only a 15.4 average finish with an eighth as tops during that same period. He has led laps in each of the last four races there.

"Most recently, it seems like we've been just super strong in qualifying, but have trouble in the pits or a little lacking with our brake systems and haven't come up with the finishes we needed. I'm confident that we'll qualify well on Friday and that we'll have a handle on the pit stops and with the brakes on Sunday. I'm really looking forward to this weekend and like our chances."

Gordon swept both races last year at Martinsville

The alternator drained the primary battery on Jeff Gordon's DuPont Chevrolet at Texas Motor Speedway along with hopes for his first victory of the season.

But a third-place finish at Texas and a weekend off has Gordon recharged and ready to contend for a three-peat at Martinsville this Sunday.

In 2003 Gordon completely swept both races, capturing two Bud Poles and posting two victories while leading 503 of a possible 1,000 laps. In 22 starts at the 0.526-mile track, he has five wins, four poles,12 top-fives and 16 top-10's. He has also started in the top five in the last seven races at the short track.

"I love Martinsville, because I run well there," said Gordon. "I pretty much grew up on short tracks and I really enjoy short-track competition. I think we need to have short tracks on our schedule, it offers the excitement that fans love to see.

"The track itself is tough to figure out and it's a little bit different tire," said Gordon. "Having good brakes is extremely important. That's one area where we've drastically improved since Robbie Loomis (crew chief) has come on board."

Jeff Gordon rounds Turn 4 to win the Subway 500 race in Martinsville last October. Gordon overpowered the rest of the field, completing a season sweep of the two NASCAR Cup races at Martinsville Speedway

The DuPont team is no stranger to the three-peat. Along with three victories from the pole at Infineon Raceway (1997-1999), Gordon has also seen three consecutive wins at Darlington (fall 1995-1996), Dover (fall 1995-1996) and Watkins Glen (1997-1999).

"I don't pay a whole lot of attention to the record books," said Gordon. "But after the last few years, it's not surprising that Martinsville is up there with places like Sonoma and Darlington as a place where we could win three consecutive races.

"The competition is so tough these days -- we're happy with a one-peat -- let alone a three-peat."

Despite his five top-10's this season and a ninth-place position in the NASCAR Nextel Cup standings, it is still a less-than Gordon-like beginning. Critics have been eager to say that Gordon and the No. 24 team have lost their focus.

But Gordon has his eye set on the bigger prize.

The man they call "four-time" yearns to have the nickname adjusted to "five-time," which means he needs to win for the first time in 2004.

Gordon considers himself to be in serious contention for the series championship, even though he has yet to win this season.

And while being outside the top 10 this early in the season isn't exactly a crisis, it's nonetheless disconcerting given the new Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup that will feature the top 10 in points after 26 races battling for the championship over the season's last 10 events. (Anyone within 400 points of the standings' leader after 26 races also will be eligible for the title.)

"We know that [after] Richmond (the 26th race) comes, we've got to be in the top 10 and when we are, we'd better be set on 'kill' to go out there and lead laps and win races," Gordon said.

"You're going to have to have top fives every single weekend and have a lot of luck in order to win that championship. So you're definitely looking at [the points] differently.

"I can't say there's a whole lot that has changed, but two or three months from now, that's when things are going to change tremendously for everybody."

Gordon wants to get ahead of that potentially treacherous curve, and climb in the standings this week.

There's every reason to expect that to happen.

In addition to sweeping Martinsville's 2003 events, he has three other victories at the paperclip-shaped oval.

"I love Martinsville because I run well there," Gordon said. "I grew up on the short tracks. I love the short tracks.

"We've seen what happens at [half-mile] Bristol [Motor Speedway], how exciting it is, how many people we pack into that place. And even though Martinsville isn't the same kind of short track, I think it still offers that short-track excitement that the fans love to see."

"Our team is as strong as ever, we just haven't been able to capitalize a whole lot this season," said Gordon. "It's a long season but I know we're a team that works hard and we know what we're capable of.

"We're happy to get some momentum from Texas and take it to a track like Martinsville and get the critics off our back a little bit. We'll go to Martinsville and hopefully put it to these guys."

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