| | Who's the lucky one here?
Rusty Wallace won the Pennsylvania 500 and the 51st race of his career Sunday by cashing in a rabbit's foot on the last lap when his Penske/Kranefuss teammate, Jeremy Mayfield, blew a tire in the second turn.
That's racing luck.
But there's a tight battle for the Winston Cup points championship this season, in part, because Wallace's lucky charms have been spread thin. Even though the planets were aligned in his favor in the Pennsylvania mountains, this has been a season of ups and downs for Wallace, who will turn 44 next month.
There have been blown engines, flat tires, bad pit strategy, and bad timing -- you name it, and chances are it has befallen Wallace at some point this year. He's becoming experienced in the art of overcoming obstacles and adversity.
Ironically, the unluckiest guy on the Winston Cup trail turned out to be the lucky one at Pocono Raceway. Go figure.
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Wallace: From the pole in Y2K
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Date
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Race
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Finish
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Feb. 27
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Dura Lube/ Kmart 400
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11th, running
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April 9
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Goody's Body Pain 500
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10th, running
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May 6
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Pontiac Excitement 400
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Fifth, running
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June 4
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MBNA Platinum 400
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14th, running
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June 17
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Pocono 500
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10th, running
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June 25
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Save Mart/ Kragen 350
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26th, running
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July 9
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thatlook.com 300
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15th, running
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In a season of vast parity, Wallace has dominated one of the major aspects of Winston Cup racing. Seven times in 2000, Wallace has planted his No. 2 Ford on the inside of the front row and staked claim to favored status by winning the pole position and making his car the mark to shoot at on Sunday.
Only once, though, has Wallace's strong qualifying effort resulted in a strong finish. For seven pole positions, Wallace has but one top-five run to show for it, a fifth-place finish at Richmond. He qualified No. 2 at Pocono.
Lucky for the competition that Wallace hasn't had enough good luck to string together strong qualifying and strong racing on the same weekend very often, or the veteran leading the chase for the championship could well be Wallace and his Miller Lite-sponsored team instead of Bobby Labonte, Dale Jarrett and Dale Earnhardt.
"Now maybe people will quit asking me, 'Hey Rusty, when are you gonna get your next victory,'" Wallace said after scoring his second victory of the season.
Wallace is currently fifth in the championship standings, 268 behind points leader Bobby Labonte.
"You can sit back and say, 'Hey, Rusty won this race because Jeremy lost a tire,' but what would have happened if Jeremy wouldn't have lost a tire?" Wallace asked. "The worst thing that would have happened is I was gonna finish second.
"I had a great run throughout the day, I qualified great and he had some misfortune. I don't know when exactly that misfortune happened, but I know that I was able to take advantage of it, so I'm not gonna let that sour the victory any at all. I thought it was an exciting, clean race and these types of things happen all the time and that's it. I'm just real happy, and that's it."
If Wallace has anything on his side, it is his motors.
While Mayfield and Wallace dominated the Winston Cup race at Pocono, youngster Ryan Newman won Pocono's ARCA event Saturday driving one of Wallace's old Tauruses and footing a brand-new Penske engine. When those motors hang together, they're tough to beat, especially at places like the 2.5-mile Pocono Raceway, where straightaway speed is the key.
The Winston Cup circuit takes a weekend off before heading to another 2.5-mile course -- this one the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway -- where Wallace and all that horsepower will again be favored for the pole.
"The engines are running super and I can't wait now to get to Indianapolis, since we had that great qualifying attempt up there and the car ran strong," Wallace said Tuesday. "But that's in another week and a half and I'm getting ready to go on vacation in the next 30 minutes, so I'm really happy that we got this victory. It's gonna make for a nice vacation for me."
If events at Pocono were indicate a shift in odds, maybe Wallace should consider Atlantic City.
Phil Furr, a freelance writer based in Charlotte, N.C., writes a weekly auto-racing column for ESPN.com.
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ALSO SEE
Pocono blowout: Mayfield sweep turns into Rusty win
Notebook: Mayfield mum about reaction to blown tire
Pennsylvania 500 results
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