Effective immediately, Rusty Wallace and Jamie McMurray will assume primary driving duties for Duraflame RWI Racing in the NASCAR Busch Series. Wallace, a former NASCAR Premier Series Champion and McMurray, a former NASCAR Premier Series Rookie of the Year, will replace 27-year old rookie driver, Billy Parker, at the helm of the #66 Dodge for the remainder of the team's 2004 NASCAR Busch Series schedule. McMurray will be tapped for the team's next start at New Hampshire International Raceway. Said team owner and now driver, Wallace, "This was a really tough decision to make. The team's performance just isn't where we think it should be, so we have to start taking a look at what's going on. In order to do that, we had to get more of a veteran in the car so that we can evaluate our equipment. Jamie McMurray has a great track record in the Busch Series and I think that his input is going to really help this team. He's an incredibly talented and aggressive driver. Obviously, I've been doing this for a long time as well, so hopefully between the both of us, we'll be able to give the guys some good feedback." Wallace's 2004 Busch Series starts will mark his first starts in the series since Milwaukee in 1993. The 1989 Premier Series Champion and 55-time race winner has eight top-five and fourteen top-ten finishes in 33 career Busch Series starts. His 2004 Busch Series stint will mark his reunification with the legendary number 66, the number he drove to the majority of his over 200 short track victories. McMurray will participate in the New Hampshire, Bristol, California, Kansas, Richmond, Atlanta and Miami NASCAR Busch Series races on behalf of Duraflame RWI Racing and will drive in the Phoenix and Michigan Busch Series races for Discount Tire pursuant to a prior commitment with Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. In accommodation of this commitment, Wallace, eighth on NASCAR's all-time wins list, will take command of the Duraflame Dodge for the Phoenix and Michigan rounds of the series.

Rusty Wallace Inc.

redriderbob

 

Jamie McMurray shakes hands with team owner Rusty Wallace after winning his first career Busch Pole.

LOUDON, N.H. (AP) -- Jamie McMurray grabbed the first pole of his NASCAR Busch Series career on Friday at New Hampshire International Speedway.

It came on his first try in the car owned by fellow Nextel Cup star Rusty Wallace.

"It's really cool that we won the Busch pole, especially getting to drive for Rusty," said McMurray, who replaced fired rookie Billy Parker in the No. 66 Dodge.

"I'm still a little intimidated by the guy," McMurray said of his new car owner. "He's one of the guys I don't talk to a lot in the garage. He's always busy, it looks like, but I'm really excited about driving for him."

Wallace, who said he will drive the car later this season in Michigan and Phoenix, two tracks where McMurray is committed to drive Busch cars for Chip Ganassi, the owner of his Cup car, said he was very proud of McMurray and his whole team.

"It takes a lot of work by those guys and a lot of money to run these things and Jamie and the team did a fantastic job," said Wallace, who released Parker from his contract after 11 races in which his best start was eighth and his best finish was 22nd.

McMurray, who will make his sixth Busch start of the season in Saturday's Siemens 200, turned a lap of 130.006 mph on the nearly flat 1.058-mile oval. Ron Hornaday Jr. was second at 129.428, a lap that was more than a half second slower than the pole winner.

Jason Leffler was third at 128.959, followed by Mike Bliss at 128.937, Bobby Hamilton Jr. at 129.898 and Joe Nemechek at 129.854.

Martin Truex Jr., the series points leader and the relief driver this weekend for injured Cup star Dale Earnhardt Jr., qualified 13th at 128.641. Kyle Busch, who trails Truex by only 52 points, will start 10th after qualifying at 128.737.

Coming off his first career victory two weeks ago at Chicagoland Speedway, Justin Labonte, son of two-time Cup champion Terry Labonte, will start 42nd in the 43-car field after crashing on his qualifying run.

Greg Biffle, another Cup regular, also crashed in qualifying and will start last.

NASCAR.com

redriderbob

 

Lineup:

1 #66 Jamie McMurray Dodge Duraflame 130.007 29.297 Leader
2 #2 Ron Hornaday Chevrolet ACDelco 129.428 29.428 -0.131
3 #00 Jason Leffler Chevrolet Haas Automation 128.959 29.535 -0.238
4 #20 Mike Bliss Chevrolet Rockwell Automation 128.937 29.540 -0.243
5 #25 Bobby Hamilton Jr. Ford U.S. Marines 128.898 29.549 -0.252
6 #87 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet Cellular One 128.854 29.559 -0.262
7 #21 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Reese's 128.841 29.562 -0.265
8 #14 Casey Atwood Chevrolet Navy "Accelerate Your Life" 128.815 29.568 -0.271
9 #37 David Green Pontiac Timber Wolf 128.784 29.575 -0.278
10 #5 Kyle Busch* Chevrolet Lowe's/Shop-Vac 128.737 29.586 -0.289
11 #111 Paul Menard* Chevrolet Menards/Pittsburgh Paints 128.732 29.587 -0.290
12 #02 Hermie Sadler Chevrolet Friendly's Ice Cream 128.684 29.598 -0.301
13 #8 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet Kentucky Fried Chicken 128.641 29.608 -0.311
14 #1 Casey Mears Dodge Yellow Transportation 128.113 29.730 -0.433
15 #332 David Stremme Dodge TrimSpa 128.104 29.732 -0.435
16 #12 Tim Fedewa Chevrolet Supercuts 128.096 29.734 -0.437
17 #38 Kasey Kahne Dodge Great Clips 128.061 29.742 -0.445
18 #46 Ashton Lewis Chevrolet Brickmill Marketing 127.932 29.772 -0.475
19 #22 Jason Keller Ford Miller High Life 127.838 29.794 -0.497
20 #59 Stacy Compton Ford Kingsford/Bush's Beans 127.748 29.815 -0.518
21 #17 Matt Kenseth Ford Bayer/CVS Pharmacy 127.619 29.845 -0.548
22 #4 Mike Wallace Ford GEICO/Sportclips 127.598 29.850 -0.553
23 #88 Jeff Fuller Chevrolet NEMCO Motorsports 127.308 29.918 -0.621
24 #31 Todd Bodine Ford Whelen Engineering 127.299 29.920 -0.623
25 #6 Paul Wolfe Dodge Hellmann's 127.185 29.947 -0.650
26 #128 Mark Green Ford Irving Oil/Mainway 127.096 29.968 -0.671
27 #27 Johnny Sauter Chevrolet Scott Products/Shaw's 126.875 30.020 -0.723
28 #72 Kevin Lepage Chevrolet Racing Against Cancer 126.837 30.029 -0.732
29 #140 Matthew Kobyluck Chevrolet Mohegan Sun Casino 126.837 30.029 -0.732
30 #52 Brad Teague Ford Jimmy Means Racing 126.749 30.050 -0.753
31 #49 Derrike Cope Ford Advil Liqui-Gels 126.711 30.059 -0.762
32 #91 Stanton Barrett Pontiac AmericInn Lodging Systems 126.408 30.131 -0.834
33 #47 Robert Pressley Ford Clorox/Wisk 126.345 30.146 -0.849
34 #24 Steve Grissom Chevrolet Global Industrial Contractors 126.115 30.201 -0.904
35 #23 Kenny Wallace Chevrolet Stacker 2 125.965 30.237 -0.940
36 #97 Josh Richeson Chevrolet AmericInn Lodging Systems 125.624 30.319 -1.022
37 #107 Carl Long Ford BG Products 125.125 30.440 -1.143
38 #77 Jimmy Kitchens Ford BG Products 124.727 30.537 -1.240

Provisional
39 #10 Gus Wasson Chevrolet RaceGirl 124.272 30.649 -1.352
40 #39 Tina Gordon Ford Yahoo!/Vassarette/Microtel - - -
41 #51 Stan Boyd* Dodge qualitymetric.com 124.312 30.639 -1.342
42 #44 Justin Labonte Dodge U.S. Coast Guard - - -
43 #60 Greg Biffle Ford Charter Communications - - -

Did not Qualify
44 #0 David Keith Chevrolet RaceGirl 123.254 30.902 -1.605
45 #184 Dion Ciccarelli Ford Star Sales 123.222 30.910 -1.613
46 #271 Randy MacDonald Chevrolet MacDonald Motorsports 124.369 30.625 -1.328
47 #193 Bill Hoff Chevrolet Bill Hoff Motorsports 119.436 31.890 -2.593
48 #165 Stuart Kirby Chevrolet Churchill Downs 123.996 30.717 -1.420

* Denotes Rookie

redriderbob

 

1st Practice Speeds:

1 #2 Ron Hornaday Chevrolet ACDelco 130.296 29.232 Leader
2 #8 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet Kentucky Fried Chicken 130.149 29.265 -0.033
3 #66 Jamie McMurray Dodge Duraflame 129.851 29.332 -0.100
4 #25 Bobby Hamilton Jr. Ford U.S. Marines 129.807 29.342 -0.110
5 #21 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Reese's 129.714 29.363 -0.131
6 #20 Mike Bliss Chevrolet Rockwell Automation 129.714 29.363 -0.131
7 #5 Kyle Busch* Chevrolet Lowe's/Shop-Vac 129.661 29.375 -0.143
8 #60 Greg Biffle Ford Charter Communications 129.617 29.385 -0.153
9 #87 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet Cellular One 129.507 29.410 -0.178
10 #111 Paul Menard* Chevrolet Menards/Pittsburgh Paints 129.331 29.450 -0.218
11 #22 Jason Keller Ford Miller High Life 129.278 29.462 -0.230
12 #00 Jason Leffler Chevrolet Haas Automation 129.252 29.468 -0.236
13 #1 Casey Mears Dodge Yellow Transportation 129.221 29.475 -0.243
14 #38 Kasey Kahne Dodge Great Clips 129.182 29.484 -0.252
15 #14 Casey Atwood Chevrolet Navy "Accelerate Your Life" 129.173 29.486 -0.254
16 #17 Matt Kenseth Ford Bayer/CVS Pharmacy 128.850 29.560 -0.328
17 #02 Hermie Sadler Chevrolet Friendly's Ice Cream 128.519 29.636 -0.404
18 #37 David Green Pontiac Timber Wolf 128.411 29.661 -0.429
19 #12 Tim Fedewa Chevrolet Supercuts 128.411 29.661 -0.429
20 #128 Mark Green Ford Irving Oil/Mainway 128.342 29.677 -0.445
21 #4 Mike Wallace Ford GEICO/Sportclips 128.303 29.686 -0.454
22 #31 Todd Bodine Ford Whelen Engineering 128.303 29.686 -0.454
23 #27 Johnny Sauter Chevrolet Scott Products/Shaw's 128.290 29.689 -0.457
24 #23 Kenny Wallace Chevrolet Stacker 2 128.212 29.707 -0.475
25 #46 Ashton Lewis Chevrolet Brickmill Marketing 128.178 29.715 -0.483
26 #59 Stacy Compton Ford Kingsford/Bush's Beans 128.143 29.723 -0.491
27 #332 David Stremme Dodge TrimSpa 128.010 29.754 -0.522
28 #6 Paul Wolfe Dodge Hellmann's 127.971 29.763 -0.531
29 #91 Stanton Barrett Pontiac AmericInn Lodging Systems 127.688 29.829 -0.597
30 #140 Matthew Kobyluck Chevrolet Mohegan Sun Casino 127.679 29.831 -0.599
31 #24 Steve Grissom Chevrolet Global Industrial Contractors 127.615 29.846 -0.614
32 #51 Stan Boyd* Dodge qualitymetric.com 127.385 29.900 -0.668
33 #88 Jeff Fuller Chevrolet NEMCO Motorsports 127.274 29.926 -0.694
34 #97 Josh Richeson Chevrolet AmericInn Lodging Systems 127.223 29.938 -0.706
35 #44 Justin Labonte Dodge U.S. Coast Guard 126.892 30.016 -0.784
36 #49 Derrike Cope Ford Advil Liqui-Gels 126.795 30.039 -0.807
37 #47 Robert Pressley Ford Clorox/Wisk 126.282 30.161 -0.929
38 #72 Kevin Lepage Chevrolet Racing Against Cancer 125.848 30.265 -1.033
39 #52 Brad Teague Ford Jimmy Means Racing 125.695 30.302 -1.070
40 #77 Jimmy Kitchens Ford BG Products 125.393 30.375 -1.143
41 #165 Stuart Kirby Chevrolet Churchill Downs 124.961 30.480 -1.248
42 #184 Dion Ciccarelli Ford Star Sales 123.888 30.744 -1.512
43 #271 Randy MacDonald Chevrolet MacDonald Motorsports 123.787 30.769 -1.537
44 #107 Carl Long Ford BG Products 123.602 30.815 -1.583
45 #39 Tina Gordon Ford Yahoo!/Vassarette/Microtel 122.143 31.183 -1.951
46 #10 Gus Wasson Chevrolet RaceGirl 121.839 31.261 -2.029
47 #0 David Keith Chevrolet RaceGirl 121.388 31.377 -2.145
48 #193 Bill Hoff Chevrolet Bill Hoff Motorsports 121.014 31.474 -2.242

* Denotes Rookie

redriderbob