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Motorsports

Wallace, chief punished

Rusty Wallace drops to No. 38 and crew chief Bill Wilburn is fined $10,000 for an illegal carburetor.

By JOANNE KORTH, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 15, 2003

DAYTONA BEACH -- Rusty Wallace plummeted 30 places in the starting lineup for Sunday's Daytona 500, from eighth to 38th, for using an illegal carburetor during his qualifying race.

Crew chief Bill Wilburn was fined $10,000.

Wallace's car was inspected after his fourth-place finish Thursday in a 125-mile qualifying race. Openings in the carburetor were found to be smaller than minimum requirements, an infraction that likely put Wallace at a disadvantage.

Winston Cup director John Darby said the carburetor would have been legal anywhere but Daytona and Talladega, tracks where restrictor plates are used to limit speeds by reducing airflow into the carburetor. The illegal carburetor reduced airflow even more.

"We just had one of the wrong carburetors on the truck," said Wallace, lucky to fall back on an owner-points provisional to make the 500 field. "We didn't check it and we're paying for it now. Our engine guys feel real bad about it. We're just embarrassed about the whole thing. That carburetor probably cost us about 12 horsepower, so that's probably the only good things that came out of it."

This is Wallace's first race with Dodge and his primary sponsor, Miller Lite, has promised a free six-pack of beer to all legal-age drinkers in attendance if Wallace wins the 500.

Wallace's disqualification did not affect which drivers made the Daytona 500, but did jumble the starting lineup slightly because of the complex qualifying system used only for this race.

Wilburn feared NASCAR might dock Wallace championship points, even though points have not been earned for 2003. Last year, NASCAR made a statement by penalizing teams 25 championship points for inspection infractions, regardless of intent.

NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter said points were not taken from Wallace because the 125-milers are not points races, and Darby said he did not want to "dip into the world of starting somebody out in negative points."

The team forfeited $28,720 in winnings.

According to plan, Wallace did not participate in Friday's one-hour Winston Cup practice. He will be on the track for today's final practice. Relieved, Wallace was optimistic the No. 2 Intrepid will be stronger with the proper carburetor.

"I'm proud how we ran in the race, based on what we found under the hood," Wallace said. "It apparently was a test carburetor we'd been using on our unrestricted stuff. It was just a dumb mistake. We weren't trying to pull anything off on anyone and that's why NASCAR penalized us the way they did."

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