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ESPN Analyst Rusty Wallace on Atlanta Motor Speedway

Tuesday October 21, 2008

 

Rusty Wallace, NASCAR analyst for ESPN, was the 1989 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion and won 55 Sprint Cup races during his career. He was a two-time winner at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Q – Atlanta always seems to be tough on engines – why is that?
Because the corners are so wide at Atlanta, you’re on the throttle a lot more. You don’t drive in and get out of the gas and coast a long time and then get back on the throttle like you do at some other tracks. You find yourself on the throttle a lot.
Q – If you’re chasing the championship at Atlanta, do you back it down to save your engine?
I don’t think so. I think that all the engine people need to be aware that that track is one of the toughest on engines. Don’t lean out the carburetor too much where the engine runs too lean. You’ve got to give it enough fuel to give the engine longevity. Don’t take the engines to the ragged edge on the tune-up. You’ve got to give yourself a little margin for error. Understand when you’re designing your engine and doing the tune-up that the driver is going to be in the throttle a lot more than he is anywhere else. So the throttle position on the carburetor is not going to be all the way off a lot – it’ll be part-throttle. Part-throttle can tear an engine up.

Q – What’s something unique about Atlanta that viewers should watch for during the race?
One of the most exciting things you’re going to see during the race is that top side of turn four. It seems like the guys that have been winning the races lately really get that momentum built off of turn four. That turn in my mind has become one of the most exciting corners in all of motorsports because it seems that the guy who wins there always wins by inches. He’s running second going into turn three, and when he comes off turn four he wins the race by just a little bit. And Atlanta’s been able to create that excitement in that particular corner. Because of turn four really opening up due to the trioval, it gives you a lot more real estate and you’re in the gas. When you’re wide open in the center of turns three and four, the corner doesn’t keep turning, it opens up and gives you more room to stay in the throttle, and because of that it creates so much more speed and so much momentum off of turn four and gives you those exciting finishes at the line.

The Chase is On: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Live from Atlanta on ABC
Atlanta Motor Speedway is one of the fastest tracks on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule, and Sunday’s 500-mile race on the 1.5-mile track is the fourth-from-last race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. ESPN on ABC will have live, high definition coverage from Atlanta beginning with NASCAR Countdown at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, Oct. 26.
ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will air live coverage of NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying from Atlanta on Friday, Oct. 24, at 7 p.m., as well as same-day coverage of final practice airing Saturday, Oct. 25, at 7 p.m.
Dr. Jerry Punch will be lead announcer, joined in the booth for analysis by 1999 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Dale Jarrett and two-time champion crew chief Andy Petree. Dave Burns, Jamie Little, Mike Massaro and Shannon Spake will be pit reporters with two-time champion crew chief Tim Brewer in the ESPN Tech Center.
The pre-race NASCAR Countdown show from the ESPN pit studio will be hosted by Allen Bestwick, with 1989 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Rusty Wallace and analyst Brad Daugherty. The studio team will interact with the booth during the telecast of the race.
Also this weekend, ESPN Classic will have live coverage of the NASCAR Nationwide Series event at Memphis Motorsports Park on Saturday, Oct. 25, at 3 p.m. The telecast is presented by Carfax.

About NASCAR on ESPN:
ESPN and ABC have comprehensive, multi-platform coverage featuring telecasts of the final 17 NASCAR Sprint Cup races, including the 10-race “Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup” on ABC. Additionally, ESPN2 is the home of the NASCAR Nationwide Series all season. All programming is produced totally in high definition. ESPN’s comprehensive, multimedia NASCAR coverage extends to ESPN.com, ESPN Deportes, SportsCenter, ESPN the Magazine, ESPN Classic, ESPNEWS, ESPNRadio and ESPN International, among other ESPN platforms. ESPN aired 262 NASCAR Cup Races over a 20-year period starting in 1981 and returned to NASCAR coverage in 2007. The network’s award-winning, live flag-to-flag coverage on ESPN has been honored with 18 Sports Emmy Awards, as well as many industry honors. It is widely credited for helping to popularize the sport nationwide. NASCAR races have appeared on ABC for decades, beginning with broadcasts on the award-winning Wide World of Sports program in the 1960s.

FRONTSTRETCH LIVE AT THE TRACK THIS WEEKEND AT LOUDON!
Popular writer Amy Henderson will be tracking all the action at New Hampshire from inside the garage, giving you the stories you’re looking for with a special edition of our Newsletter planned over the weekend. It all culminates on Sunday with her special participation in our LIVE blog during the Lenox Industrial Tools 301, paired with our usual panel of expert analysts! It’s three days of going the extra mile for you … so we hope you enjoy it!

This report was provided by an outside PR source and posted by Kim DeHaven.

 

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