Wallace Keeping Tabs on Gordon

Rusty Wallace will start on the pole today in the Save Mart/Kragen 350 Winston Cup race, but most of the 100,000 fans at Sears Point Raceway will be keeping their eyes on Jeff Gordon.

Gordon, a native of nearby Vallejo, has been on a road racing tear in NASCAR and today’s 350-kilometer race (218 miles) is over one of only two Winston Cup road racing courses--1.949 miles of wine country terrain complicated by 11 turns.

“The state of road racing in NASCAR is Jeff Gordon right now,” said Robert Yates, owner of Winston Cup champion Dale Jarrett’s Ford. “If somebody figures out how to beat him, we’d like to know.”

Gordon has won the last five road races, two at Sears Point and three at Watkins Glen, N.Y.

“The streak that we are on right now is amazing,” said Gordon, who will start fifth in a Chevrolet, behind Wallace and three Pontiac drivers, Kyle Petty, Bobby Labonte and Tony Stewart. “I struggled at the road courses during my first few years on the circuit. I improved my road racing skills and the DuPont team stepped up our road course program and it has paid off.

“I think one reason I’ve done so well here is that the fans always make me feel at home. Growing up so close makes a victory here that much sweeter.”

Wallace, whose qualifying lap of 99.309 mph bettered Gordon’s record, is no novice at road racing. He has six wins, including the last two in 1987 and 1988 at Riverside International Raceway, which is no longer in existence. He has also won two at Sears Point.

“I love road racing,” Wallace said. “You have to love to do it and really want to do it and you have to have a really good car. We’ve got the car this week, a brand-new Penske chassis. I really like it and like how it looks.”

The new car is chassis No. 24 from the Penske Racing South shop.

The $2.9-million race will start at 1 p.m. and be shown live on ESPN.