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NASCAR WCUP: Jarrett Leaves Wallace and Others 'In the Dust'

15 June 1999

CHARLOTTE, N.C., - In leading 150 of 200 laps, Dale Jarrett dominated last Sunday's Kmart 400 at Michigan Speedway, leaving table scraps for the other 42 competitors.

Square D Chevrolet driver Kenny Wallace took what he could get, finishing 21st after starting 19th.

"Dale Jarrett put a good old fashioned butt-whipping on everybody," said Wallace. "Forty-three cars started the race and we finished 21st. That's halfway through the field. I'm proud of my guys. They gave me great fuel mileage and their pit stops kept me in the race all day."

"Everything's different at Pocono (Pa.)," said Square D Chevrolet driver Kenny Wallace. "You don't stay in motels, you stay in chalets. The whole place has a completely different atmosphere."

Different is the best way to describe the triangular 2.5-mile Pocono Raceway, site of this Sunday's Pocono 500. With its incredibly long front straightaway, banked turn one, flat turn two and tight turn three, Pocono is a melting pot of other NASCAR Winston Cup Series venues.

"Pocono is the next thing to a road course," said Wallace. "It has three corners, and not one of them is the same. Turn one is the fastest part of the race track. You're running over 200 mph down the front straightaway and you've got to slow down enough to make that corner. Watching it on TV, everyone seems to be just fine through there, but it's where you feel the most g-forces.

"After the short chute, you hit the tunnel turn, which is really half of a corner. Then turn three is flat and tight - like Phoenix. To top it off, we shift. The transmission we use has overdrive, and we'll use it going down the front straightaway.

"It's a race track where you need a little bit of everything," continued Wallace. "The car must have good aerodynamics along with plenty of downforce. You need horsepower complemented by good handling. Your transmission needs to last too. The race is 200 laps, so you're going to be shifting at least 400 times - upshifting on the front straightaway and downshifting going into (turn) one. That number doesn't even include the shifting you'll do on and off pit road. It's a tough 'ol race track."

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