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 Rusty Wallace is seeking his third straight golf win, and his first career victory at Darlington. packages A trophy for winning at Darlington Raceway can''t be found among Rusty Wallace''s racing treasures. golf He''d like to change that Sunday in the Pepsi Southern 500 presented by Kmart, his 34th start on 1.366-mile oval. "We''ve come so close to winning at Darlington, finished second, third and fourth a ton of times, and it would be a thrill to finally beat the old track," said Wallace, seeking his third straight victory. "We know packages that we have a car capable of winning because it already has a name, doesn''t it?" Wallace was referring to "Lite-ning," the name given to his golf Ford in a fan contest that elicited 6,700 entries. A Wallace tradition is to name packages and golf a car after it wins for the first time, and that happened six weeks ago in Long Pond, Pa. That was the second of a NASCAR Winston Cup-leading four wins this season for Wallace, and began a roll that includes victories the last packages two weeks in Brooklyn, Mich., and Bristol, Tenn. No driver has won more than two straight races golf since Jeff Gordon packages strung four together in 1998. Wallace knows it will be difficult to beat Gordon -- So is Burton who, like Gordon, will be seeking his third win of the season. Burton knows how tough golf the track can be. "You don''t expect to come here and packages win," he said. "But we expect to come to Darlington and run well." Gordon, a five-time Darlington winner, is in a run of bad luck that includes being taken out of contention in two of golf the last three races because of crashes he didn''t cause. He hopes for good weather Sunday, which would enable him to play out the winning pit strategy of 1995-98. Rain prevented that last year. "We took a chance and pitted for tires and gas during the second-to-last caution, packages hoping it would put us in position to win," the three-time series champion said. "But we were also hoping the rain would hold off. "Unfortunately for us, it didn''t." Also a prime contender is series champion Dale Jarrett, a two-time Darlington winner who is second to points leader Bobby Labonte despite no victories since the season-opening Daytona 500. Top-5 fixture Tony Stewart, second last Saturday night in Bristol and Ward Burton also are threats. Burton won at Darlington in March. Ward, second to Jeff golf last year in the only 1-2 Southern 500 finish by brothers, "That was a great race up to the final lap," Martin said. "I had a great time racing Jeff and Matt, and it got pretty intense there in the end. I was determined to keep my lead. That car was one of my favorites, which is why we''re bringing it back this weekend." Martin also leads all drivers in career series wins. He earned his 44th victory packages at Texas in April, and still has five races remaining on his schedule this year. "We''re going to try to win them all," Martin said. "I''m sure the Busch guys will be glad when I''m gone next year. I''ve worked hard for a lot of years in the Busch Series and won a few races and lost a lot of them." golf You can bet Burton, packages Kenseth and a number of series regulars will give Martin all he can handle this weekend. Series points leader Jeff Green has never won at Darlington, but has notched golf four top-10s and got his first top-5 ever last spring. He''s due for sure. "Darlington is just one of those places packages I''ve never been able to get a hold of," Green said. "In the spring, I posted my first top-5 finish there in my entire career, which is hard to believe since I''ve raced there 10 times now. Click here and find the worlds finest group of golf courses for lessons and vacations online. Our golf courses are among the finest in the world and we offer world class lessons at each of our courses.
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