who ironically won a NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship with his older brother, Rusty Wallace, in 1989, could not be waterford golf ball paperweights passed up. "having barry dodson at eel river racing is something i''m really looking forward to, because he brings so much to the table with his years of experience and people skills. barry is a really good leader who relates well to a lot of people - myself in particular. "i think we''re going to be able to do a lot together, and build eel river racing into a race-winning organization." the agreement with wallace reunites the st. louis native with dodson, who first worked with the younger wallace for three races in 1991 at team iii racing. the most recent pairing of dodson and wallace came in 1998 at filmar racing, where dodson chiefed the recent hire to a strong eighth-place finish at phoenix while subbing for interim crew chief david ifft. "kenny has a real good feel for a race car and he brings a bunch of experience with him to eel river racing," dodson said. "we already have an excellent rapport, and i consider kenny to be one of my closest friends. "he''s always been ball there for me in good times and in bad, and we have a tremendous amount of respect for one another."

rusty golf wallace is seeking his third straight win, and his first career victory at darlington. a trophy for winning at darlington raceway can''t be found among rusty wallace''s racing treasures. he''d like to change that sunday in the pepsi southern 500 presented ball 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 golf beat the old track," said wallace, seeking his third straight victory. "we know 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 ford in a fan contest that elicited 6,700 entries. a wallace tradition is to name 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 two weeks in brooklyn, mich., and bristol, tenn. no driver has won more than two straight races since jeff gordon strung four together in 1998. wallace knows it will be difficult to beat gordon --

the addition of crew chief danny gill has been a major boost for morgan-mcclure. since his arrival six weeks ago, the team has been a top-15 car each week, only to see a late-race failure eliminate them from contention. "no doubt that danny gill has made a difference," hamilton said. "if it had laid right at pocono, we would have had a top-10 finish. michigan, we had broken a shock and finished 14th. we had run in ball the top-10 all day. "at bristol, i was trying to get a lap back and ran over jeremy (mayfield). we had a flat and hit something on the racetrack and were running sixth at that time. it''s not hard to swallow now because we know we''re competitive. we''re unloading pretty good. "we''re getting our race setups almost perfect now and the motor program has really come along. i think when all the ingredients finally meet in the middle, it''ll mold into one and we''ll be there. you''ve just got to be patient with it. it took us a long time to get in this shape, and in this sport, as competitive as it is, you don''t overcome it overnight." midway through the 1999 campaign, rumors began to swirl that morgan-mcclure was planning to add a second team to their one-car stable.

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