UPDATE: Rusty Wallace released a statement Wednesday morning denying that he plans to make a return to NASCAR in 2009.
"I love Kenny to death; he's been trying to get me back in a car ever since I retired after 2005. While any rumors like this are certainly flattering, they're untrue. I have a long-term commitment to ABC and ESPN and I really love what I'm doing right now," said Wallace in a statement.
To me, this whole deal seems pretty bizarre, especially given that Rusty's brother put out the rumor. I have a feeling there might be more to this story than what meets the eye, but for now, it appears to be dead in the water.
Original: 1989 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Rusty Wallace is "considering" a return to NASCAR's top series in 2009, his brother Kenny Wallace said Tuesday night in an article posted on SPEEDTV.com.
"Six different crew members came up to me and said they'd heard a rumor Rusty was coming back to drive for [Dale Earnhardt Inc]," said Wallace in the article.
"These rumors get started in the Mooresville [N.C.] area because the [NASCAR team] shops are so close to each other and nothing can be kept secret for long. All I can say is that where there's smoke, there's fire. And he is definitely considering stepping back into a race car."
Rusty, who retired in 2005 after 25 seasons in NASCAR with 55 career wins, currently works as an analyst for ESPN and owns two Nationwide Series cars, one of which is driven by his son Steven.
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I'm having a tough time not believing what Kenny said in the article for the sheer fact that he is Rusty's brother, and that that would seemingly prevent Wallace for spreading untrue rumors.
Also, the connection to Dale Earnhardt Inc. seems to make pretty good sense after it was just announced earlier on Tuesday that Paul Menard would be leaving the team to head to Yates Racing with the sponsorship from his dad's home improvement warehouse chain -- opening up a seat at the DEI table.
On the TV side of things, Rusty signed a six-year deal when he started out with ESPN that isn't close to expiration, which means that his contract would likely have to be broken if he were to run a full schedule in 2009.
Later in the article, Kenny explains -- from his point of view -- what kind of emotions he's seen his brother have in the past two years since leaving the drivers seat and how he was watched veteran Mark Martin go in to retirement and come back out to run a partial schedule and then a full schedule in 2009 with Hendrick Motorsports.
Kenny also made some very valid points about how Rusty would have to learn very quickly about the car of tomorrow platform that has been introduced since Rusty's '05 retirement and talked about how that his brother would likely get frustrated with the handling characteristics at the beginning.
Regardless, putting Rusty Wallace in a race car -- remember he qualified for the 2005 Chase -- is going to bring good dividends for any team, especially one like DEI that is looking to replace a departing NASCAR veteran.
This is an interesting story that will obviously gain legs as the week goes on, but for now, are you excited for Rusty's potential return? Or would you rather him just stay on the TV side of things?
