Larry Carter

Going into what will be his final NASCAR Nextel Cup season, Rusty Wallace believes that his final ace card in what has been a long and distinguished career could be crew-chief Larry Carter.
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It took only eight races for Carter to lead Wallace's Miller Lite Dodge effort back to the winner's circle last April at the Martinsville Speedway.Even though it would be the lone victory for Wallace, Carter and crew, the entire #2 Penske Racing South team is convinced that the 2004 campaign established the groundwork for more expected success during the 2005 Nextel Cup season.
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"It was an exciting season for us in 2004 and it was definitely a learning year for me as Rusty's crew chief and for all of us getting the team chemistry flowing," said Carter, whose win last April at Martinsville led to his first Victory Lane visit after 15 years in NASCAR racing's highest level of competition.

"We all really got to know and understand each other really well last year and I think we enjoy a level of communication that many teams don't have even after working together for several years.I'm convinced that we've laid the foundation to come back and maybe even surprise people with our team's strength in 2005.

"Rusty is one of the greatest drivers to ever compete in our sport and it's been such a pleasure working with him and all the guys on our team," said Carter, a 42-year-old Raleigh, North Carolina native.
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"Rusty announced last August that the 2005 season will be his last as a driver and we're determined to help him go out in style and in a blaze of glory," said Carter, a 1985 graduate of North Carolina State University.
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"Larry Carter has shown that he is among the very best crew chiefs in the business and I am so proud to have him as the leader of our team," said Wallace, who snapped a personal record 105-race winless streak with the popular Martinsville return to Victory Lane.
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"Larry brought to the team the type of leadership we needed and really helped to put our team back on the map.
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"I told a lot of people during the 2004 season that Larry reminded me so much of Buddy Parrott, our crew chief back during the early 90s who led our team to a ton of success.Larry has the same leadership qualities as Buddy did back then and those two guys seem to even have the exact same demeanour in almost every way I can think of.They're big guys with a big heart.Larry can walk into a room and his sheer presence just demands your respect.

"Larry came in at the first of the season and promised me that he'd get the pit crew problem fixed and he did just that," Wallace continued.
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"Many of the team members actually came to me during the season and told me how much they enjoyed working for Larry.
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Larry is such a good leader and when you throw such talented guys as our car chief Jeff Thousand, our shock guy Tom Hoke and our engineer Derek Stamets, along with all the other super guys we have working with us now, it really is an exciting time for our #2 Miller Lite Dodge team and it's gonna' get even better, we all feel.
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With Larry up there running the ship, he's gonna' have a bunch of wins under his belt before I hang up my helmet for good at the end of the season."

Carter came to Penske Racing South from BACE Motorsports, where he served as crew chief for rookie driver Tony Raines during the 2003 NASCAR season.The jovial Carter was active in Motorsports at an early age, working part-time for a local dirt track team while in junior high school.

After receiving his college degree at NCSU, Carter worked for a Raleigh government agency for several years and worked part-time for his uncle Travis Carter, a fixture in NASCAR racing for decades.