Rusty Wallace, who drives in his final Allstate 400 at the Brickyard race Aug. 7, already has his future career plotted out.

He didn't have to look far for the focal point of his retirement at the end of his NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series career. His name is Stephen, and he has a bedroom in Rusty's home in Mooresville, N.C.

Stephen Wallace is Rusty's younger son. And if you ask Rusty about him, Rusty raves about his son's potential.

"It really is the start of my new career," he said about preparing his son to be the next Wallace in stock car racing's major league.

Rusty turns 49 a week after the 12th NASCAR race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. His son reaches 18 four days later and will start in an ARCA race two days after that at Michigan International Speedway. Dad will start his 693^rd Cup race a day after.

"Steve has just done some incredible things behind the wheel that has just floored me," Rusty said. "He went to Kentucky , never seen the place in his life and ran as fast as I did the third time on the track. We went to Michigan , and second time on the racetrack and ran as fast as I did, maybe a little quicker. Which made me think, what am I doing wrong?"

Late in a hard day of testing, a qualifying setup was put on the car, and Rusty turned what he called an "unbelievable awesome lap." His son asked a few questions, then went out and one-upped his pop.

"I put him out on new tires and he ran ... I ran a 39.48 and he ran a 39.16. Beat me by 3/10ths," the senior Wallace said. "So the kid's done some amazing things. Went to the Snowball Derby, 157 cars, and he won the race. He went to his first ARCA race and did great. He's just been flying. I think the kid is already about there. It's an amazing story. It really is."

But Rusty has some unfinished business at Indy and in the 14 other remaining races before he hangs up his helmet. He has won 56 races in his illustrious career but doesn't show a win in either the Daytona 500 or Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. He does have three second places at Indy.

So this will be his final opportunity to receive a checkered flag in his No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge at one of the most noted racing facilities in the world. It won't be easy, as Wallace will start 41^st in the 43-car field after crashing during qualifying Aug. 6.

But Wallace is more concerned with maintaining his fourth place position in the NEXTEL Cup point standings so he'll be in position to end his career with a bang by winning the championship in the final 10 races.

"I think every race is a key race," he said. "The reason I say it is key is because once I get closer to the cutoff point (after 26 races) I'll just start feeling better and better about the lead I've got. I'm 180 out (from leader Jimmie Johnson's 2,799 points) right now. But you don't want to start falling back.