Sitting 8th in the point standings, Mike Wallace looked forward to arriving in Loudon, NH, and making up ground on the Top 5. Unfortunately, the Germain Racing team raced with heavy hearts, as team owner Bob Germain’s father passed away at 85 years of age in Naples, Florida, on Friday night.
After the green flag dropped Mike, Wallace and the Gecko immediately found themselves in danger when Brad Coleman caught their right front fender, causing damage that the GEICO pit crew would work hard to repair. Also, Mother Nature proved that she has a sense of humor when she provided temperatures in the 80’s on Friday during practice, but on Saturday she provided 64-degrees. This affected the set up of the race car and Wallace battled it all afternoon.
Wallace and the Gecko ran as high as 11th and ran solidly in the Top 15 for the balance of the afternoon. Consequently, when the checkered flag waved under overcast skies, Wallace recorded a 15th place finish. While the finish is not what the GEICO team was hoping for, it still kept Wallace in the 8th position in the point standings.
“We had a good points day, but we were hoping to get another Top 5 for GEICO and Sport Clips,” Wallace said. “It was unfortunate to learn of Bob’s (Germain, team owner) father passing away on Friday night and we are keeping the Germain family in our thoughts and prayers. We will be making the trip to Naples this week to attend services and pay tribute to such a great man.”
This week, the Germain Racing team heads to Daytona Beach, Florida, which is the site of Wallace’s last win. On July 2, 2004, Wallace passed Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and Jason Leffler coming out of Turn 4 to hand GEICO and Sport Clips their first NASCAR victories.
Matt Kenseth ended Carl Edward's two-race Busch winning streak by pulling his car out of a spin without hitting the wall early in the race, then overtaking Denny Hamlin with nine laps left. Hamlin finished second and Edwards finished third extending his points lead.
“I heard something break, I guess it was the tire popping,” Kenseth said. “My first thought was, ‘I hope I don’t hit anything.’ Because of all the dumb stuff I’ve done before, I guess, I was able to figure out how not to hit the wall. …It was a lot of luck, too.” Kenseth’s spin did bring out a yellow, but his crew fixed the car and Kenseth got his lap back on a subsequent caution. Casey Mears wound up fourth. Rookie David Ragan, who started on the pole, finished fifth.
The Busch class win went to Paul Menard who finished ninth overall. Menard needs to stick with the Busch Series as it appears to suit his skill level well. Second in class was Jason Leffler in the great Clips car. Leffler finished 13th overall.
Bobby Hamilton Jr. finished third in class in his No. 35 McDonald's Ford Fusion and 14th overall. More importantly he made good on his promise made two weeks ago to be the top "Busch Guy" in two weeks. He leads the Busch Class standings in first place and is seventh in the Busch Series Standings overall. He is only 14 points behind Kenseth for sixth overall and will now put Matt right in his sites.
Mike Wallace finished fourth in class and 15th overall in his No. 7 Geico Ford Fusion. While Brad Coleman enjoyed a good day with a fifth place class finish and 16th overall.
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