Mike Wallace (No. 7 GEICO Toyota) has completed more laps this season than any other driver in series competition with 1,912 —failing to finish only six total laps thus far.
David Reutimann (No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota) is one of only two drivers among the top 10 to have not led a single lap this season.
Watch for two series-only regulars to run up front – Jason Leffler (No. 32 Great Clips Toyota) and Kenny Wallace (No. 28 U.S. Border Patrol Chevrolet). Leffler has finished in the top 10 in each of the last two Darlington races and has scored a Driver Rating of 104.8 and Average Running Position of 10.2 during that span. Kenny Wallace knows his way around Darlington as well. He’s scored a pole (1990) and eight top ten finishes in the Nationwide Series, with a career best runner-up finish in 2005.
Due to Morgan Shepherds "oh so excellent" and most popular 13th place finish at Talladega - and all of the support streaming in from within the NASCAR community and racing communities in general - TheHotLap.com has decided to start a "Sticker Tires For Faith" fund with the goal of donating a set of tires for Sat May 24th's NASCAR Nationwide CARQUEST Auto Parts 300 at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
Heading into Richmond sitting 9th in points, Mike Wallace was looking to make up ground on the Top 5 with a good finish on Friday night. On Lap 171, Wallace would approach the Top 10 and run in the 11th position before recording a 13th place finish under the lights at Richmond International Raceway. The 13th place finish would help Wallace remain in the 9th position in the point standings, but stretch his lead to 120 points over David Stremme in the 10th position.
“It was a good points night for us, but we were hoping to get a win for GEICO in their backyard,” Wallace said. “We’ll head to Darlington next week and hope to continue to make up ground in the points race. Our goal is to finish in the Top 5 in points and win races and we will continue to pursue those things until they happen.”
This week, the Germain Racing team heads to Darlington, South Carolina, for another Friday night race under the lights. This time it will happen on a newly-paved 1.366-mile race track. The Diamond Hill Plywood 200 is on Friday, May 9th, and it will be televised live on ESPN2beginning at 7:00 PM (ET), while the Motor Racing Network (MRN) will carry the live radio broadcast.
Jeff Burton burst onto the scene in 1997 when he finished fourth in the points. He finished 1998 and 1999 fifth in those respective points races. That's enough right there to rank him as the 10th best driver in the 90's.
On April 7, 1997 Jeff burton racked up his first race win in the Interstate Batteries 500 which was the inaugural Winston Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway.
On March 21, 1999 Burton won one of the zaniest races in Winston Cup history. His crumpled Ford lay in a smoking heap at Darlington raceway as rain fell. Burton had been involved in an accident on lap 163 but managed to keep the car moving and in the lead until the caution could be thrown and the rain drops began to fall. The race never restarted and Burton was awarded the win.
This is the first time since Darlington in 2003 that the Busch field has been short during a Nextel Cup companion race weekend. Why is this? It's the Toyota's stupid.
Not that it's Toyota's fault. They just forced the issue. For years now there have been Nextel Cup Field fillers that didn't belong but couldn't wean themselves from their addiction to Cup racing. Some of these were good single car teams back in the day. But that was back in the day. This is not your father's NASCAR.
Some of these teams might have benefited by merging with ther teams. But either they could not read the writing on the wall, or they refused to believe the writing on the wall or they were too darn stubborn to change direction based on the writing on the wall, or they can't play well with others or they were just a little dim when it comes to business acumen. Last fall they all sat around waiting for Toyota to come to them. Dumb BLEEP. Toyota didn't want losers. Toyota picked a few potential winners that got it then went about setting up their own teams.
Now some of the old school is whining crying, "Why didn't Toyota call me?" It's called survival of the fittest, swimming with the sharks It ain't a duck pond full of good ole boys anymore men. These guys need to admit they are whipped. They have taken a thumpin'.
Now wake up and smell the beer. The Busch Series is calling your name. Don't get mad! Get even! Take the Cup series practice race away from the big boys.
Form some really tough Busch teams. Give us back our father's Busch Series. Let's see some old dawgs and young guns go hunting at this level.
Morgan McClure Motorsports and Morgan Shepherd, find some new friends. Take them with you. And go Busch Racing boys!
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