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.
Jamie McMurray and the No. 26 Crown Royal team entered this weekend looking to improve their position in the “Race to the Chase.” However, as McMurray entered turn one on lap 44 the car was pinched too low on the speedway, sending it careening into the outside retaining wall. The damage sent to the No. 26 machine to the garage for extensive service. After repairs to the Ford Fusion, the Crown Royal team returned to the speedway, salvaging a 33rd-place finish.
Two laps after a green flag restart, McMurray entered turn one with both the No. 17 and No. 48 above him on the high line. As the three cars made their way through the middle of the corner, McMurray lost the handling of his car, sending the tail end of his No. 26 machine into the outside retaining wall. The car sustained extensive damage, forcing the No. 26 team to head to the garage for service.
“It’s a shame we lost it over there in turn one because our Crown Royal Ford Fusion was really strong this weekend,” said McMurray following the race. “It’s tough to know that we could have gained so many points with some of the guys ahead of us having bad days as well. Hopefully this is it for us and we can go on to places like Pocono, Watkins Glen, Michigan and have really good runs.”
Nextel weekend the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series returns to Pocono Raceway. The previous Pocono race was rain shortened – this weekend the team hopes for better weather and a better run. In McMurray’s last visit to the 2.5-mile tri-oval, he finished the race in the 29th position. The race begins at 3:00 p.m. Eastern with television coverage on ESPN and radio broadcasts through MRN.
Stephen Leicht, driver of the No. 90 Citi Ford, raced his way to a hard-fought, top 10 finish Saturday night at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Pit strategy and persistence by Leicht paid great dividends and he was the only NASCAR Busch Series regular to finish inside the top-10.
“It feels so good to get a top 10, especially with Citi onboard to support us this weekend,” said Leicht. “This entire Robert Yates Racing team has worked so hard for so long and I haven’t been in the position in the end to get the finishes that this team deserves, but I did tonight. It was a total team effort. Everything was on point tonight and I am so proud of my guys.”
“Cully made a great call for us to stay out at the end. We were still running 11th or 12th when that happened and that put us up to fourth, and then with the three cautions in a row it put us in the window that we could make it on fuel, so it worked out in our favor. The tires are so hard here that I don’t think there’s a ton of difference between new tires and old ones. Newer tires helped some, but not enough to come from the back, so we just took that chance and it paid off.”
The Citi Team will travel to Dover International Speedway next weekend for the Dover 200. Coverage begins June 2 live on ESPN2 and MRN at 2:30 EST.
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