Mike Wallace returned home to St. Louis this week for the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250. Prior to the start of the race, a power outage set in, but it would not stop NASCAR’s #2 series, despite the absence of caution lights. NASCAR would start the race under dim lighting and for safety’s sake they scheduled a ‘competition caution’ on Lap 22. Eventually the lights came back on and the racing heated up.
Wallace ran solidly in the Top 15 and narrowly avoided a massive crash on Lap 117 that would result in a red flag that halted the action for almost 25-minutes. At the end of the evening, Wallace would flirt with the Top 10, but not quite make it, as he recorded an 11th place finish in front of his hometown crowd.
The GEICO Racing team blew into the Windy City hoping to record a top finish that would help them make progress towards the Top 5 in the point standings. Sitting 8th, Mike Wallace needed to finish up front to gain any ground.
Wallace lost ground when the green flag waved, however he rebounded quickly and found himself in the Top 15 by Lap 9. Once he entered the Top 15, it was smooth sailing and the #7 GEICO Camry quickly moved to the front of the field, reaching the 3rd position by Lap 55. Wallace ran solidly in the Top 5 before making contact with the wall on Lap 106. Unfortunately, the minor damage from the contact with the wall hindered the remainder of Wallace’s evening and he was forced to battle hard to secure a 20th place finish when the checkered flag was displayed under the Chicago night sky.
Despite the less than desired result, Wallace and the Gecko still sit in the 8th position in the point standings.
“The #7 GEICO Camry was great tonight and we were in position to win a race, but unfortunately I caught the wall and it severely affected the race car,” Wallace said. “I’m looking forward to taking GEICO and Sport Clips home to St. Louis with me next week and getting them a great finish.”
Concord, NC (June 4, 2008) – As the first half of the NASCAR season begins to wind down, Mike Wallace and the GEICO Racing team find themselves in a good place. The driver is sitting 9th in the point standings and is coming off a string of good runs, which most recently included his 8th place finish at Dover last weekend.
Sure, it would be easy to point out that Wallace and the #7 GEICO Camry finished 25th at Darlington and 22nd at Charlotte, however it would not be indicative of his actual performance. In Darlington, he was sitting in position to record a Top 5 finish before a melee under a green, white, checker finish found the GEICO Camry more resembling a pinball than a race car. Charlotte would be more of the same story. While the finishes were less than desirable, Wallace ran both of those races solidly around the Top 10, even in the Top 5 at Darlington, before disappointment set in on the final laps.
“We’ve worked really hard to run well every week and put ourselves in position to win races, and I feel as though we’ve been successful at that,” Wallace said from his North Carolina home. “This Germain Racing team has worked really hard week in and week out to prepare the #7 GEICO Camry and I think you can see that it’s really paying off. We’re showing what the driver and team can do and we will continue to do it until we’re all standing in Victory Lane.”
Next up for the Gecko? Nashville Superspeedway on Saturday Night. 7:00 p.m. Eastern, on ESPN2.
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.
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