Mike Wallace Kansas race report

JD Motorsports No. 01 Chevrolet of Mike Wallace overcomes early race spin at Kansas

Mike Wallace, Davis Chevrolet

Photo by: Eric Gilbert

GAFFNEY, S.C. (October 9, 2011) – Mike Wallace and the No. 01 JD Motorsports Chevrolet team is doing all they can to get some media coverage for their new sponsor Steven Singer Jewelers. And, they did it in a very interesting way early in the race at Kansas Speedway during the NASCAR Nationwide Series event on Saturday afternoon.

After trying to overcome handling problems during the two practice sessions on Friday, Wallace took to the track for qualifying on Saturday morning. He managed to better his practice speeds by qualifying 32nd, which was 10 better than he practiced the day before.

Once the initial green flag flew under sunny skies over the 1.5-mile speedway, Wallace started to plot his move through the field. By lap three, he was still running 32nd racing two and three wide. However, while coursing through Turns 3 and 4 on lap four, the red No. 01IHateStevenSinger.com Chevrolet got out from underneath the four-time NNS driver in a three-wide battle and went almost entirely sideways with the nose pointing to the infield.. As the back end started to go up towards the wall, Wallace mashed the gas and, with tires smoking like a Victory Lane burnout, he managed to save the car and get it headed back in the right direction.

Besides the good news for Steven Singer Jewelers of getting on TV, the car didn’t hit the wall or get struck by another competitor. With that, the caution waved and Wallace came to pit road to check for any damage. Deemed good to go by his crew, he returned for the restart in 32nd place. From there, the race was pretty uneventful for the St. Louis native as he kept moving up the scoring pylon.

He went down a lap just past the 50-lap mark and, when the third caution waved for debris on lap 62, took advantage of the Lucky Dog Rule to get back on the lead lap. From there, the battle with an ill-handling car continued to hamper the team’s efforts on the track and pit road.

Wallace managed to hang on for the rest of the race and gain positions on others. When the checkered flag flew at lap 200, he crossed under the start/finish line in 24thplace.

He remains 13th in the driver’s standings as the NASCAR Nationwide Series has a“home game” this coming weekend. They will race on Friday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Mike Wallace Quotes:
“That car just would not turn the way we needed it to out there. Right from the time we unloaded right up until checkered flag; that new car just gave us fits.”

“I haven’t seen the replay yet, but someone said my spin there on lap four was a better smoke show than a John Force burnout. Not the way you want to get some TV time, but I’m just glad we were able to continue on after that incident.”

“We tried to stay on the lead lap, or at least be in position to take advantage of the Lucky Dog Rule. That worked out pretty good for us on the third caution and we just kept doing all we could to get the car to turn to get to the checkered flag.”

“Not the finish we wanted for ourselves or Steven Singer and his people. But, I can tell you one thing – that car is NOT coming to Charlotte with us this weekend. I like racing there, so it should be a better weekend for us and the JD Motorsports team.”