KENNY WALLACE FIGHTS OFF A TIGHT HANDLING RACECAR TO FINISH 13^TH IN CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY’S TARGET HOUSE 300

The NASCAR Busch and Nextel Cup Series race teams made their first-ever September trip to Fontana, California for a Labor Day weekend of racing and away from its familiar, 53-year holiday home of Darlington, SC for a doubleheader at California Speedway. Kenny Wallace, who qualified a solid sixth, fought off a tight handling racecar to post a respectable 13^th place finish in the Target House 300 Busch Series test on Saturday afternoon.

As a result of his tenacity and ability to fight off his racecar’s handling woes, Wallace was able to vault back into the top ten in the Championship driver’s point standing as a result of his effort and now holds a 27-point advantage on 11^th place Ashton Lewis, Jr. Lewis dropped out of the top ten after finishing 23^rd in Saturday’s race.

Wallace had his #23 Stacker2/Northeastern Supply Company Chevrolet in the top 10 positions most of the afternoon until his initial pit stop. After a few laps, Kenny found it difficult to get his car to turn through the corners and as a result began losing positions.

With 24 laps remaining, Wallace found himself as far back as the 22^nd spot with the top nine cars still waiting to make their final pit stops for fuel and tires. Once those cars did make their stops, Wallace improved to as high as 12^th place and only lost one position the rest of the way to finish on the lead lap and move into tenth place in points.

Nextel Cup Series regulars Greg Biffle and polesitter Casey Mears battled door to door over the final 10 laps and swapped the lead twice over the final seven circuits before Biffle assumed command for good with two laps remaining to claim his fifth Busch Series victory this year. Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne and Jamie McMurray, also Nextel Cup Series regulars, rounded out the top five finishers.

The top finishing Busch Series regular was Martin Truex, Jr. in sixth place. Truex also maintained his advantage in the driver point standings, increasing it to 95 points over closest challenger Kyle Busch with just nine races remaining. Busch will attempt to cut into Truex’s lead, and Wallace will try to strengthen his hold on his 10^th place standing when the Busch Series moves to Richmond Int. Raceway in Virginia next weekend for the running of the Emerson Radio 250 on Friday night. Race time is 8 p.m. with TNT to televise the race live nationally.

Northeastern Supply Company will step up its level of sponsorship with Wallace and his Bill Davis Race Team for the Richmond test and hopes that it can help spark the team to its first win of the 2004 Busch Series season.