WALLACE FINALLY MOVES INTO TOP 10 IN POINT STANDINGS WITH ANOTHER TOP 10 FINISH IN CHARLOTTE’S CARQUEST 300

Kenny Wallace’s smile is getting broader these days, especially after his Stacker 2/Northeastern Supply Company Chevrolet race team posted yet another top 10 finish in Saturday afternoon’s Carquest 300 NASCAR Busch Series race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway outside of Charlotte, NC.

Wallace, mired near the back of the pack of 43 cars for much of Saturday’s event, used a long stretch of green flag racing through the latter stages to his advantage to carve out a solid 9^th place finish. It was Wallace’s fifth top 10 finish in his last 10 races and enabled Kenny to finally crack the top 10 in points for the first time since the season’s second race. Wallace and his Bill Davis Racing contingent have now advanced seven spots in the points standing since first starting its top 10 streak at Nashville in early April.

While polesitter Greg Biffle, Tony Stewart, surprisingly strong Jason Leffler, Joe Nemechek and rookie Kyle Busch dominated the action during most of the race; Wallace was unable to find the handle on his #23 Chevy. He steadily fell back through the field from his 12^th starting position and at one point near the halfway mark found himself as far back as 26^th in the running order.

Wallace’s crew, meanwhile, continued to work on Kenny’s car on each caution flag and finally got it to be competitive enough to make that late charge through the field and nail down the 9^th place finish. Kenny was one of 20 drivers to complete all 200 laps on the 1.5-mile Lowe’s Motor Speedway tri-oval.

Biffle, Stewart and Nemechek all had problems that foiled their chances at the win, but the solid Busch, younger brother of Nextel Cup Series regular Kurt Busch, was solid all afternoon. He led the final 18 laps after taking the lead from Nemechek who spun all by himself in turn four. It was Busch’s second victory in his last three starts in this his rookie campaign, beating Jamie McMurray while the race was forced to end under caution. Kevin Harvick, Leffler and Stewart rounded out the top five finishers.

With the victory, Busch jumped ahead of Martin Truex, Jr. to grab the Series’ points lead for the very first time this season by 38 tallies. Michael Waltrip (158 points out of the lead) is now third in the driver points standing and is followed in order by David Green (-167) and Bobby Hamilton, Jr. (-238).

Wallace moved up one spot to the 10^th position and is now less than 100 points out of the fifth spot as racing action moves to Dover, DE next Saturday for the running of the MBNA American 200 at Dover Int. Speedway. Wallace will be seeking to add to his streak of top 10 finishes then in front of a host of Northeastern Supply Company customers and employees expected to be in attendance. “I’m really looking forward to carrying the Northeastern Supply Company colors in front of their many customers and employees next week,” Wallace said.

Saturday’s race, the 14^th of the 2004 Busch Series season’s 34 scheduled events, is set to take the green flag at 1 o’clock with the FX Cable Network televising the race live nationally.