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WALLACE DISPLAYS CONSISTENCY AT DARLINGTON IN POSTING 12TH PLACE FINISH IN 200 LAPPER
For the first time since the 2004 NASCAR Busch Series season
opener in Daytona Beach, FL, driver Kenny Wallace displayed consistency
Saturday afternoon in the Diamond Hill Plywood 200 at Darlington Raceway in
Darlington, SC. The result was a 12th place finish and hopes that
his race team is headed in the right direction.
Wallace posted his best qualifying effort of the young
season with a third best effort on Friday. Though he was unable to mount a
challenge against the front running racecars during Saturday’s race, Wallace
was able to pretty much run in the top 10 all day. Fighting a tight handling
condition with his Stacker 2/Northeastern Supply Company Chevrolet during the
second half of the race, Wallace needed a little more time in the pits during
his final stop of the day to have some adjustments made to his car. It resulted
in Wallace losing a couple of spots on the grid that bumped him out of the top
10 and he was never able to crack the elite group the rest of the way.
22 cars completed all 147 laps headed by the Roush Racing
duo of Greg Biffle and Jeff Burton, both Nextel Cup Series regulars. Biffle won
the race to continue the mastery over the Busch circuit regulars by the Nextel
Cup drivers. A Nextel Cup driver has won all four Busch Series races run thus
far this season.
Biffle dominated the race after taking the lead for keeps on
lap 116 thanks to a lightening quick pit stop and easily held off the
challenges of teammate Burton, David Green, Martin Truex, Jr. and David Stremme
who rounded out the top five finishers.
Despite his consistent run and 12th place effort,
Wallace did lose two spots in the driver’s championship points standing and now
sits 15th, 163 behind leader Kevin Harvick, a 21st place
finisher in Saturday’s test. With his third place finish, Green moved into the
second position in points, 26 behind Harvick. Rounding out the top five in
points after this year’s first four races is Michael Waltrip, Truex, Jr. and
Robby Gordon who trail Harvick by 42, 70 and 77 points, respectively.
Wallace hopes to be even more consistent next Saturday
afternoon when the Busch Series moves to popular Bristol (TN) Motor Speedway
for the running of the Sharpie Professional 250 that takes the green flag at 1
p.m. The race will be televised live on the FX Cable Network.
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