WALLACE DISPLAYS CONSISTENCY AT DARLINGTON IN POSTING 12^TH 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 12^th 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 12^th place effort, Wallace did lose two spots in the driver’s championship points standing and now sits 15^th, 163 behind leader Kevin Harvick, a 21^st 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.