WALLACE FADES TO 12TH PLACE FINISH IN DAYTONA OPENER

The NASCAR Busch Series had its 2004 season opener delayed by nearly 48 hours this weekend, but sunny skies greeted the 43 starters for the Hershey's Kisses 300 at Daytona International Speedway in Florida Monday morning to complete a race that was halted by rain on Saturday after 31 laps.

The race ended on Monday in much the same way it had been halted on Saturday with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. leading the pack. The victory on Monday completed a rare sweep of the major races during Speed Weeks 2004 as Earnhardt claimed his very first Daytona 500 Nextel Cup Series victory Sunday afternoon after also capturing one of the Twin 125-mile qualifying races last Thursday. 1983 Winston Cup Series champion Bobby Allison was the last driver to achieve the feat back in 1988.

Veteran driver Kenny Wallace enjoyed a solid, competitive run in Monday's Hershey's Kisses 300 in his very first Busch Series race under the Northeastern Supply Company sponsorship banner. Re-starting the race in the 23rd position, Wallace gradually worked his way towards the front and was in the thick of the battle for the win with at least 15 other cars over the final 50 laps.

The last yellow flag of the day appeared on lap 53 with Wallace running 9th. He came out of the pits following his final pit stop in the #23 Stacker 2/Northeastern Supply Company Chevrolet in the seventh spot and then proceeded to battle a host of drivers at the front of the pack.

With just 5 laps remaining, Wallace had worked every groove on the race track in an effort to track down the leaders and found himself sixth on the track only to be shuffled back the final two circuits and being forced to settle for a 12th place finish.

Four more Nextel Cup drivers took the checkered flag behind winner Earnhardt. In order, this included Johnny Sauter, Robby Gordon, Kevin Harvick and the 2003 Winston Cup Series champion Matt Kenseth. The first Busch Series regular to cross the finish line first was David Stremme in the sixth position. Rounding out the top 10 were Ron Hornaday, Jason Leffler, Jason Keller and David Green. Another Nextel Cup regular, and the 2002 Busch Series champion, Greg Biffle just got past Wallace for the 11th position on the final lap.

Wallace will seek to improve on his performance this Saturday in the only NASCAR Busch Series race to be run at North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham, NC in 2004. The Rockingham 200 takes the green flag at 1 p.m. with the FOX TV network to televise its first NASCAR event of the 2004 season.