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WALLACE REMAINS 9TH IN BUSCH SERIES DRIVER POINTS AFTER FINISHING 13TH AT MEMPHIS ON SATURDAY
Kenny Wallace faded just a bit at the end on Saturday
afternoon at the Memphis Motorsports Park in Millington, TN but did post a 13th
place finish in the Sam’s Town “He Dared to Make Me Rock” 250 NASCAR Busch
Series race.
Qualified sixth in the 43-car starting field for the 2004
season’s 30th of 34 events, Wallace was eyeing a solid run and a top
five finish. He soon discovered, however, that he didn’t have the equipment to
contend with the race’s top machines and settled into the middle of the pack
throughout most of the race on Memphis’ unique ¾-mile oval.
Early race pacesetters Martin Truex, Jr., the pole sitter,
and Dave Blaney dominated the action with Truex holding off a fast closing Greg
Biffle to notch his sixth victory of the season. The win also helped increase
Truex’s lead in the driver’s championship points battle to 208 over rookie Kyle
Busch who had a miserable day and ended up 14th. Only four races
remain in the 2004 campaign.
Rounding out the top five was third place Ron Hornaday, Jr.,
Clint Bowyer and Mike Bliss.
Wallace, who actually had a shot at a top ten finish late in
the race before fading, did manage to maintain his hold on ninth place in the
points race and is now 20 points ahead of 10th place Ashton Lewis,
Jr. who finished ninth. Kenny trails eighth place Bliss by 233 points, so it
appears likely that Wallace will have to battle the likes of Lewis, Jr. and
David Stremme for the coveted ninth and 10th positions in the
standings and the right to be honored at the season-ending Awards Banquet in
Miami.
Stremme, a seventh place finisher on Saturday, is currently
11th in the standings and trails Lewis, Jr. by 32 points and Wallace
by 52 heading into next Saturday’s Aaron’s 312 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. That
race will begin at 1 p.m. and will be televised live by the TNT
Cable Network.
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