WALLACE ENJOYS MOST COMPETITIVE RACE OF THE YEAR WITH SOLID 7^TH PLACE FINISH IN NEW HAMPSHIRE EVENT

Veteran NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace enjoyed his most competitive race of the 2004 Busch Series season Saturday afternoon, leading a bunch of laps and coming back strong in the late stages of the Siemens 200 at New Hampshire International Speedway to post a seventh place finish.

In snapping a 4-race skid in which he had posted disappointing finishes of 33^rd, 25^th, 30th and 36^th, Wallace was able to move up one spot in the Championship Driver’s Point Standings to 14^th and within hailing distance of the top 10 with 14 races remaining on the ’04 schedule.

Saturday’s test in Loudon, NH certainly didn’t start the way it finished for Wallace and his Stacker 2/Northeastern Supply Company team. Starting well back in the field in the 35^th position after a miserable qualifying effort on Friday, Wallace’s Chevrolet Monte Carlo found the early going tough. A racecar unable to find a groove to run on a relatively flat, 1-mile race course is not where you want to be, but that is exactly where Kenny found himself through the first 40 laps.

However, after several adjustments to the car and some sharp pit strategy and pit stops, Wallace suddenly found himself near the top of the leader board around the race’s midway point. On lap 124, Kenny fought his way around Jamie McMurray to grab the lead and held it for 17 circuits. He was eventually passed by the race’s ultimate fourth place finisher, Kasey Kahne, on lap 137 and proceeded to slide back in the field when Wallace was again unable to keep his car at the bottom of the track.

Falling to as far back as the 12^th position with less than 40 laps to go, Wallace was able to rally back, took advantage of misfortunes by some of the top runners and crossed the finish line six spots behind race winner Matt Kenseth. Rounding out the top five in order were Tim Fedewa, Jason Leffler, Kahne and Kevin Harvick.

“We were simply terrible at the start, and some of the changes we made to the car after our really bad qualifying effort on Friday just didn’t work,” Wallace explained. “But we hung in there, made some major adjustments to the car during pit stops and our pit strategy worked. Had I not been running on a right front tire that was down to the cords over the final 20 laps, we might have snuck in there for a top five, but we’re happy with this effort. It is certainly good to break that slump we’ve been in the last month,” he added.

Martin Truex, Jr., who finished 11^th in a Dale Earnhardt, Jr.-owned machine, did manage to increase his lead in the driver point standings to 94 over rookie driver Kyle Busch in what has become a 2-driver battle for the Series title. Busch was looking at a possible top five finish late in the race when he spun then fourth place driver Jason Keller’s Ford around and into the front stretch wall during a re-start. Busch was penalized a lap for rough driving and ended up 25^th.

Wallace, who is now just 110 points out of the top 10 and 814 tallies behind Truex, Jr., and his Bill Davis Racing crew will be seeking similar success next weekend when the Busch Series moves to Colorado Springs, CO for the Goulds Pumps/ITT Industries 250 at Pikes Peak International Raceway. The Saturday, July 31st event takes the green flag at 3:30 EDT with TNT to televise the race live.