WALLACE STEADY IN NINTH PLACE FINISH AT RICHMOND

Kenny Wallace and his Stacker 2/Northeastern Supply Company race team for Bill Davis Racing rebounded from their problems last week in St. Louis by posting a solid, ninth place finish Friday night at Richmond International Raceway in Virginia in the Funai 250 NASCAR Busch Series event.

Engine woes early in last week’s Charter 250 at Gateway International Raceway halted Wallace’s string of top ten finishes at two and dropped him into the 14^th position in the driver’s championship point battle. At Richmond, however, Wallace had a steady, consistent racecar and stayed in the top 15 most of the night. Though he didn’t have the horsepower to challenge the top runners, he still managed to keep the faster cars in his sight right to the end of the 250-lap test on RIR’s wide and fast ¾-mile D-shaped track.

“We had a top 10 racecar and didn’t do anything to ruin it,” Wallace explained after the race. “Had we not had those engine problems last week at Gateway, this could very well have been our fourth straight top 10 performance, so we are starting to make some headway. We just have to keep working hard and together, and that should put us in a position to challenge for a win before long,” Kenny added.

Rookie Kyle Busch posted his first career victory in the Richmond event in dominating fashion, leading all but 14 of the 250 laps and winning from the pole position…Busch’s third top qualifier effort this year in the first 11 races. Busch held off a fast closing Greg Biffle to gain the win with Kevin Harvick, Bobby Hamilton, Jr. and Jason Keller rounding out the top five.

Despite his third top ten finish in four races, Wallace was unable to move up in the driver point standings. He remained in the 14^th position, 405 behind new point leader Busch who now leads second place Martin Truex, Jr. by 15 points. David Green (-97 points), Michael Waltrip (-98) and Robby Gordon (-148) round out the top five drivers who now move with the rest of the Busch Series entourage to Nazareth, PA for next weekend’s Goulds Pumps/ITT Industries 200 at Nazareth Int. Speedway. This unique Sunday afternoon test takes the green flag at 1 p.m. and will be televised live on the FX Cable Network.

This might very be the final Busch Series race to be run at Nazareth as rumors have all spectator racing leaving the 5-turn, 1-mile facility after this year with the Busch Series race reportedly heading back to Watkins Glen, NY in 2005 after a 3-year absence.