CUT TIRE AND HARD ENCOUNTER WITH THE WALL FOIL WALLACE’S EFFORT IN RICHMOND, VIRGINIA

Kenny Wallace’s hopes of solidifying his position in the top ten in the NASCAR Busch Series championship driver’s points race took a blow on Friday night when a cut tire and encounter with a concrete retaining wall foiled Wallace’s efforts in the Emerson Radio 250 at Richmond (VA) International Raceway.

Disappointed with his 26^th place qualifying effort, Wallace was optimistic about his chances in his #23 Stacker 2/Northeastern Supply Company Chevrolet. He legitimately felt that his race team was building some momentum after solid performances over the last few races, and it showed in the early stages of Friday night’s race. After the first 20 laps, Wallace had picked off six positions and liked the way his car handled.

On lap 47, Wallace’s team and only a handful of others on the lead lap elected to pit for tires, fuel and some adjustments to their racecars during a caution period, hoping to move well up into the field when the leaders finally pitted later in the race. The fresh tires helped Wallace initially, Kenny moving up to as high as the 15^th position when the handling on his racecar gradually started to go away.

Wallace and his Bill Davis Racing Team badly needed a caution flag to keep from going down a lap on lap 121, but they didn’t expect that it would be their car that would bring out that yellow flag. The culprit was a cut right front tire that eventually blew, sending Kenny’s car hard into the turn two retaining wall and ending his hopes at another top 10 finish.

Wallace was credited with a 33^rd place finish, dropping him out of the top ten in the driver point standings.

“I truly believe that I had a much better racecar than what we showed tonight, but that cut tire killed any chance for us to show that”, Wallace said. “Momentum was on our side, and we really weren’t too upset about qualifying so poorly. It just didn’t work out for us this week”, he added.

Robbie Gordon claimed his first career Busch Series victory after a torrid battle with Casey Atwood. Point leader Martin Truex, Jr. padded his lead on rookie title contender Kyle Busch by finishing third. Jason Leffler and Busch rounded out the top five finishers.

Though out of the top ten in points at this point, Wallace trails Ashton Lewis, Jr. by just 12 points and is only 38 markers out of the eighth spot with still eight races remaining in 2004. Kenny will hope to make his move back into top ten when the Busch Series teams return to action at Dover Int. Speedway in Delaware on Saturday afternoon, September 25. The Stacker 200 that day is scheduled to take the green flag at 1 p.m. with TNT to televise the race live.