SURPRISE! SURPRISE! WALLACE DOES RUN IN ROCKINGHAM

After he failed to qualify his own Stacker 2/Northeastern Supply Company Chevrolet Monte Carlo for Saturday afternoon's Goody's Headache Powders 200 at the North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham, Kenny Wallace and his Bill Davis Racing team made a major decision that ultimately put Wallace into the starting field.

BDR elected to buy the starting spot (28th) and race car (#91 Chevrolet) that had been qualified by part-time NASCAR Busch Series runner Stanton Barrett. That enabled Wallace to at least participate in the event and not lose the opportunity of acquiring valuable points towards the 2004 Busch Series Driver Championship. Barrett, however, earned the car owner points that during the season determines provisional berths in races in which a car fails to qualify.

The end result was a very much appreciated 15th place finish, one lap down to eventual race winner Jamie McMurray. McMurray, one of four Nextel Cup drivers finishing in the top ten, took advantage of a late-race battle between then race leader Kevin Harvick and the lapped car of Robby Gordon to sneak by and grab the lead. McMurray held off a fast-closing Martin Truex, Jr., earn his fourth career victory at The Rock, the nickname for the North Carolina Motor Speedway.

Wallace's effort enabled him to move into 10th place in the driver's point standings after two of this season's 34 scheduled races. Harvick moved into the lead but is just 5 points better than Johnny Sauter. David Green, Gordon and Ron Hornaday round out the top five in points, 41, 44 and 50, respectively behind Harvick.

Wallace had the fastest race car in practice on Friday prior to qualifying but had something go sour in his motor during his qualifying run and ended up out of the top 38 cars. Kenny and his #23 Stacker 2/Northeastern Supply Company normally would have been given a provisional starting berth, but a NASCAR rule that prohibits Nextel Cup drivers from gaining provisional starting spots in Busch Series races prevented Wallace from getting into the field. Even though Wallace is a full-time Busch Series driver in 2004, provisionals for the first four races on the 2004 schedule are given out based on the final 2003 car owner points standing when Wallace ran the full Winston Cup Series schedule.

Wallace will leave Rockingham with a smile now, however, and he will seek to continue climbing through the top 10 when the Busch Series resumes its schedule in two weeks at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the running of the Sam's Town 300. The FX Cable Network will telecast that race live beginning at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.