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ENGINE PROBLEMS SIDELINE WALLACE EARLY IN ST. LOUIS
Kenny Wallace’s homecoming turned out to be a disappointing
one on Saturday night as engine problems forced Wallace’s Stacker
2/Northeastern Supply Company sponsored Chevrolet out early in the Charter 250,
NASCAR Busch Series race at Gateway International Raceway just across the river
from St. Louis. The result was a frustrating 33rd place finish that
ended Wallace’s string of top 10 finishes at two.
“We were doing just fine until one of the restarts we had
after one of those early-race cautions,” Wallace explained. “We shift at this
race track because of the long straight-aways, and on that restart something
broke inside the motor. I continued to lose power and finally had to park it,”
Wallace added.
Wallace was one of a half dozen different drivers to lose
out to engine problems during the grueling run on the fast, 1 ¼-mile,
egg-shaped Gateway oval. He had qualified a decent 13th and was
running as high as 11th until the engine finally gave out. Wallace
was hoping for a much better result as he grew up just 17 miles from the
track’s location in neighboring Fenton, Missouri and was seeking to move closer
to the top 10 in driver points in front of many boyhood friends.
Unfortunately, the 33rd place finish dropped
Wallace down two spots to 13th in the driver point standings after
10 races, 377 behind new points leader Martin Truex, Jr. who posted his third
victory of the 2004 season in Saturday’s event. Finishing behind Truex were Ron
Hornaday, Jr., Jason Keller, Bobby Hamilton, Jr. and rookie Kyle Busch.
Truex now holds a 16-point advantage on Michael Waltrip in
the points standing with Busch (-29), David Green (-86) and Robby Gordon (-93)
rounding out the top five. Wallace now sits 93 points out of the 10th
position currently held by Johnny Sauter.
Kenny will try and get back on track this Friday night at
Richmond International Raceway when the Busch Series moves to Richmond, VA for
the running of the Funai 250. That race gets the green flag at 7:30 p.m. with
the FX Cable Network broadcasting the event live.
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