Phoenix, AZ (April 20, 2007) – After a Top 15 finish at Texas Motor Speedway a week ago, Mike Wallace and the GEICO Racing team headed to the Valley of the Sun in hopes of closing in on the Top 5 in the point standings. Phoenix is a race that typically favors Wallace and the Phoenix Racing team was looking forward to getting there.
The #7 GEICO Chevrolet would be good to Wallace in practice, as he would find himself in the 14th position on the speed charts as the sun set on Phoenix International Raceway on Thursday evening.
Unfortunately, the car would battle a tight condition during qualifying on Friday afternoon that would prohibit the car from improving on the practice speed it had posted. Consequently, Wallace and the Gecko would find themselves starting from the 37th position, where it would be tough to move forward on a short track such as P.I.R.
Luckily for the GEICO Racing team, Wallace is an expert of sorts on short-tracks and would easily make his way to the front of the field when the green flag dropped on the 1-mile tri-oval on Friday night. Late in the race however, Wallace was running in the 13th position when rookie Marcus Ambrose would decide to send Mike Wallace into a spin in which Wallace managed to keep the car from hitting the wall. Wallace would re-start back in the 27th position for the final few laps. He would ultimately stay on the Lead Lap and work his way up to the 19th position when the checkered flag waved, salvaging what could have been a disastrous finish.
Because Wallace was able to battle back from the spin and record a Top 20 finish, he was able to improve two spots in the point standings and he now rests in the 7th position. After sitting 9th in the standings a week ago, Wallace now sits just 45 points removed from Kyle Busch in the 6th position.
“This was a frustrating weekend for me because Phoenix is a track where I traditionally run well,” Wallace said. “There was just such a change in the sunlight and temperature between practice and qualifying that it made my car really tight when I went out for qualifying. At the end of the day, we were able to run up front and even with the spin we were able to still finish on the Lead Lap in 19th.” He continued, “Most importantly, we were able to move from 9th to 7th in points and get closer to the Top 5. If you look at the standings I’m sitting 7th behind 6 full-time Nextel Cup drivers, which says a lot for our race team and how well we’ve done for this being our first full year together.”
This week, Mike Wallace and the GEICO Racing team head to the 2.66-mile tri-oval in Talladega, AL, for the Aaron’s 312 on Saturday, April 28th. In addition to his Busch Series duties, Wallace will also be running in the Nextel Cup race on Sunday, April 29th, in Phoenix Racing’s #09 Chevrolet.
Wallace, a restrictor-plate specialist is looking forward to getting to Talladega Superspeedway, where he has experienced great success.
“Talladega is a restrictor-plate track just like Daytona and these are two of my favorite places,” Wallace said. “We won Daytona for GEICO and Sport Clips in July 2004, so we always look forward to getting back to the superspeedways. We have people coming to the race from GEICO’s corporate office in D.C., so we are really excited about putting on a show for them this weekend.”
Wallace and the #7 GEICO Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS will hit the track at Talladega Superspeedway for their first practice on Thursday, April 26th, at 4:00 PM (ET), with final practice at 6:30 PM (ET). Qualifying is set for Friday evening, April 27th, at 5:05 PM (ET).
On Saturday, April 28th, the Aaron’s 312 NASCAR Busch Series race will be televised live on ABC with coverage beginning at 2:30 PM (ET) with green flag action coming at 3:00 PM (ET). Motor Racing Network (MRN) will carry the live radio broadcast.
To learn more about the GEICO Racing program, please visit: www.GEICOracing7.com.
To learn more about the Sport Clips Racing program, please visit: www.SportClips.com.