Player Management International Media Release
Contact: Doug Barnette
Concord, NC (October 12, 2007) – Lowe’s Motor Speedway would seem more like bumper cars than stock cars on Friday night, as the event would see ten caution flags before the evening ended. Fortunately for Mike Wallace, he would use his veteran experience to duck and move to miss multiple crashes and survive the Dollar General 300 and give GEICO their 7th Top 15 finish of the 2007 season.
When the GEICO Racing team arrived at Lowe’s Motor Speedway on Friday afternoon to begin practice, they were cautiously optimistic. The car they were planning to use in Charlotte was an extremely fast car, but it was turned into scrap metal after a crash two weeks ago at Kansas Speedway. Unfortunately, practice would provide little consolation for the Phoenix Racing team, as they would sit 38th on the final speed charts in both practice sessions.
When qualifying concluded late Friday afternoon, Wallace and the Gecko would find themselves starting from the 32nd position, while teammate J.J. Yeley would be relegated to the back of the field after a crash in qualifying.
Starting 32nd would be of little consequence for Wallace, as he would battle hard and charge to the front of the field, narrowly avoiding several crashes. Despite the display of ten caution flags under the night sky, Wallace would safely maneuver his way around the 1.5-mile quad-oval and ultimately find himself running in the Top 5 before bringing the #7 GEICO Chevrolet home in the 15th position when the checkered flag waved over the legendary speedway.
The 15th place finish would help Wallace and the Gecko inch closer to the Top 10, as he sits just 22 points behind Matt Kenseth. Looking further up the chart, Wallace rests only 87 points behind Stephen Leicht in the 8th position.
“We were fortunate to get out of here tonight without tearing our stuff up and it was certainly a plus to be able to get a Top 15,” Wallace said. “Right now, it’s all about the points and we were able to close the gap tonight and we’re looking forward to getting to Memphis and getting back to where we need to be, which is in the Top 10. There’s no pressure here because this is what we do for a living and we’re good at it. Now we’ll focus on doing it better for the final four races.”
Mike Wallace and the #7 GEICO Chevrolet will enjoy a Saturday off this week, as the NASCAR Busch Series takes its second break in three weeks. They will return to action on October 27th, when they travel to Memphis, TN, for the Sam’s Town 250.
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.