Player Management International Media Release
Bristol, TN (March 15, 2008) – Mike Wallace arrived in Bristol preparing to make his 300th career start, and he hoped to celebrate it with a good run for GEICO, Sport Clips and Smith Transport. Like so many other weekends this season, rain would play a role in the GEICO Racing team’s strategy.
On Friday, practice would be cancelled due to rain, not allowing the #7 GEICO Camry any time to adjust to the .533-mile oval. Not long after, qualifying for the Sharpie Mini 300 would also be cancelled when NASCAR chose instead to allow the race teams a practice session on Saturday morning rather than qualifying.
It appears as though qualifying being rained out is becoming the norm for Wallace and the GEICO team.
“Well, we’ve certainly gained some consistency in our qualifying program because we’re starting 17th just about every week,” Wallace joked in regard to the starting line-up being set according to 2007 final owner point standings due to poor weather.
Rain would delay the start of the Sharpie Mini 300, but not for long. Once the rain cleared, the jet dryers would quickly hit the track and prepare the World’s Fastest Half-Mile for an afternoon of old school short track beating and banging in front of a crowd of almost 100,000 fans.
Starting from the 17th position, Wallace and the #7 GEICO Camry exhibited patience when the green flag was displayed, and simply logged laps before making a calculated move to the front of the field. Notably Wallace would narrowly miss multiple crashes that would have ended his hopes for a good finish in Bristol. During pit stops, the Germain Racing team would turn out timely stops that would assist in Wallace’s trek to the Top 10.
By Lap 106, Wallace and the #7 GEICO Camry would settle comfortably in the Top 10 and reside there for the remainder of the afternoon. Rain would begin to lightly blanket the historic short track around Lap 120, however racing would continue until conditions worsened and forced the red flag to be displayed on Lap 171. The GEICO Camry would find itself in the 10th position when the cars came to a rest on pit road.
As the rain set in, NASCAR would soon call the race and since the race had surpassed the halfway point, the running order would stand and Mike Wallace and the GEICO team would record their 2nd Top 10 in three weeks.
While most teams would be glad to record a Top 10 finish in Bristol, Wallace had his sights set higher for his 300th career start in NASCAR’s #2 series.
“It’s Bristol, so we will gladly take the Top 10 finish, especially since the #7 GEICO Camry is in one piece, but we definitely had a car to win this race,” Wallace said shortly after rain overtook the track and forced fans and teams alike to seek shelter. “We were really strong today and the GEICO team did a great job on the pit stops and we worked really hard to put ourselves in position to get a win here today. The good news is that we have our second Top 10 in three weeks and we’ve jumped two spots in the point standings to 7th.”
He continued, “Next week we go to Nashville where I have traditionally ran well and it will give us a chance to continue making up ground on (David) Reutimann in the 5th spot in the point standings. We’ve shown that we’re a good team and that we can compete with anyone out here, and we will continue to go out and work hard to get a win for GEICO, Sport Clips and Smith Transport.”
As Wallace mentioned, the Gecko now sits in the 7th position in the point standings, moving up two spots from last week’s standings. In what could be deemed a battle of television commercial stars, Wallace closely eyes David Reutimann in the 5th position, where just 65 points makes up the difference between the two.
This week, the Germain Racing team will pack up the #7 GEICO Camry and head to Nashville, TN, for the Pepsi 300.
Mike Wallace and the #7 GEICO Camry will hit the track at Nashville Superspeedway for their first practice on Friday, March 21st, at 2:30 PM (ET). Final practice is also on Friday at 5:30 PM (ET), followed by qualifying on Saturday morning at 11:05 AM (ET).
The Pepsi 300 is on Saturday, March 22nd, and it will be televised live on ESPN beginning at 2:00 PM (ET), with green flag action coming at 3:00 PM (ET). The Motor Racing Network (MRN) will carry the live radio broadcast.
Visit the new innovative, interactive GEICO Racing web site at: www.geicogarage.com
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