Wallace & The Gecko Net A Top 20 in Music City; Testing Richmond This Week

Player Management International Media Release

Lebanon, TN (March 22, 2008) – After recording two Top 10’s in three weeks, Mike Wallace and the GEICO Racing team arrived in Nashville looking for their first win of the season.  Welcomed by nice weather for a change, they unloaded the #7 GEICO Camry and went to work trying to find speed for the impending practice sessions.
 
Wallace would find success in the 1st practice session, as he would sit in the 13th position on the practice sheet when the session concluded.  The final practice session would follow a similar course and Wallace and the GEICO Camry would once again rest 13th on the final speed charts.  Armed with speed and a decent qualifying draw, Wallace and the Germain Racing team looked forward to qualifying on Saturday morning.  
 
During qualifying, Wallace and the Gecko would tour the 1.33-mile facility in 30.124 seconds, at a rate of speed of 159.302 miles per hour. When qualifying concluded, Wallace would find himself starting 24th for the Pepsi 300 at Nashville Superspeedway.
 
Under blue skies and temperatures in the mid-50’s, Wallace would take the green flag and begin to move forward in an attempt to record another top finish for the GEICO Racing team.  Things would go as planned, as Wallace would even dip into the Top 10 before a green flag pit stop just past the halfway point of the race would set him back.  
 
During the pit stop a lug nut would fail to be secured and, consequently, NASCAR would penalize Wallace and the GEICO Racing team and force the #7 GEICO Camry down pit road for a stop and go penalty that would result in Wallace going two laps down.  Unable to recover from the penalty, Wallace and the Gecko would salvage a 20th place finish and leave Nashville ready for a week off.
 
A week off of sorts.  While there is no race next weekend, on Monday, Wallace and the GEICO Racing team will pack up the #7 GEICO Camry and head to Richmond International Raceway. They will be testing and preparing for the upcoming May 2nd race at the ¾-mile D-shaped oval, which occurs in GEICO’s backyard.       
 
“Obviously, this was a rough day for the GEICO Racing team, but we kept racing and fighting and we were at least able to get a Top 20 out of the deal,” Wallace said.  “Our whole philosophy is persistence, so we’re going to put Nashville behind us and look towards Texas, which is where Sport Clips is based.  I’ve enjoyed my relationship with Sport Clips and it always makes it fun to return to Texas Motor Speedway and attempt to get their franchisees some additional exposure.”  
 
He added, “While this week is technically a week off, we’re not even taking a day off because we’re going to Richmond on Monday to test and get ready for our race up there in May.  Richmond is not far from the GEICO corporate office, so it’s a special race for all of us and we’re going to gather as much data as possible this week and do the best we can to ensure a great run up there in a few weeks.”
 
The next race for the GEICO Racing team is the O’Reilly 300 at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday, April 5, 2008.  
 
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