The Steve Wallace of 2009 is a much different driver than the Steve Wallace of 2007, or at least that’s what his competitors in the NASCAR Nationwide Series say of the Rusty Wallace Racing driver.
 
And that’s what his teammate at RWR, Brendan Gaughan says, too. The evidence is also there in the statistics, as Wallace is eighth in the series standings heading into this weekend’s Kroger 200 at O’Reilly Raceway Park, with five top-10 finishes. That’s only two fewer than all of last year.
 
And the number of accidents has gone down, too, as has the number of “stupid” things he has done – perhaps not withstanding last weekend’s dustup with Scott Lagasse Jr. at Gateway International Raceway.
 
In his first 87 races, he crashed out of nine races and was parked for rough driving in another. This year, he has crashed out of two, although the wreck in Daytona in February wasn’t his fault.
 
What has gone up is the level of respect Wallace is getting from his fellow drivers.
 
“I think when you run good and you race respectfully – you don’t lean on guys, you don’t race guys down in the corner – basically, if you’re not a moron, you’ll be treated all right,” Wallace said. “I like to feel all the moron stages and all the stupid [stuff] I’ve done in the past is a lot better. And we’re running really good. I think I’ve got a lot of respect out there.”
 
The respect starts with series point leader and Sprint Cup competitor Kyle Busch, who has noticed Wallace doing a “lot better job” this year than in previous seasons.
 
“He has been smoother,” Busch said. “He has been a little bit more consistent. He hasn’t been so erratic like finishing well one week and then wrecking the next. He seems to be getting the idea of finishing every single week.”
 
Richard Childress Racing’s Stephen Leicht has been racing with Wallace since the two competed in Late Models as teenagers, and Leicht has seen a change, too.
 
“I grew up racing Late Models with Steven when we were 16, 17 years old, so I’ve been around Steven quite a bit,” Leicht said. “He was kind of a wild man at first. He never went through a race in Late Models with me without bouncing off the wall at least once or twice.
 
“But I think the last year, year-and-a-half, he has really calmed down; he has matured a lot. He has realized you have to be at the end of these races, not just the first 100 laps or 100 miles. He has definitely come a long way.”
 
A prime example of Wallace’s maturity on the track came in the race at the Milwaukee Mile last month. In the closing stages, Wallace’s No. 66 Chevrolet was one of the fastest cars on the track. He moved in on Brad Keselowski for position and had a good run off Turn 2 on lap 200 of the 250-lap race.
 
But Keselowski was in Wallace’s groove, so Wallace was faced with a choice: Run into the rear of Keselowski or back off.
 
“It wasn’t time to push anything,” Wallace said. “You go back to learning what to do and not to do. I really feel like we had the car to beat there.”
 
Wallace backed off and held his position, and though he eventually finished sixth, perhaps he earned some more respect.
 
“He had a really fast race car and had to fall back in the beginning part of the run because it was too loose, and then at the end of the run he was real fast and came back through there, so that was real smart,” Busch said. “He has just become a smarter racer. He didn’t have a whole lot of experience growing up racing Legends cars, racing Late Models, racing Camping World East Series.
 
“He sort of just raced a few Late Model races and [team owner and father] Rusty [Wallace] said, ‘OK, here’s the Busch Series. Go have at it.’ It’s very hard to do that, and it’s hard to learn at this sort of level. This level is one of the highest levels in racing, so it’s good for him that now he’s getting it and being able to become a better Nationwide Series driver.”
 
Wallace said that’s all part of growing up, getting older and gaining experience. When he came in as a rookie two years ago, Wallace faced enormous pressure, being the son of former Cup champion Rusty and the nephew of Kenny and Mike Wallace, both of whom have been race winners in what is now known as the Nationwide Series.
 
Steve Wallace was often fast, but he wrecked a lot, too.
 
“The more seat time, the more you run, the better you get,” Steve Wallace said. “I’d say my first season, I feel like I had a lot of pressure to perform because of my father and my team. The past year has been really good. I’m real relaxed. I feel I honestly belong here. I feel like I’ve got the talent to do it. I feel like I’m smart enough to do it.”
 
Teammate Gaughan noted that Wallace didn’t flinch when he had a rough start to the 2009 season, getting crashed in two consecutive races.
 
“Think about the start of the season: Getting wrecked by [Jason] Leffler [at Daytona] and at California another deal that wasn’t his own making,” Gaughan said. “To come back and be [eighth] in points, I’m extremely pleased with Steven. He’s showing a lot of patience – more than me half the time now. He’s doing great.”