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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEWTON, IA (August 1, 2009)--After ranking among the top-ten in all three of the pre-race practice sessions for Saturday's U.S. Cellular 250 at the Rusty Wallace-designed Iowa Speedway, Rusty Wallace Racing's Steve Wallace (No. 66 Chevrolet Impala SS) entered the day as one of the favorites to take home Iowa's inaugural Nationwide Series trophy.
As the event progressed however, it would ultimately take all of the young wheelman's newly-found maturity for him simply to persevere throughout the afternoon.
During the 250-lap race, Wallace would overcome various setbacks, including a cut right-rear tire, a pit stop miscue, a pit call miscue and a tire shortage. Despite these various problems, Wallace persevered to put his No. 66 in a position to contend for the victory late in the going, running as high as second position with less than 50 laps remaining.
As the field restarted with just 15 laps remaining, however, Wallace's perseverance would prove to be mostly for naught. His No. 66 restarted from the fourth position on lap 235, to the outside of No. 6--Erik Darnell. When the field took the green, No. 60--Carl Edwards was able to dive to the inside of Wallace and Darnell entering turn one, pushing Darnell and Wallace into the track's higher grooves and slowing their momentum.
No. 12--Justin Allgaier attempted to seize the opportunity, diving to the inside of Wallace and Darnell as the field exited turn two. Allgaier soon found himself unable to control his No. 12 however, and slammed into left side of Darnell's No. 6, which subsequently careened into the side of Wallace.
The resulting melee and repairs to Wallace's No. 66 eventually would put him one lap down to the leaders when the race resumed on lap 241. Despite his severely wounded Impala SS, the former Iowa ARCA winner was intent on making the most of his day and blew past all three of the cars on his lap within the event's final nine laps, to end his race with a 17th place finish.
Steve Wallace's efforts in Iowa were good enough to move him one position higher--to seventh--in the 2009 Nationwide Series driver standings, his highest career ranking to date. Wallace's sights are now set squarely on cracking the Nationwide Series top-five, with fifth-place Allgaier a mere 70 points ahead of Wallace and sixth-place, No. 1--Mike Bliss, having only an uncomfortable 56-point margin over Wallace.
Said Steve Wallace, "We had a fast race car for most of the day, especially in the first couple of runs, but today just wasn't meant to be for us. We had trouble on our second pit stop and lost some spots there. Then, we had a right-rear tire go down, but luckily we got another caution pretty quickly. That put us down a set of tires and it really cost us for the rest of the race. On our last stop, we had some miscommunication-- no one told me to pit--so we ended up having to pit the second time around and lost a ton of spots there too.
"Still, we were able to play some creative pit strategy and get ourselves up front at the end. That's all we could ask for at that point. Although we were on a bit older tires, we were still cruising along running faster than Carl (Edwards) and some of those guys; we were in good shape to get our second-straight top-five out of the deal.
"Then, we just got wrecked; that's all there was to it. I don't know if you can necessarily blame Justin (Allgaier); it was the last 15 laps and it was time to go. It's just really frustrating for our team, because we surely didn't deserve to end up 17th, especially when you look at how the top-ten ended up. We'll just hit reset, head to Watkins Glen and try to get up into the top-five in points there. That's our goal."
Meanwhile, misfortune seemed to be the theme of the day for all of Rusty Wallace Racing, as Steve Wallace's teammate, No. 62--Brendan Gaughan, would also suffer misfortune of his own, when the left rear tire on Gaughan's No. 62 disintegrated on lap 109, causing an accident that also collected several other cars. The subsequent repairs to the No. 62 Impala SS would ultimately put Gaughan six laps down to the leaders and in line for a 25th-place finish.
Despite the accident, Gaughan was able to maintain a top-ten position in the driver standings. He now sits in the tenth position with an 85-point margin over 11th-place, Michael McDowell. Gaughan was also able to maintain contact with leader Justin Allgaier in the 2009 Rookie of the Year standings. Allgaier now maintains a ten-point lead, 193-183, over Gaughan in the race for the year-end honor.
Said Gaughan, "We had a decent car today, but we've just had really bad luck over the last few weeks. It's starting to get down to the wire in the Rookie of the Year standings and in the race for the top-ten. Those are our goals for the rest of this year; we've got to work hard and step up our game in the final stretch to get those accomplished. I have a lot of faith in Bryan Berry (crew chief) and my guys; I'm sure they're going to do everything they can to put our No. 62 car up front. We'll lick our wounds, head to The Glen and try to get the job done there."
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About Rusty Wallace Racing, LLC
U.S.-based Rusty Wallace Racing is a professional auto racing team steeped in the legendary history of its founder and one of NASCAR’s top-ten drivers of all-time, Rusty Wallace. In 2008, the team’s No. 64 entry was ranked among the top-ten overall in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. For 2009, the organization campaigns the No. 66 and No. 62 Chevrolet Impala SS vehicles in the Nationwide Series. Its No. 66 entry is piloted by third-generation wheelman, Steve Wallace and its No. 62 wheeled by former NASCAR Truck Series Rookie of the Year, Brendan Gaughan. Both drivers are currently ranked among the top-ten in the 2009 standings. For more on Rusty Wallace Racing, please visit rustywallace.com.
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