Catchfence

GAFFNEY, S.C. (July 2, 2011) – The secret to racing success at Daytona International Speedway is to make it through all 100 laps with an undamaged car and avoid getting caught up in other people’s wrecks. For the #01 Cowboys & Aliens Chevrolet team of JD Motorsports, that’s exactly what Mike Wallace did – for 99.75 of the laps.

After starting 21st, Wallace would do what he does best at the plate tracks like Daytona and settle into a good running position. Too far back, and you get caught up in other people’s errors. Too far forward, and you end up a sitting duck for late in the race.

With thousands of fan’s pictures on the #01 Chevrolet via a promotion for the July 29th release of the “Cowboys and Aliens” movie, the three-time Daytona track winner kept himself in the top-20 for much of the race. Utilizing good pit stops and strategy by his JD Motorsports team, Wallace showed he was a good drafting partner for anyone who wanted to hook up in the two-car tandem style.

After breaking into the top-15, then the top-10 as the laps started to click towards the waving of the checkered flag, the St. Louis native used his 22 previous starts at DIS to his advantage. He would move up high if there was room to race there, then down low or go three wide if that’s what lanes opened up.

Two cautions in the last 20 laps slowed the pace of the race and forced some to dive to pit road for fuel and two or four tires. When they came off of pit road, those former alliances didn’t match up because of running positions for the restart. This forced new alliances for the early going until spotters and drivers could coordinate with each other to get with a solid drafting partner. With the white flag flying, Wallace and his No. 01 Cowboys and Aliens Chevrolet were in the top-10.

As they entered turn 3, Wallace got jostled to the right just in front of Danica Patrick’s Chevrolet. She was already being pushed by her teammate, Aric Almirola, towards the checkered flag and had some momentum going. Wallace moved down to where he had been running, Patrick made contact off the right side of the No. 01, others started to bump into each other at 190 mph and the mechanized mayhem began.

With cars slamming the wall, running off into the infield grass and others weaving their way through the carnage, the checkered flag was flying the whole time recording who was finishing where – no matter what condition. Wallace came across the stripe – backwards – in 15th place. While he would have liked a better finish for where they had been running, it did move him up to 12th in the Driver’s Points trailing 11th by 20 markers.

The NASCAR Nationwide Series will take to the 1.5-mile oval of Kentucky Speedway next Saturday. Of special note is the fact Wallace will be marking a significant milestone in making his 400th NNS start.

Mike Wallace Quotes: “I thought it was a pretty good race. In the early going, I hooked up with Joey Logano and we hauled butt up into the top-10. I got squirreled at one point and we ended up scraping the wall a bit. It didn’t do much to the car, but it still causes you to worry something did go wrong.

“But, we were fine and went back to racing hard to find some drafting partners. The radio was busy all night with people talking to each other. I raced with the 31 car for awhile and that’s who I was there with at the end.

“We were in the top-10 as we entered Turn 3, I got jostled there and moved up. I saw Danica (Patrick) coming and I tried to get back to where I was, but that spot was gone. Then, it all went crazy as we got gathered up in that wreck. The next thing I know I was looking at the wall, then the back to Turn 4 crossing the finish line backwards.”

- JD Motorsports Press Release