•This Week’s 5 Hour Energy Toyota … Steve Wallace will pilot Rusty Wallace Racing chassis RWR-052 in Saturday afternoon’s NAPA Auto Parts 200 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Built new for the 2011 season, this Toyota Camry debuted at Road America in June, where the Greensboro, N.C.-native started sixth and led four laps before being involved in an incident that eliminated him from contention after 52 of 57 laps. Most recently, Wallace raced this chassis to a 16th-place finish at Watkins Glen International last week.
•Through 23 Races … With 23 races of the 2011 season in the record books, Wallace has accumulated one top-five, four top 10 and 11 top-15 finishes, an average starting position of 13.7 and an average finish of 16.4. Wallace has completed 97.6 percent of the laps contested (4,128 of 4,228) thus far.
•Get to the Points … Wallace is currently ranked eighth in the NASCAR Nationwide Series driver point standings, 50 in arrears to seventh-place driver Kenny Wallace.
•Wallace at Montreal … In four previous Nationwide Series starts at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Wallace has recorded one top-10 finish.
•Road Course Averages … In 13 previous Nationwide Series road course starts (Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Road America, and Watkins Glen International) Wallace has four top-10 finishes, an average starting position of 16.5, an average finish of 19.8, has completed 835 of 958 of the laps contested, and has led six laps.
•Welcome Aboard … 5-Hour Energy Racing welcomes Couche-Tard as a partner for this weekend’s race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Couche-Tard branding will adorn the TV panel of Wallace’s No. 66 Toyota in Saturday afternoon’s race.
•Last Time Out … Wallace struggled with a multitude of handling issues in the mid-part of last Saturday’s Zippo 200 at Watkins Glen International, but persevered over long green-flag runs to bring his No. 66 5-Hour Energy Toyota Camry home in the 16th position.
•Rusty Wallace Racing at Montreal … In seven previous Nationwide Series starts at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Rusty Wallace Racing entries have recorded two top-10 finishes.
•Rusty Wallace Racing in 2011 … With 23 of 34 races completed thus far in the 2011 season, Rusty Wallace Racing’s three NASCAR Nationwide Series entries have recorded a combined two top-five, 10 top 10 and 23 top-15 finishes. Rusty Wallace Racing Toyotas have completed 8,975 of 9,357 laps attempted, and have been atop the leaderboard for 19 laps with drivers Michael Annett, Jason Bowles, David Reutimann and Wallace.
•Happy Birthday, Steve … Wallace will celebrate his 24th birthday on Thursday, August 18.
•Baby Watch … Team engineer Josh Sell will miss this weekend’s race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve to stay home with his wife, as the couple awaits the birth of their first child. Donovan Haidinger will be atop the pitbox in his absence this weekend.
•Codespotter … Interested in a chance to win a NASCAR Champion VIP Experience? Go to CodeSpotter.com and enter Steve’s code “SWALLACE” once per day through midnight on September 5th for your chance.
•Cast Your Vote … Voting has begun for the Most Popular Driver of the Year award in the Nationwide Series. Fans are encouraged to log onto NASCAR.com to vote for their favorite driver from the series once per day until voting ends on Thursday, November 17.
“I always look forward to racing at Montreal. We get in there early enough where we have time to check out the town and see some sights before we get on the track for practice. We haven’t had the finishes we wanted in the two road races so far this year, so we’ll work hard to get the finish we know we’re capable of this weekend.”- Steve Wallace on racing at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
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ABOUT LIVING ESSENTIALS, LLC
Farmington Hills, MI-based Living Essentials, LLC, is the maker of 5-Hour Energy, the category leader in two-ounce liquid energy shots. 5-Hour Energy is available nationwide at major retailers in the Grocery, Drug Store, Mass Merchant, Warehouse and Convenience Store classes of trade. Living Essentials sells over seven million bottles of 5-Hour Energy per week. For more information, please visit 5hourenergy.com.
ABOUT RUSTY WALLACE RACING, LLC
North Carolina-based Rusty Wallace Racing (RWR) is a professional auto racing team steeped in the legendary racing history of its founder, Rusty Wallace. The team currently campaigns the No. 66 and No. 62 Toyota Camrys-driven by Steve Wallace and Michael Annett, respectively-in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. RWR will also campaign the No. 64 Camry in select 2011 events. RWR entries have finished among the top-ten in the Nationwide Series driver or owner standings in each of the last three seasons. For more on Rusty Wallace Racing, please visit the award-winning rustywallace.com.
