GAFFNEY, S.C. (July 31, 2012) – JD Motorsports w/Gary Keller is ready to continue their Brickyard-inspired boost in morale this weekend as the NASCAR Nationwide Series returns to Iowa Speedway for a Saturday night race.
Coming off a top-10 and two top-20 finishes, the team was upbeat after their good showing in last week’s first NNS race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This weekend, the No. 01 G&K Services Chevrolet team of Mike Wallace will be joined by St. Alberta, Canada driver Darryl Harr driving the No. 4 iWorld Chevrolet.
With this being Harr’s second start at Iowa, he and the team are glad to have some familiarity as they head to the 7/8ths mile oval. For a veteran like Wallace, he looks to improve on his last outing at every track.
Adding to the fun is a Saturday night under the lights event for the race-crazed Midwest fans.
Mike Wallace Notes:
· The St. Louis native will be making his 436th-career NNS start
· This will be his 20th start of the 2012 season where he is currently 15th in points, trailing 14th by eight markers
· During this season, he’s completed 3,084 of 3,320 laps contested (92.9 percent) in those 19 starts leading four races.
· As far as Iowa, he’ll be making his fifth start where he’s completed 796 of 1,000 laps contested.
· His best start and finish took place in 2011 when he started 21st and finished 19th
Darryl Harr Notes:
· This will be the ninth-career start for the St. Alberta, Canada native
· During his first four NNS starts this year, he’s completed 695 of 800 laps
· He’ll be making his third start at Iowa Speedway and fifth of the 2012 season
· He’s completed 453 of 500 laps contested (90.6 percent) at the track
· In his first two starts, he’s finished 24th and 28th, respectively
· His sponsor, iWorld will be on board again as the primary partner
Tune in for the Win
There are two practice sessions on Friday evening with the first taking place from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. ET, then Happy Hour follows from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. There is no TV coverage for either of those practices. However, when qualifying takes place 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, you can tune into ESPN2. Then, keep that dialed in for the 8 p.m. race for all 250 laps of action; which can also be heard on MRN Radio and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Ch. 90
Mike Wallace Quotes: “Iowa Speedway is one of those tracks I love to run because of how it’s laid out. It has great banking that sends you down the straightaways real fast. I know my brother Rusty was instrumental in some of this and I can tell he put in some of the short track things we all grew up on racing.
“You have to handle really well into the corners of that place so you can get out of them quickly. When you have to battle Turns 1 and 3, it can goof you up for the rest of your lap.
“The fans in Iowa are great. They love their NASCAR racing, they love to have us come out and we enjoy putting on a good show for them, too. I’m looking forward to having a good run with our G&K Services team under the lights, and I know the fans are looking forward to it, too.”
Matt Wallace Update
Mike’s son, Matt, finished fourth in his Late Model race at Lebanon I-44 Speedway on Saturday night and gained some points on the leader.
