Teammate Danny Efland to make second HMS start
GAFFNEY, S.C. (November 13, 2012) – Mike Wallace and Danny Efland head to the NASCAR Nationwide Series finale at Homestead Miami Speedway this weekend with one thing in mind – get a fantastic finish for their JD Motorsports w/Gary Keller team.
Underfunded, maybe understaffed, and definitely undeterred – each member of this team wants to close out their 2012 season on a high note at the South Florida track. Both drivers, crew chiefs and crews know it’s been a long season and finishing with a fine finish makes their 10-month journey from Daytona to now worthwhile.
Wallace will end the season like he started carry the G&K Services logo and lettering on his No. 01 Chevrolet. Efland will have Tradebank on his No. 4 Chevrolet for the dusk-to-darkness race on Saturday evening.
Mike Wallace Notes
· This will be the St. Louis native’s 449th career NNS start
· HMS is the 33rd and final start for the 2012 season
· During that span, the four-time career winner of Wallace has completed an impressive 95.4 percent (5,567 of 5,838) laps contested and led five races for nine laps
· He is currently 12th in points and looks to lock that up in the Driver’s Standings
· The team has 17 finishes of 20th or better during those 33 starts
· Saturday will be Wallace’s 12th start at HMS, where he’s led two races
· He’s completed a very impressive 99.3 percent (2,187 of 2,203) laps contested in those first 11 starts at the 1.5-mile oval
· His best start was 16th (2009) and finish was 12th (2005)
· Three of his last four HMS finishes have been in the top-20
Danny Efland Notes
· The native of Irmo, S.C. is making his 55th career NNS start this Saturday
· It will be his 18th start in 2012, which matches his most starts in one season since 2008
· For the season, Efland has completed 2,234 of 3,021 laps contested (73.9 percent)
· He has one prior HMS start where he completed 195 of 200 laps (97.5 percent)
Tune in for the Win Friday will have two practice sessions with the first taking place from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. ET; the second is from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. and is on ESPN2. Saturday starts with qualifying at 11:30 a.m. on SPEED and race time is 4:30 p.m. on ESPN2, MRN Radio and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Ch. 98
Mike Wallace Quotes: “Well, this is it – the final race of the 2012 season. You start out at Daytona with high hopes and great expectations, you have some good runs, some not so good runs and it ends at Homestead Miami Speedway.
“The best part about it for this JD Motorsports team is we committed to run the whole season, had sponsorship for some and others we had a little or none at all. And, we did it – we ran every race.
“Of course I would have liked to put together more good finishes. We’re most likely going to end the season 12th in points and that’s pretty good with the level of competition we have in this Nationwide Series.
“I’m looking forward to ending the season on a good note with a solid finish. This team deserves it for all the hard work we all put into our racing efforts. So, let’s drop the green one last time and go make it happen at Homestead.”
