The RAB Racing #29 Toyota Care Camry with Kenny Wallace at the wheel made its first start of the 2013 NASCAR Nationwide season at a place where Wallace has quite a history. In 24 yeas of experience racing at Richmond International Speedway Wallace has found victory lane three times, including 18 top 10 finishes and 432 total laps lead. “I was so excited to get to Richmond this weekend, with a sponsor that has been with me for years in Toyota and Toyota Care, and with an amazing race team in RAB Racing,” said Wallace.
The #29 Toyota Camry was extremely fast right off the trailer on Thursday with the 7th fastest time, and then in Friday morning practice Wallace backed it up with the 2nd fastest time, which translated into the 5th fastest lap in qualifying.
The green flag flew and Wallace ran strong in the top 5 for the first part of the race but suddenly lost forward drive and began to fall back in the field . Fumes began to come into the cockpit and smoke from the rear end, and by lap 142 had to be pushed to the garage with a broken rear end gear, finishing 36th.
Kenny Wallace: “What a way to finish such a strong run at my favorite tack on the schedule, RAB Racing and Toyota gave me a fast Camry and before the rear end gear started coming apart I was having a ton of fun out there. We were so fast in practice all weekend with a great car setup under me, my crew chief Robby Benton who is also the car owner did a phenomenal job and the crew worked really hard to get us that fast. When the race started, almost immediately I could feel the car loosing power throughout the race and then it became evident with the smell of rear end grease. Around lap 142 we had to pull it in and park it as the gear was completely gone and was losing oil and smoking on the track. I hate it for Toyota and RAB Racing because I know we would have competed for the win with the speed we had all weekend, but it’s just one of those things so we will look forward and begin preparing for our next race in the #29.”
