GAFFNEY, S.C. (August 7, 2012) – Mike Wallace and his JD Motorsports w/Gary Keller teammate, Darryl Harr, will be winding their way through the twists and turns of Watkins Glen International for this weekend’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race.
The track located in the Finger Lakes Region of New York State tests drivers, teams, transmission and brake specialists alike with its 11-turn layout. Aside from the left AND right turns, there’s also uphill and downhill racing in The Glen’s road course.
For Wallace, he’s made those turns, ascents and descents a few times already during his career. He’ll be wheeling the No. 01 Chevrolet this weekend while Harr will be making his first Watkins Glen start.
The driver of the No. 4 iWork.com Chevrolet, Harr, might have a cheering section on hand, too. Being a Canadian, he hopes to hear from his Maple Leaf brethren during introductions as NYS borders parts of Canada.
Mike Wallace Notes:
· This will be career start No. 437 for the St. Louis native
· During that span, he’s logged four career victories
· This will be his 21st start in 2012
· During that time, he’s led four races and completed 3,378 of 3,570 laps (93.2 percent) laps contested
· His best finishes of the season (15th) took place at Charlotte and New Hampshire
· Three of his last four races have been top-20 finishes
· Wallace currently sits 15th in points, trailing 14th by just eight markers
· This will be his 10th start at Watkins Glen International
· During that time, he’s completed 534 of 681 laps contested and had four top-20 finishes
· His best start took place in 1991 when he rolled off 14th and his best finish was 10th in 1993
Darryl Harr Notes
· The 30-year old native of St. Alberta, Canada will be making his 10th NNS start of his career, and sixth of the 2012 season
· During that time, he’s completed 871 of 1,050 laps contested (83 percent)
· This will be his first NNS road course start, as well.
Tune in for the Win
There is only one practice session, which will take place on Friday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. ET on SPEED TV. Then, qualifying can be seen Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. on ESPN. For the race, you’ll have to switch over to ABC-TV and/or tune into MRN Radio or Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Ch. 90 for all the action.
Mike Wallace Quotes: “The one thing I like about Watkins Glen is how we go from one elevation at Turn 1, up the hill through Ess Turns and into the Bus Stop, before heading downward through the Carousel Turn and the short chute on the back, before two more turns, then downhill as we go by pit road into Turn 1 again.
“It’s a fun course to drive, it’s in a beautiful area and the fans love it because it’s the only time we visit New York to race. I know a lot of us take some time to go see the sites around Seneca Lake and such.
“We’ve had some great runs in the road course cars with JD Motorsports and I’d like to do that again at The Glen. I know Newt (Moore, crew chief) and the team have put in some extra effort into getting out cars ready for this race.
“Now, we just need to go out there and show what hard work can do and get a good finish for all of us on the team.”
