Danny Efland suffers engine woes to cut his race day short
GAFFNEY, S.C. (September 22, 2012) – Mike Wallace and his www.HELPJD01.com No. 01 Chevrolet team of JD Motorsports w/Gary Keller left Kentucky Speedway after Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race with commendable results. His teammate, Danny Efland in the No. 4 Tradebank Chevrolet, experienced mechanical gremlins under the hood to shorten his day on the 1.5-mile track.
After the two practice sessions on Friday, Wallace was 28th in the first session and 26th in the second round. Efland was 31st in session one and improved to 24th in Happy Hour. When qualifying ended on Saturday morning, the No. 01 team claimed the 22nd spot and the No. 4 crew was 25th.
A competition caution on lap 32 aided in pit stops to make adjustments, take on fuel and fresh Goodyear tires after the initial green flag. As the race continued, Wallace remained pretty much where he qualified and was 21st on lap 50, of 200, under green.
Throughout the race, six cautions would slow the field allowing for many cars to stay on the lead lap. However, that would change as the race went on for longer green flag runs and only 10 cars were on the lead lap.
For Efland, who was running in the 20’s, his race would change when smoke started to come out from under the car. On lap 84, he would limp to pit road under green where the crew diagnosed the smoke as engine problems. Not wanting to hurt the car more, the team decided to end their day saddling them with a 30th-place finish.
As Wallace and team continued on, they would battle for Lucky Dog spots, positions on the scoring pylon, heavy winds and a bumpy track. Running 18th on lap 100, they would remain in the top-20 positions as the circuits ticked down to the checkers.
At one point, Wallace was battling Danica Patrick for the Lucky Dog position for several laps before she prevailed for the pass. After that, Wallace couldn’t get back on the lead lap.
With no miscues on pit road, he kept his foot in the gas looking for the best result. After a late-race stop to take on four new tires with less than 20 to go, the nose started to slide in the turns. From there, the car was very loose as Wallace held on to finish 20th at the checkered flag.
This is the team’s ninth top-20 finish in the last 11 races and keeps them at 12th in the driver’s standings. With the NNS headed to Dover International Speedway this coming weekend, they trail 11th by 28 markers.
Mike Wallace Quotes: “I’m having a hard time figuring out how we finished 20th when we were battling Danica (Patrick) there for the Lucky Dog and she finished 14th today. We had a pretty good car for the early part of the race.
“Once we got a lap down, the long green flag runs kept us from gaining more positions. On our last stop, we get four tires and that front end just slid like crazy and then we went to being very loose.
“The good news is we held on for a top-20 finish, loaded the car up in one piece and did it all without sponsorship this weekend. We’re looking for help to get through the rest of the season, trying to show what we can do out there and finish out the year with a good points position.”
