STEVE WALLACE / 5-HOUR ENERGY RACING NOTES: BRISTOL I
News and Notes.
THE STORY: Known as one of the Nationwide Series’ preeminent short track aces, Steve Wallace and his 5-Hour Energy team head to Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend for the first short track event of 2011. That event couldn’t have come sooner for the No. 66 team; they enter Bristol in search of a bit of redemption, following an unexpected start to their 2011 campaign. After tire and suspension issues at Daytona and Phoenix, Wallace battled an extremely loose race car in Las Vegas two weeks ago to claw his way back into the top-15 of the championship standings.
STEVE WALLACE AT BRISTOL: In nine career attempts at Bristol, Wallace’s record boasts one pole, four top-five starts and six top-ten starts. His average start of 12.2 is best among Nationwide Series drivers entered in the event and fifth-best overall. He has two top-ten finishes on Bristol’s bullring.
The Machines.
TEAM 66 PRIMARY: RWR-054-Car 054 has two prior NNS starts. It scored a top-ten start earlier this year at Phoenix, before subsiding to a right-front suspension failure. It also ran at Richmond in fall 2010, where in the hands of Steve Wallace, it started 25th en route to a lead-lap 16th-place finish.
TEAM 66 BACKUP: RWR-052-Named the 66 team’s backup in all of the COT races to date, car 052 made its on-track debut with a lead-lap top-15 finish at Daytona in July 2010, when a bizarre practice incident saw unsecured ballast from a backmarker strike the front of the No. 66 team’s primary car.
Your Weekly Energy Shot.
STEVE WALLACE LIVE: Steve Wallace and the No. 66 5-Hour Energy Toyota will appear this Friday at Food City Race Night-located at Bristol Motor Speedway-from 6 PM-8 PM.
WELCOME FOOD CITY: 5-Hour Energy welcomes Food City as a partner for the Bristol event. Food City branding will adorn the TV panel of Steve Wallace’s No. 66 car for Saturday’s race. In 2004, Wallace captured a victory in Bristol’s inaugural UARA event with primary backing from Food City.
From the Cockpit.
Q: You’re heading to Bristol this weekend, a track where you’ve traditionally performed well. How does that change your mindset?
A: You always get excited about going to a track where you know you can run well. Sometimes that can be good, but sometimes that can be bad, when you’re not running as well as you hoped. As hard as it might be, you just have to treat it like any other race and stay focused.
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About Rusty Wallace Racing, LLC
North Carolina-based Rusty Wallace Racing (RWR) is a professional auto racing team steeped in the legendary history of its founder, Rusty Wallace-one of NASCAR’s top-ten drivers of all-time. The team currently campaigns the No. 66 and No. 62 Toyota Camrys in the prestigious NASCAR Nationwide Series, driven by Steve Wallace and Michael Annett, respectively. RWR entries have been among the top-ten in the final Nationwide Series driver or owner standings in each of the last three seasons. For more on Rusty Wallace Racing, please visit the award-winning rustywallace.com.
