Goulds Pumps ITT Industries 200 - Mike Wallace Notes

MIKE WALLACE / GEICO RACING PRE-RACE NOTES – NAZARETH

EVENT INFORMATION - Event: NASCAR Busch Series Goulds Pumps ITT Industries 200 (NASCAR Busch Series race No. 12 of 34); Time and Date: 1 p.m. ET, Sunday, May 23; Site: Nazareth Speedway; Live Coverage: FX (television) at 12:30 p.m. and MRN (radio) at 1:15 p.m. ET; Qualifying: Broadcast live on the SPEED Channel at 4 p.m. ET, Saturday, May 22nd.

LAST RACE (Funai 250): Mike Wallace descended on Richmond, VA for Friday night’s running of the Funai 250 at Richmond International Raceway where the competition was fierce and the drama more intense as the No. 4 GEICO Ford was nearly taken out of the battle on lap 121. When the Busch Series cars took the green flag under the lights, Wallace charged through the field from his 26th starting spot and was running among the top-twenty before the events first caution fell on lap 26. Wallace moved into 18th position on the restart as he began to charge through the field. Wallace radioed into the crew that his GEICO Ford is “a little tight through the center” on lap 83, eight laps before bringing the GEICO Ford down pit road under caution for four tires, fuel, and a track bar adjustment. When the race resumed, Wallace continued to guide the GEICO machine around the .75-mile oval when the 4th caution flew on lap 112. Wallace restarted 16th and was in a door-banging battle for position with the No. 8 of Martin Truex, Jr. when the two made contact coming out of turn four on lap 121 resulting in extensive damage to the right front of the GEICO Ford. Wallace limped the GEICO machine to pit road where the crew worked feverishly to return the GEICO Ford to track. After raising the hood and checking the tie rod ends, Wallace returned to the track for seven laps before driving to the garage for more extensive repairs. The impact bent the center link, and after making the necessary repairs, Wallace returned to the track 47 laps down to the leader. “Good effort on those changes guys,” said Wallace to his crew. “Sorry we got involved in that situation. You guys prepared a car that would have been a top ten car, so keep your heads up.” Wallace rode out the event’s final 66 laps before crossing the stripe in 32nd position.

WALLACE ON NAZARETH SPEEDWAY: “Nazareth is the only oval road course that we run. It’s totally unique in the way you drive it. It’s totally unique in the corners. They call it an oval, but it has 3 to 6 corners depending on how you look at it. People say that it’s a 3 cornered race track up to a 6 cornered race track. It’s a very challenging track. I like it. It’s kind of fun to drive. It’s a different challenge.”

A LAP AROUND THE TRACK WITH WALLACE: “You start at the start/finish line and you’ve got a pretty sharp dog leg past the start/finish line. You run under a bridge you start turning down the back straight away and it probably has a 50 or 60 foot elevation change going down the back straight away into what feels like a flat or off cambered corner, although it does have a little bit of banking to it. Then you have another elevation change, going back up hill to get to the start/finish line. It’s a race track similar to St. Louis where you’ll downshift and up shift.”

WALLACE ON THE CHALLENGES AT NAZARETH: “You shift at Nazareth so you’ve got to be concerned with the gear box. Braking is a major thing too. Plus, your car is off cambered most of the time and there’s not much banking to hold the car to the track, so it has to turn really good. A lot of people will run a drop snout car there because they’ve got to turn so good in the middle of the corner. It’s really hard for the crew because they can’t see any of the race except for when we past the front straight away. It’s got a really long pit lane to it, so you actually can make up good time if you really hustle on and off pit road. There’s always a long run of green flag laps at that race track and it usually ends up being some sort of pit strategy when it all shakes out.”

BIAGI BROS. RACING 2004 SEASON SUMMARY: 11 starts; one top-10, winnings, $255,795.

MIKE WALLACE’S NASCAR BUSCH SERIES CAREER SUMMARY: 202 Starts; 3 wins; 16 top-5 finishes; 44 top-10 finishes.