Mike Wallace Captures Best Finish Of The Year At Darlington

Mike Wallace avoided trouble and fought his way to the front this weekend at Darlington Raceway to capture a season best, 15th place finish.

After a disappointing finish at Richmond International Raceway, the JD Motorsports team was looking to the toughest track on the schedule for some good luck and a great finish. With Wallace’s veteran skills, the team knew that they could place well in their home state as long as Wallace didn’t get a “Darlington Stripe.”

Mike Wallace was 23rd quickest in the only NASCAR Nationwide Series practice. He ran a lap time of 29.737 seconds at 165.370 MPH. Wallace took 38 treacherous laps around the 1.336 mile egg-shaped oval, and his 20th lap was his fastest.

“This is the same car that we have run for four weeks now,” Mike Wallace said. “We continue to work on the chassis, and the guys have made it drive really well here at Darlington. I’m pleasantly surprised on how well it drives. I probably under drove it earlier in practice, so I didn’t post that big lap speed when the tires were fresh.”

Qualifying was canceled due to a rain shower that hit the track roughly around 2:00 p.m. Mike Wallace started 23rd in the No. 01 G&K Services Chevrolet. During the first 44 laps, Wallace was in and out of the top 25 slowly making his way to the front. The team decided to stay out and not pit on a lap 47 caution. That moved the No. 01 G&K Services Chevrolet to the 14th position. It was a great call by veteran crew chief Brad Parrott, because that gave Wallace the edge to stay well within the top 20.

“The first part of the race was good,” Wallace said. “We worked on our car to run the bottom of the race track, and it did run the bottom well. We were going forward during the first part, and apparently we didn’t make enough adjustments at the end. We got loose, and I drove the car to the limit of what it was capable of, and it was loose. We got behind, but it was the best finish of the year, and we are appreciative of all of the work that everyone has done and all of the folks from G&K Services for their support.”

On lap 96, all mayhem broke loose on the backstretch. Wallace was able to avoid the spinning cars and flying debris of the multicar wreck. When the smoke cleared, Wallace was just outside of the top 10 in the 11th position.

“I was tucked up underneath the No. 51 coming off of turn two, and we knew there were some cars that stayed out on tires, and everyone just kind of jammed up,” Wallace said. “I have no idea what happened up there. Fortunately, I was able to stay off of the No. 51. I could see to the left side of him, and we just started slowing up. They aimed at us, but they didn’t get us. So it was all good.”

After the huge crash, the race went green from there, and Mike Wallace brought the car home in the 15th position. This was JD Motorsport’s best finish all year. Not too many teams get their best finish at the track “Too Tough to Tame.”

“It was a good night,” Owner Johnny Davis said. “We struggled with the first pit stop, but the boys bounced back and got the rest of them better. We are not where we need to be on pit stops just yet. The car was real loose in the end, and that’s what got us behind. We started off with a better car, but when it cooled down, the front tires got more grip, and the rear tires lost grip. We are working on it. A 15th place finish isn’t bad.”

 

JD Motorsports PR