Mike Wallace and the No. 01 G&K Services Chevrolet of JD Motorsports had a long and trying day at Bristol Motor Speedway for Friday night’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race.
During the one practice session held during the morning, Wallace and team were shown 40th on the practice chart. They knew they needed to make some massive adjustments to the car for qualifying. But, when that concluded, they were listed as 39th on the scoring chart.
Once the race started under the lights of Bristol, the .533-mile concrete oval wasn’t kind to the St. Louis native. He worked his way forward in short bursts to crack the top-25 for most of the race. However, with the way the car wasn’t handling, he wasn’t able to muster too much of an effort to gain more positions.
Working against them was the race itself as it yielded a mere five caution periods during the 250 circuits towards the checkered flag. With that, a crew chief doesn’t have much aid in figuring a pit strategy to benefit their struggles. The stops for Wallace included chassis and air pressure adjustments to get the car better. After fuel and new tires were placed on the car, Wallace went back out to see what he could do to pick up more positions.
At one point when they were down laps, the decision as to whether or not to take the wave around ensued. The decision to take tires and make more adjustments was made and Wallace returned to action in search of track positions. By the time the checkered flag waved, the good news was the No. 01 Chevrolet of JD Motorsports was still in one piece. The not-so-good news was they were trapped on their own lap with only one other car saddling the team with a 26th-place finish.
He remains 13th in the Driver’s Standings as the NNS heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway for a Saturday race.
Mike Wallace Quotes:
“We just didn’t have a very good weekend on the track. We kept trying and looking to see how we could get better, but when you only have five cautions it doesn’t give you the opportunities to pit like you’re used to at Bristol.”
“One thing I can say about this team is that we never give up trying and we hung in there from the green to the checkered flag. We just need to be better from the beginning of the race weekend.”
“We’ll get ready for Atlanta and give it our best to pick up some more points. I know this team has what it takes to get the job done.”
JD Motorsports PR
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