JD Motorsports and Mike Wallace looking forward to fast track of Atlanta

Mike Wallace and the No. 01 Chevrolet of JD Motorsports head to Atlanta Motor Speedway for this Saturday night’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race in search of one thing – speed.  That’s the ticket to success at the 1.5-mile oval located just south of Atlanta. The NASCAR ranks have been coming here for years, but Wallace knows the best way to get the most out of the historic track is to be fast.

The handling and set-ups are important, too. But, those have to keep up with the fast pace of the race where drivers spend more time in the turns then they do the straightaways. Coming in to this race, Wallace also has eye on the driver’s points standings as the battle for that 11th spot is still taking place.

Chrissy Wallace Trek to the ASA Championship update:

Last weekend, Chrissy had a familiar face in the race during his ASA Late Model event Lebanon I-44 Speedway in Missouri. Her dad, Mike, jumped into a Late Model and had a little fun at the track he won the Late Model championship at in 1990. While he didn’t finish the race, Chrissy was going for the lead on the white-flag lap and got spun. After the restart, she ended up with an 11th-place finish.

Mike Wallace Notes:

· This will be the 408th NNS career start for the four-time series winner

· In 2011, Wallace has made 25 starts notching on top-five, two top-10s and 13-top-20 finishes.

· His best finish was fifth at Road America in June

· Currently sitting 13th in driver’s points, Wallace trails 12th by 22 points and 11th by 26 markers

· The native of St. Louis has 13 prior starts at Atlanta Motor Speedway during his career.

· His best start was third in 1994 and finish of eighth in 1993

· He has the one top-10 finish and seven top-20s to his credit.

· Wallace has led two races for seven laps and completed 2,297 of 2,579 laps contested

· In this race last year, he started 36th and finished 22nd.

How to watch Wallace:

Speed TV will carry the 11 a.m. ET practice at AMS then qualifying at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. For race action, switch over to ESPN2 for the 7:30 start, or tune in PRN and Sirius XM Radio Ch. 90 to hear the laps tick toward the checkered flag.

Mike Wallace Quotes:

“Atlanta is one of those tracks where you have to be fast, but you have to have your handling good to go, too. But, the speed is a huge factor here since they redid the track in 1997.”

“Even today, drivers in all series will get out after qualifying and some of their hands will be shaking because of how hard they just drove those laps. I’ve had some good starts at Atlanta, but you have to be there at the end to have it all mean something.”

“We’re still slugging it out for the point positions, but a couple of bad races have put us in a bit of a hole right now. But, like I’ve said all along, the one thing about this JD Motorsports team is we don’t give up and we keep fighting for all we can get.”

“The effort being put into the sponsorship situation is just as big for us because we’re kind of riding without any major help right now. We’ll go to Atlanta, put on a good show for the fans and get all we can from this race. I like the track, it’s fun to race and I’m looking forward to running under the lights.”

JD Motorsports PR