Young Pilot Hopes Solid Run Marks Start of March Forward in Standings

By:
On:
In: Xfinity Series News

After a rough start to his team’s 2011 Nationwide Series campaign, Rusty Wallace Racing’s Steve Wallace (No. 66 5-Hour Energy Toyota Camry) began to right his ship today, with a lead-lap 11th-place finish in this afternoon’s Scotts 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

That finish propelled Wallace one spot forward-to 13th-in the Nationwide Series driver standings.  He now stands 43 points back of leader Jason Leffler and a mere 20 markers behind fifth-place Aric Almirola.

After being named by many as among the preseason favorites for the 2011 Nationwide Series title, Wallace has been bitten by mechanical failures throughout the first few races of the year.  His 11th-place effort in Bristol marks his best finish of the season to date and the 23 year-old hopes that it can be the springboard for a march forward in the driver standings.

Said Wallace, “We had a pretty decent car today.  It actually got really good towards this middle of the race, but after the track rubbered up with the new tire, the car got really tight.  We took some pretty big swings at changes, but couldn’t get it quite free enough to run in the top-five.

“I never thought I’d say this, but after the first three races, finishing 11th almost feels like a win.  Our team is a lot better than our results show right now; we’ve just had a lot of bad luck over the first three weeks.  We’re all working hard to get back to where we feel we belong and hopefully this is a step towards making that happen.  It’ll just take a couple of solid runs and we’ll be right there; it’s a long season and there’s a lot of racing left.

Up this week for RWR’s No. 66 and No. 62 teams is a two-day test at Pikes Peak International Raceway, before the teams head to Los Angeles for next weekend’s 300-miler at Auto Club Speedway.  Wallace enters the Auto Club weekend with two-straight top-tens in the Spring event there, including a sixth-place effort in last year’s race.

Rusty Wallace Racing

Speedway Digest Staff
Latest posts by Speedway Digest Staff (see all)
Post Views: 49