Player Management International Media Release
Contact: Doug Barnette
Kansas City, KS (September 29, 2007) – After leading ten laps in Dover and recording a 13th place finish at one of NASCAR’s most challenging race tracks, Mike Wallace and the #7 GEICO Racing team looked forward to visiting Kansas Speedway in hopes of picking up more ground in the points chase. While things would get off to a bright start, it provided only false hope, as the Gecko would later battle challenges that would provide him an opportunity to beat the race traffic.
When the Phoenix Racing team unloaded the #7 GEICO Chevrolet for the first practice of the weekend on Friday, they would be encouraged by the results. Wallace would land 15th on the speed charts when the first practice session ended, however both Mike Wallace and his crew chief, Gere Kennon, felt as though they could find more speed.
They would prove to be prophetic, as Wallace and the Gecko would pick up six spots on the charts from first practice and rest in the 9th position when the final practice concluded on Friday evening.
Qualifying would be held on Saturday morning under a cooler sky and temperatures and the #7 GEICO Chevrolet drew the 32nd qualifying position. Unfortunately, the #7 GEICO Chevrolet would betray the speed it showed in the final practice session, when Wallace toured the facility in 31.931 seconds, at a rate of speed of 169.115 miles per hour, which would be good for the 20th starting spot for the Yellow Transportation 300 on Saturday afternoon.
When the green flag waved in front of a packed track in Kansas City, KS, Wallace began to move to the front of the field before smoke began to billow from the rear of the #7 GEICO Chevrolet on Lap 15. Lap 16 would find Wallace and the Gecko making a trip down pit road to investigate the problem, which would ultimately be a broken oil line. Unfortunately, the #7 GEICO Chevrolet would be forced behind the wall to repair the problem, and would not return until Lap 36, where they would find themselves 21 laps down.
Wallace’s day would not get any easier, when he would find himself hitting the wall hard on Lap 89. Severely damaging the car, the Gecko would leave the race early and be relegated to a 41st place finish. However, more painful is that Wallace and the Gecko would fall out of the Top 10 and drop to 11th in the point standings for the first time since the spring. Despite the rough day in Kansas, Wallace sits just 70 points removed from the Top 10, just behind Matt Kenseth.
“It’s a shame because the weekend started off great in practice and we qualified well, but the oil line issue really caused a problem,” Wallace said. “This kind of stuff is tough because we all work so hard to come out here and run well and we have a fast car and then before we know it we have an oil line problem early and then wreck on Lap 89. We look forward to getting to Charlotte and getting back on track.”
This week, Mike Wallace and the Phoenix Racing team will enjoy a weekend off before traveling just up the road to Lowe’s Motor Speedway on Friday night, October 12th for the Dollar General 300.
For more information about the GEICO Racing program, please visit: www.GEICOracing7.com.
For more information about Sport Clips Racing program, please visit: www.SportClips.com.