Mike Wallace to make 760th-career NASCAR start at Indy’s first Nationwide race

GAFFNEY, S.C. (July 24, 2012) – When the No. 01 G&K Services Chevrolet of JD Motorsports w/ Gary Keller takes the historic green flag as part of the NASCAR Nationwide Series first appearance at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, Mike Wallace will be making a mini-milestone start of his own.

For the 760th time in his career, Wallace will be competing in one of NASCAR’s top-three series’ races. And, as one of the drivers in the inaugural Brickyard 400 back in 1994, Wallace will also be marking the milestone start as one of the first 43 drivers in the inaugural NNS race at the Brickyard, as well.

Making his 435th NNS start, the four-time race winner is looking forward to being part of NASCAR history – again – at the famed 2.5-mile oval. With a recent uptick in performance, the team is leasing an Earnhardt Childress Racing powerplant to keep their upward momentum going.

His teammate this weekend, Jeremy Clements, is driving the No. 4 TradeBank Chevrolet for JD Motorsports w/Gary Keller. This will be his 19th start of the season in the series, and 89th NNS start of his career.

Since this is the first race for the NNS race at the “big track” in Indianapolis, teams don’t have as many notes and past experience to draw from as other track. Thus, NASCAR is bringing back the “pill draw” to establish the qualifying order, as opposed to going off practice speeds, for Saturday.

The entire JD Motorsports w/Gary Keller team remained in the Midwest after the Chicagoland Speedway race last Saturday before heading to Indy.

Mike Wallace Info

· Making 760th-career NASCAR start, achieved nine wins in that span

· Making 435th-career start, where he earned four of those nine victories

· Currently 14th in points, trailing 13th by just five markers, Wallace is making his 19th start of the 2012 season

· During that span, he’s completed 2,984 of 3,220 laps contested (92.7 percent) and led four races

· The team has nine top-20 finishes, with six of them taking place in the last eight races

Jeremy Clements Info

· Making his 89th career NNS start

· Will be 19th of 2012 for the Spartanburg, S.C. native

· During that span, he’s completed 2,990 of 3,220 laps contested (92.9 percent) and led three races

· He’s currently 15th in Driver’s Points with one top-10, two top-15 and five top-20 finishes

Tune in for the Win

There are two practice sessions on Thursday with the first running Noon to 3 p.m. ET, then the final one from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. – no TV coverage. Qualifying is Saturday at 12:30 p.m. on SPEED TV with the 100-lap race starting at 4:30 p.m. on ESPN TV and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Ch. 90

Mike Wallace Quotes

“This is an incredibly big deal for the NASCAR Nationwide Series this weekend. I was in the first Brickyard 400 in 1994 and remember how pumped up everyone was to be part of history in NASCAR on that day.

“Our race this weekend is no different and it means a lot our series is considered good enough to race on the hallowed grounds of Indy. This is a big shot in the arm for the status of Nationwide racing in NASCAR.

“We have leased an engine from Earnhardt Childress Racing so we can get all the horsepower we’re going to need at this track. Those straightaways are so long and we need every bit of speed we can get for our No. 01 G&K Services Chevrolet throughout the weekend. Those two practice sessions on Thursday are going to be very important with this being our first time at Indy.

“The random draw for qualifying will make it a little more interesting, too. Our team was talking about this race right after the Chicago race, so I know Newt Moore (crew chief) and the guys are looking forward to racing Indy as much as I am, too.”

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SpeedwayMedia.com

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