Although father and legendary NASCAR driver Rusty "owned" Thunder Valley in his heyday, son Steve Wallace stood poised to take his place as a legacy at Bristol Motor Speedway in the Nationwide race.

"It's Bristol," Wallace said.  "That's all I need to say.  It's hands down my favorite race track and is somewhere I know we're capable of running up front and, hopefully competing for the win.

"My whole family has had success at Bristol, so it'd be a perfect place to pick up my first win."

Wallace, driving the no. 66 USFidelis Chevrolet in the Nationwide Food City 250 at the Bristol bull ring this weekend, qualified in the eighth starting spot.  He is sixth in the series standings in his third full season of racing.

"Our team has been pretty steady as of late,"  Wallace said.  "But now we've got to step up our game and start running further up front.

"This weekend would be a great time to start making that happen."

Wallace, in his Rusty Wallace Racing machine, has indeed been making progress with his team this season.  Wallace's average finish to date this year is 16.0, ten positions better than in 2007 and two positions better than last year.

He planned to run one of his favorite chassis, RWR-035.  This particular chassis boasts two top-five finishes and five top-ten finishes with Wallace behind the wheel.

Wallace came into the Bristol Nationwide race as one of only four drivers to finish in the top ten at the two previous races at the "Coliseum of Collision." He is the only Nationwide driver to accomplish that feat.

In the spring of 2007, Wallace scored the pole position at Bristol.  He has had three top five starts in six attempts at Thunder Valley. 

Wallace also has a legacy that precedes his Nationwide career at the track, winning the inaugural Food City 150 AURA race at Bristol in 2004.  Wallace recently did some tire testing at Bristol, working with Goodyear in July of this year to determine the best tire compound for the high banks of that track.

Bristol also proved to be the perfect backdrop for a special announcment for Steve Wallace and Rusty Wallace Racing.  The team announced that 5-Hour Energy will be the primary sponsor for Wallace's 2010 Nationwide season.

"I'm extremely excited about this announcement," Wallace said.  "I'm a huge fan of 5-Hour Energy's products; they really help me get it done, both on and off the track."

"I'm really looking forward to putting the 5-Hour Energy car up front a lot next year and to helping spread the word about the focus and alertness that 5-Hour Energy can provide."

This announcement marks the expansion of a four-race commitment into a full-time season of racing for the new sponsor of Wallace's team.  This is critical to the future success of the team, especially during these challenging economic times.

"We're really excited about this early announcement," shared proud papa and team owner Rusty Wallace.  "There's a lot of plans we've got to put together yet that have bordered on this announcement."

With a great starting position and a sponsor in the bank for next year, Wallace had high hopes when the green flagged dropped at Bristol.  Unfortunately, Wallace had trouble early in the race, beating and banging with Kasey Kahne. 

Wallace bounced off Kahne and then into the wall, damaging the right side of his race car.  Kahne, however, got the worst of it, with Wallace's bumper piercing his radiator.

Wallace then had an unfortunate run-in with Justin Allgaier's battery, which flew out during a collision with Brad Keselowski.  Wallace drove right over the battery, spitting it out behind his car after doing further damage.

The legacy driver lurked in the 15th to 19th position for most of the race.  On the final lap of the race, Wallace got into Scott Wimmer, bringing out the caution to end the race. 

Wallace finished in the 17th position at Bristol.  He remains in the sixth position in points.

While Wallace's race may not have been the legacy at Bristol that he had wanted, Steve Wallace continues his efforts to improve his performance to be that legacy to his idol and mentor, father Rusty.