RAB Racing with Brack Maggard Crew Chief, Scott Zipadelli, made the call for Kenny Wallace to stay out during the final laps of the NASCAR Nationwide Series Royal Purple 200 at Darlington Raceway Friday night when other teams took the opportunity to come down pit road. Zipadelli’s call gave the No. 09 RAB Racing Toyota Camry track position and put Wallace ahead of a late race accident, resulting in an 11th place finish for the young RAB Racing team.
Making the two hour trip south to Darlington, S.C., the RAB Racing team looked at Darlington Raceway as an opportunity to back up the solid performance the week before at Richmond International Raceway. Leading the No. 09 on track with years of experience, Wallace completed 51 laps in practice for 19th fastest on the speed charts. With rain moving in to cancel qualifying, Wallace would be forced to start based on practice speeds for the 147-lap event.
When the green flag flew to start the tenth event of the 2011 NNS season, Wallace worked quickly to pick up three positions in only 10 laps. On lap 27, a NASCAR-mandated competition caution flew for the first caution giving teams the opportunity to make adjustments. By lap 80, Wallace had the No. 09 RAB Racing Toyota inside the top-15, and at lap 100 was scored in the third position.
Maintaining his position inside the top-12 over the closing laps, Zipadelli made the call for Wallace to stay out for track position, while taking a chance on fuel mileage. Proving to be a smart gamble, as Wallace coasted down pit road to his pit stall after taking the checkered in the 11th position. While he barely missed the top-10 for the race, Wallace climbed two positions in the driver point standings to the seventh position. It was the third consecutive top-12 finish and eighth top-20 of 2011 for Wallace. The No. 09 also improved to 15th in owner points.
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