Mike Wallace and the No. 01 Restaurant.com Chevrolet team of JD Motorsports are rolling to Talladega Superspeedway to finish what they started in this race last year – a trip to Victory Lane.
Unfortunately, they have now been saddled with two tasks after a hauler fire at their shop on Sunday evening burned the entire contents forcing them to borrow one from Ricky Benton Racing of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The saving graces for the team were their tractor trailer was disconnected in time and wasn’t damaged, and their primary and back-up cars for Talladega weren’t on the hauler.
The NASCAR and racing community responded and has pitched in to help their fellow competitors make sure they will still race this weekend. Johnny Davis, team owner, said the team’s spirits are down a bit; but their will to race and win is stronger than ever.
Wallace and Davis still have the memory of last year’s finish fresh on their minds. They were leading the race in the closing laps before a caution forced a green/white/checkers finish. After the restart, Wallace’s No. 01 Chevrolet rolled over after getting turned on the backstretch. The ol’ adage of going from the penthouse to the outhouse in an instant held true for the team.
The one thing they know for sure is – they can lead the restrictor-plate races with the best of them. Now, they just need to complete all 117 laps with their red No. 01 Restaurant.com Chevrolet out front to the end and claim that checkered flag this time.
After all, it was Wallace who claimed checkers in last fall’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event at the 2.66-mile trioval – proving he knows how to win races on the superspeedway.
Mike Wallace Quotes: “Yeah, I still think about that race last year and how it could have ended much better for this team. You know, you take the lead and know you have to hang until the end and hold off everyone else. Then, the caution comes out, you do the restart and you end up on your roof.
“The best part is we know we have a good restrictor-plate package. We ran up front at Daytona in February this year, but got caught up in someone else’s mess and didn’t get the finish we deserved.
“That hauler fire on Sunday is not what this team needed right now with all we have been doing to go racing. Johnny (Davis) and Newt (Moore, crew chief) and everyone on this team have been working so hard to do and get better. Johnny’s positive attitude has carried us this far, and now we’re going to rally around each other this weekend to have a great race at Talladega.”
“The goals for this weekend is to stay up front the entire race, have good pit stops and stay out of everyone else’s troubles. If we can do that, I see no reason why this team can’t be successful.”
JD Motorsports PR
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