Mike Wallace: "I'm definitely looking for something in the Truck Series, the Busch Series or of course, the Cup Series." Credit: Autostock

Without a ride, Wallace faces uncertain future

"Scrooged" does not even begin to describe how Mike Wallace feels about being rideless for the holidays in 2004.

On the day after Thanksgiving, Wallace was released from his Busch Series ride with Biagi Brothers Racing, despite being a minority owner of the team. He finds himself out of work on the verge of New Year's Eve and the 2005 NASCAR season.

MIKE WALLACE •   Driver Page •   2004 Stats •   M. Wallace bids farewell to Biagi Bros. Racing

"Without a doubt it's heartbreaking, is actually what it is," Wallace said. "It caught me totally off guard.

"There's a tremendous amount of concern, without a doubt, for a multitude of reasons. Number one, I just want to race. Then, I can't afford to just sit around -- I can't retire or anything like that."

Three years before, Wallace, 45, formed Biagi Brothers Racing with California businessman Fred Biagi.

Wallace organized the team out of his personal shop and acted as its manager, in addition to driving in first a limited half-schedule in 2002 that blossomed into the full campaign in 2004.

But despite scoring one of his biggest career wins last summer at Daytona, and nearly following it up a week later with a second win, a month ago Wallace found a message on his answering machine informing him his driving services were no longer required.

Biagi, who with Wallace had announced a 2005 sponsorship program with Pet Brands at Homestead only the week before, opted instead to take support from Chip Ganassi Racing in exchange for putting Ryan Hemphill, a Ganassi development driver, into Biagi Brothers Racing's No. 4 cars.

Credit: Autostock

"I was totally shocked and devastated all at the same time," Wallace said. "I was out of town and came home to find out about it via a voice mail. Some people took it that I left the team on my own, and that's not at all what happened.

"Only six days before we had announced our sponsorship program for 2005 with Pet Brands, continued support from Ford Motor Company and GEICO, with me being the driver."

To say the future is unclear is totally accurate, Wallace said.

He has a deal to drive fellow Missourian Ken Schrader's Federated Auto Parts Chevrolet in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series opener in Daytona, but beyond that he's rideless.

"We're very open for other opportunities," Wallace said. "I'm definitely looking for something in the Truck Series, the Busch Series or of course, the Cup Series.

"If I could find a competitive truck ride I'd be very open to doing that. I was looking at my truck record the other day and saw that I had run in the top 10 in 50 percent of my starts in the Truck Series.

"I'd just like to have an opportunity with someone full-time, or a mixture of events, either way."

Wallace said his best possible opportunity in the short term might be with Florida car owner James Finch, who entered vehicles in all three of NASCAR's national touring series last season, including the full Busch Series and virtually the entire Cup schedule.

Wallace, who scored a top-10 finish for Finch in the 2003 Daytona 500, led 45 laps at Richmond last fall for Finch and finished seventh, the owner's best result of the season in which he employed seven drivers.

Johnny Sauter has already signed with Finch to drive his 2005 Busch Series entry, which is co-sponsored by Yellow Transportation and the Florida Miccosukee tribe. But Wallace said Finch might have opportunities in both Nextel Cup and Busch.

"James has kind of left everything open right now, but he and Marc (Reno, Phoenix Racing's general manager) were going to make a decision some time before New Year's about what they're doing," Wallace said. "I have kind of had a standing offer to run James' Cup cars at the speedways, and we've run well together at places like Bristol and Richmond last year, too.

"I would say that's definitely a possibility, but I've unfortunately learned not to put any great significance to things until you know it's a done deal."

Wallace said he had also been in conversations with owner Larry McClure about driving his No. 4 Nextel Cup cars but that McClure's biggest drawback was lack of sponsorship to move ahead into 2005.

"Nothing's real positive right now," said Wallace, who of late has been heavily involved in a project to build a new house that he began, he said, because of the seemingly solid nature of his Busch deal. "The only thing that I know I'm doing right now is running the truck race -- though I may have something for the Cup and Busch races, as well, though it's not signed.

"But it's like I told Schrader the other day. When we go to Daytona, running second is not an option. I told James (Finch) the same thing, kind of in a joking way, but we have to win these races because I don't know if I have any races after that, and I have to make as much money as I can in February."