Kenny Wallace: "Being called a 'TV personality' is a nice compliment, but I am a racecar driver." Credit: Autostock

Wallace again will drive No. 97 for Roush Racing

Kenny Wallace again will drive the No. 97 Ford for Roush Racing in the Nextel Cup Series' season-ending Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday.

Wallace drove the car at Phoenix after team owner Jack Roush suspended defending series champion Kurt Busch following a reckless driving citation.

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"Jack Roush gave me more confidence today than I've had in a long time," Wallace said Monday night. "He told me, 'We put you in a no-win situation. You had one chance to do good, and two chances to do wrong. ... We're thankful for the job you did.' "

It's safe to assume Roush had seen better weekends than the one he endured at Phoenix.

On Thursday afternoon, NASCAR announced it was putting a limit on the number of cars -- four -- one team could own. The limit extends to owners and any affiliate group, which includes situations where one or more of the car owners is entitled to receive, or actually receives, any financial consideration based upon the performance of the cars entered by the other car owners, or has any revenue sharing or ownership stake in the team.

Then on Friday night, Busch was cited for reckless driving. He was stopped after trying to avoid another car and running a stop sign about two miles from Phoenix International Raceway.

On Sunday, after consulting with its sponsors -- which include Diageo, the parent company of Crown Royal (sponsor of the No. 97 at PIR) -- Roush Racing suspended Busch for the final two races. "It's the last straw for Roush Racing," team president Geoff Smith said. "We're officially retiring as Kurt Busch's apologists effective [Sunday]."

Then came the scramble to find a driver for the race.

Only hours before the green flag was to drop, Wallace was on the set of SPEED's NASCAR This Morning. Pat Tryson, the crew chief for Mark Martin, suggested to Roush that Wallace might be an option.

A phone call later, he was scurrying for a driver's suit and helmet and getting fitted for the car.

"The seat took a lot to get used to," Wallace said, "but I remember something that Ken Schrader said: 'When you want something bad enough, you'll sit on a milk crate [and drive the car].

"I know people get confused, seeing me on TV [as an analyst] and driving," Wallace said. "Being called a 'TV personality' is a nice compliment, but I am a racecar driver.

"I do 2 1/2 hours of TV on Sundays because I don't want to go home and watch the race on TV."

Lost in the desert maelstrom was Wallace's 16th-place performance. He rallied from one lap down to finish as one of 23 cars on the lead lap and in a pack that included 14th-place Mark Martin, Jeff Burton (15th), Joe Nemechek (17th) and Jamie McMurray (18th).

"People don't understand how the teams that are good, run as well as they do all the time -- and [on TV] I try to explain it to them," Wallace said of his day working with crew chief Jimmy Fennig and the No. 97 team. "We started out and the car was loose, but they had built a lot of adjustability into the car and they fixed it.

Kenny Wallace is sixth in the Busch Series standings. Credit: Autostock

"They had great pit stops all day long and the car just had incredible horsepower. With some teams, [bad] stuff can go on all year -- or for too long. But with these guys, they fix it when it happens.

"I just never let the car get the best of me."

Wallace said he understands the opportunity to drive for Roush doesn't come along often. "Not many people get the chance," Wallace said. "I just have to capitalize on it. It's all about timing.

"The way I look at it was, 'who was I racing at the end' and 'how far did I get to without ever being in the race car,' " Wallace said.

"I'd like to say for never sitting my butt in this race car that I thought we did really good. Sixteenth is pretty good."

Wallace also will drive the No. 22 Ford in the Busch Series' season-ending Ford 300 on Saturday. He is sixth in the standings, 799 points behind leader Martin Truex Jr.