Notes: Metal fence post wins scuffle with Wallace

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Rusty Wallace thought 2008 would bring a whole new era to his Nationwide Series race team, with new cars, new engineers, a new engine program and a newly renamed sponsor.

He didn't count on his lead driver, son Steve Wallace, misjudging his brakes while driving onto Daytona International Speedway to make a mock qualifying run; but the result -- an accident -- was something that eliminated the younger Wallace from no less than seven races last season, while affecting numerous other outcomes.

Steve Wallace was able to bend the fence post, but not break it.

"It was the oddest mistake by me," Steve Wallace said. "I had been out there drafting all day long and we went to do a qualifying run, and like everybody knows, you pull the brakes back for qualifying [pulling the brake pads away from the rotors to keep from losing momentum via friction].

"It usually takes four or five pumps on the [brake] pedal to build the pedal back up so the car can stop, and I just honestly forgot the damned brakes were pulled back, I went around the corner a little fast and went to hit the brakes -- the pedal went to the floor and there was nothing I could do about it.

"I hate it and I'm sorry about the gate, but it's just an honest mistake by me. Like I told my dad, it's the same as if you run up to your driveway going about 30 miles an hour, you go to put your brakes on and there's nothing there. You run your mailbox over -- it's the same type of deal.

"There comes a time when you do the most embarrassing stuff you thought you could do in your life, and [Monday] was it. I went to hit the brake pedal and it went to the floor -- that's all I can say."

The bad thing about the accident, which occurred when Wallace attempted to negotiate the corner through a fenced gate from the area behind pit road that leads across a 20-foot space behind the pit wall and onto pit road, was that it destroyed the nose of the No. 66R Chevrolet, when it struck a 4-inch diameter metal fence post anchored in concrete.

The good thing was, Wallace said his new crew chief, former Busch Series champion Harold Holly, would have "probably taken the car home and cut the nose off it, anyway, and put some more kick-out in it, trying to make it better."

The bottom line was, before he crashed it, Wallace's car was fifth-overall among the 40 drivers who've made single-car runs in Nationwide Series Preseason Thunder; and it was fourth-quickest on the Monday afternoon drafting sheet.

The car was loaded onto a flatbed, covered with a tarpaulin and removed from the speedway. Wallace said he would continue to concentrate on single-car runs Tuesday with his No. 66W, which made no laps Monday afternoon.

Earlier in the day, the elder Wallace had been planning to make some laps in David Stremme's No. 64 Chevy, a twin to Steve Wallace's car that had been slower the first two days of the test. The former Cup Series champion, who'll continue his parallel career as an ESPN TV analyst, made those laps at the end of the day.

Fast Nationwide men

Cale Gale in the No. 77B Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet was the fastest in the morning session of single-car runs at Daytona with a lap in 49.812 seconds, an average speed of 180.679 mph and the fastest by a Nationwide car this winter. Erik Darnell -- who's tested both the Roush Fenway Racing No. 16 and 17 Fords -- was the fastest in the afternoon drafting session with a lap in 48.716 seconds, 184.744 mph, in the No. 17A Fusion. (speeds)

Nationwide testing ends Tuesday.

Wallace gets reward

Kenny Wallace came to Daytona for Preseason Thunder just happy to have a Nationwide Series test drive in one of Baker Curb Racing's Fords -- but he left pretty thrilled about an opportunity to attempt the 50th Daytona 500. (read more)

On Monday, Furniture Row Racing confirmed that Wallace, who ran in 10 of the first 22 Cup events last season in Colorado-based owner Barney Visser's No. 78 Chevrolets, would race during Speedweeks in a No. 87 Impala SS as a teammate to Joe Nemechek. Ed Nathman will make his Sprint Cup debut as the car's crew chief.

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"The 78 team got in a predicament where they had to find out whether it was me or the car -- and they found out it was the car," Wallace said of last season's qualifying troubles. "So I'm going to run the car that Jeff Fuller tested for Furniture Row, with Denver Mattress as the sponsor.

"I'll tell you this, there's nothing better than coming to Daytona and having a shot at being in the [Daytona] 500 -- and that's all I can ask for, is a shot."

"It's so tough being a single-car team," Nemechek said. "Kenny Wallace is great in the draft and it helps to improve our chances of getting into the 50th running of the Daytona 500."

This season Furniture Row will continue the Hendrick Engines lease program that it began this past September at California Speedway. In Sprint Cup Preseason Thunder, Fuller put the No. 87 22nd on the cumulative single-car speed chart, as the eighth car on the unofficial "go or go-home list." Nemechek had the No. 78 car 39th-overall and 12th on the "go or go-home" tally.

In 2007, after switching to Hendrick power, Nemechek put the No. 78 into nine of the last 12 races of the season.

"The team is upgraded because it's the Car of Tomorrow and now they've got Hendrick motors -- it's all timing," Wallace said. "Joe Garone [team manager] and Barney Visser were just fantastic, they treated me good. It was kind of a weird deal -- they kept my seats, kept my helmets, kept my uniforms.

"We're definitely going to do the 500, and there's the possibility for some more, down the road. It's a team effort, with Joe and I hopefully both qualifying. It's also a chance -- which is better than no chance at all to race."

A Furniture Row spokesperson said the 87 team's schedule would be contingent on getting additional primary sponsorship, as Furniture Row is Visser's corporation that includes the Denver Mattress division.

New is cool for Leffler

Jason Leffler, who finished third in the driver standings last year, said he's pretty excited about working with new crew chief Stewart Cooper, who came to Braun Racing's Toyota team from the former Brewco Motorsports.

"It's been great -- I can already see the improvements in the team," Leffler said after posting the sixth-best time on the cumulative single-car speed chart. "Stewart has been around the garage for a long time [and] he's done a really, really good job during the winter to get everything organized and on the right track for the new season.

"So far, it's all going good. To contend for the championship, we just need to find some consistency, and I think having Stewart Cooper on board is really going to help that. I'm just looking forward to kicking the season off here, and hopefully, we'll kick it off in Victory Lane."

Leffler's first child was born last season so for him, new is definitely OK.

"With a new son, Charlie Dean, it's a whole new experience," Leffler said. "Coming home and seeing him is really cool, and keeps me motivated. I try to race all the time, and when I'm not racing, I'm either working on a racecar or working in the garage.

"I don't have anything really exciting that I do, but with the new family, it's just been cool."

Rudy visits Daytona

Former New York City Mayor and Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani made a surprise visit during the lunch break of Monday's test session -- and his campaign tour bus made a lap of the speedway, including the 18-degree banking of the tri-oval.

Giuliani, who attended this past July's Pepsi 400 at Daytona, lauded the sport of NASCAR racing and the speedway, comparing it to his own hometown icon, Yankee Stadium.

"When you're in the bus, you felt like if you went even halfway up that bank -- boom -- you would tumble over," Giuliani said. "I think because like Yankee Stadium contains a lot of the history of baseball -- not just the Yankees, but the history of baseball -- [Daytona] contains a lot of the history of NASCAR.

"This is a sport that I think most people don't 'get' until they come and see it. In a strange way, it reminds me of hockey. Hockey is a game that when people watch it only on television, they don't get it. The minute they go to a hockey match, they are hockey fans.

"There's something about the speed [of NASCAR racing], the excitement, the risk [and] tremendous amount of team work. It's a fabulous sport."

Carpentier likes qualifying change

Sprint Cup rookie Patrick Carpentier on Monday said he supports NASCAR's decision to position all drivers outside the locked-in top 35 in owner points to attempt to qualify at the end of the session, grouped together but in the order they drew in the regular qualifying draw. (read more)

Carpentier's No. 10 Gillett Evernham Motorsports Dodge is outside the top 35 in 2007 owner points so he must qualify on his car's speed in at least the first five races.

"I think letting all of us outside the top 35 go out at the end of the session helps even-out the playing field," Carpentier said. "The guys in the top 35 are qualifying to determine where they start. Guys like me are qualifying to determine if they start.

"Trust me, our Valvoline team is really focusing on making these races [but] before we can race we have to qualify. Now we know we aren't going to miss or make the show because of track temperatures or where we draw in the qualifying order -- we are all going out when the track is about the same.

"NASCAR is trying to make things as fair as it can, and that's something I am always going to support."