RWI trying to become a top-tier Nationwide team

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- "Quit" doesn't exist in Rusty Wallace's vocabulary -- even if thinking about it occupied some of his time last season.

So when the NASCAR owner, ESPN broadcaster, business executive and racer's father's landscape turned upside down as his son headed for a 19th-place finish in the Busch Series' driver standings and 30th in owner points, he knew there was only one solution.

Wallace vs. Fence

Steve Wallace misjudged his brakes and hit a fence damaging his primary car on Monday at Nationwide Preseason Thunder testing.

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That was to change. And while at Daytona International Speedway for Nationwide Series Preseason Thunder last weekend, the namesake of Rusty Wallace Racing laid out just what he had done.

"I'll use the analogy of an airplane," said Wallace, an avid pilot. "You climb to a certain altitude and all of a sudden, it just can't go no more. It was the same with the race team -- we were only going to go so far unless you do something."

Wallace said Atreus Homes' founder and CEO Jon Been came to him and wanted Wallace to field two cars in 2008, and that was the start.

"We made big changes," Wallace said. "I've got better talent, better people -- we basically put another 100 horsepower in that airplane and got up over that hump -- because if we're going to compete with these Cup guys, we've got to find some money and we've got to find some engineering."

Wallace hired former Busch Series champion crew chief Harold Holly to work on the No. 66 car with his son, Steve Wallace, 20; in conjunction with veteran RWR chief mechanic Steve Darne, who'll oversee the team's second car, the No. 64 to be driven by 2003 Busch Series rookie of the year David Stremme, development driver Chase Austin and on the three road courses, Max Papis.

The owner is trying to engineer a deal to transfer the owner points from one of the top-30 teams from last season that disbanded for 2008 to his No. 64, to lock it into the first five races this season, but he wasn't ready to announce that.

RWR switched manufacturers, from Dodge to Chevrolet and engaged the Childress/Earnhardt engine collaboration, ECRT, to build their engines. Wallace added a 20,000-square-foot fabrication shop, bumping his complex's total size to 60,000 square feet and he added personnel.

"Chevrolet brought us the wind tunnel and seven-post development and Richard Childress brought us proven engines -- I almost consider them an arm of our team," Wallace said. "I hired a lot of guys from Ginn Racing, when they went out of business [last summer], so we've got a Nationwide team that looks like a Cup team."

Wallace raved about the support he's received from Chevrolet.

"Last year, we were in the wind tunnel three times; that was it," Wallace said. "This year, we've been in the wind tunnel five times and hadn't even been on the racetrack yet -- both our speedway stuff and our downforce stuff.

"Chevrolet will call us up and say 'three hours of tunnel time just popped up -- are you prepared?' A lot of teams can't react that quickly, but we're ready."

Wallace said he had no engineers on staff until almost the end of last season, and now he has three. He struggled to find a crew chief that could throttle and guide his fast, but erratic son; and feels like he's done that with Holly, who had a record-breaking championship season with Jeff Green in 2000. (Continued)