Wallace's 10th-place run in Mexico proves he belongs (cont'd)

The kid has been maligned for being Rusty Wallace's son, for under-achieving in the best equipment, for driving over his head and trashing equipment.

I've seen him do some of that -- but mark my words, he's learned from those mistakes. Maybe the pressure got to him? In his first 18 starts in the initial two years of his Nationwide Series experience, he finished all 18.

“

It was a breakthrough deal for me. We've had a lot of fast cars in the last two years, and finally got a top-10, thank God. I really feel like, now, the good stuff will finally come.

”

STEVE WALLACE

Last year was an aberration, though it was a glaring one. Sure, seven of his eight DNFs came via wrecks, and several other races were affected by them. Read that pressure, or (lack of) experience.

The kid can get it done. He's the youngest winner of the Snowball Derby and trust me, that means for at least one night you were the baddest pirate in the Florida panhandle -- because short track racers in general would cut your throat for a grand-to-win -- and the Derby is short track racer's crown-completing jewel.

In 13 ARCA RE/MAX Series starts, he has eight top-five finishes, 10 top-10s, four wins and he won the 2006 pole award. That's exactly what you need to do if you're using that series as development work.

Anything else and you might as well stay there.

Mexico was young Wallace's first top-10. You might say it's taken too long. I'd say the kid has finally learned enough.

"I feel like those top-10s will come a lot easier, now," Wallace said. "I think what I had to concentrate on here, to get this finish; will transfer to some of the other tracks coming up. I think it will help a lot.

"I think this is what people call a defining moment in their career. I think it was, [because] I learned to run as hard your cars are capable of doing, and to let all those guys in front of me crashed and tore their [stuff] all to [pieces] and we just capitalized on it.

"We never had any miscues or did anything on the racetrack to affect us, so that's why I finished 10th. I didn't get off course and didn't tear our car up too bad and it was a good day."

If he can truly take these lessons down the road, his success log might be a little thicker by the time the Nationwide Series again races on a road course, in August at Montreal and Watkins Glen.

Public Enemy No. 1?

The day in Mexico had to be the most bitter for local hero Adrian Fernandez, who celebrated his 45th birthday on the morning of the race, but had nothing to celebrate in its aftermath when Sam Hornish Jr. hit Fernandez as he attempted to pass him going through the final corner onto that long front straightaway.

It spun Hornish, sent Fernandez backwards into the outside wall and unleashed a torrent of whistles of disdain from the frontstretch crowd. A headline in the next day's "Excelsior," a stunningly full-color newspaper declared Hornish as "enemigo nacional." I don't think that's a good thing.

Fernandez's JR Motorsports crew repaired his No. 5 Chevrolet and despite losing a lap in the process, but getting it back; Fernandez did great work to come back for 14th at the finish, ironically one spot behind Hornish, who suffered little damage in the spat.

"It's disappointing, because you want to do better in front of your fans, and for Lowe's and JR Motorsports," Fernandez said. "Sam came with new tires, but he tried to pass me on the inside of Turns 7 and 8 -- but you can't pass there -- you have to give up.

"You can put your nose there, but at some point if you don't get far enough and don't get halfway [alongside the other car] you have to give up. Unfortunately, he didn't and hit me and we went into the wall."

In fact, I've watched all four Mexican road races for this series, and the only person I've ever seen make a competitive pass on another car through that long, sweeping corner was Juan Montoya, last year on his demonic charge through the field to win.

I guess you can't blame Sam for trying, though if he really did have new tires, he would have easily outrun Fernandez down the straight and could have passed him into Turn 1.

Whistle me this

You might think seven cautions for 18 laps doesn't sound bad, until you figure a lap is more than 2.5 miles and 18 laps is almost 25 percent of the race. The cleanup after seemingly minor accidents seemed interminable, and the fans certainly noticed, as they erupted in whistles -- an international sign of displeasure and derision -- each time the pace car came off the last turn still leading the field.

There were even two red flags that were used, I guess, to keep from sopping up too much of the green flag race time. Some American emergency vehicle crews that were on hand using local equipment apparently were somewhat handicapped by that, including one truck that blew its engine while pushing a car back to the pits.

At any rate Fernandez -- and I swear he was at least half serious because he is a Mexican national, after all, so he has a different perspective on things -- had some possible solutions; and definitely an opinion.

"All those yellows were a little boring, to me," Fernandez said. "Those [red flags] were terrible. I think they should let the drivers get out of their cars and have some food or get to the toilet or something.

"It gets so hot in there and you get hungry and you can't move. They should at least let you have a TV or something in there to watch. Unfortunately, NASCAR's type of racing is this way. I don't see how they can fix that, because when you hit the wall, the cars are very heavy and most of the time there's heavy damage.

"Maybe they could get rid of some of the grassy areas, so there's not so much grass on the track when they're trying to clean it off. It's tough for the drivers and I can see it's tough for the fans. Hopefully, the green flag racing we had; was exciting enough that the fans had a good time."

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer