The fans are helping Wallace race in Montreal

"The Fans" are going to sponsor Kenny Wallace's Nationwide Series entry in a couple months when NASCAR's No. 2 national tour goes to Canada for its third annual visit.

For a minimum of 20 bucks, you too can get your name on owner Jay Robinson's No. 28 Chevrolet -- the owner has guaranteed it, Wallace says.

More than 3,500 people have already pitched-in -- including one woman who "came into some money" and donated $10,000 because Wallace is upbeat and makes her happy.

Wallace swears it's a one-time deal, ignited by a fan in Alabama, Jim Ryan. Wallace didn't even want to do it, and after the suggestion first appeared on his Facebook page "I spent six weeks trying to make it go away," Wallace said last weekend in New Hampshire.

"I really didn't want to do it, I didn't want to look bad for doing it," Wallace swore. "But the people wouldn't let it go away. They really wanted me to do it. It was their idea."

And despite the generally bogus nature of the many previous attempts at fan-backed cars -- and Wallace's hesitance to go that route on account -- he was finally compelled to let the tide take its course.

And he can't believe with a little less than a month to go before the July 31 deadline Wallace set in order to get in a road course test and finalize the car's graphic design, that he's well over halfway to the sizeable goal he set when the project began.

But he's bluntly aware of why he's in this position, too.

Sometimes -- more often than not in racing -- moments of searing pain have a profound impact on future decisions.

And we're not just talking about the pain of broken bones here -- though that would surely get your attention. This is a violent business we're dealing with, but even at that, sometimes there's no anguish greater than mental. (Continued)