Kenny Wallace has been called to serve as a substitute driver for Matt Kenseth and Roush Fenway Racing.

Kenseth, who has a son from a previous relationship, and his wife, Katie, are expecting their second child sometime between now and the end of February. With Speedweeks beginning next weekend, Kenseth needs someone to stand-by in case he gets the call that his wife's in labor.

Kenseth will race in the Feb. 20 Daytona 500 for sure, but the seven days of practice and qualifying events between Feb. 11-19, are in question.

RFR general manager Robbie Reiser and the driver of his No. 17 Ford put their heads together and Reiser called Wallace, who had previously driven a couple races for Roush in 2005 when Kurt Busch was released as driver of RFR's No. 97 Ford.

"Of course, I said 'yes' right away, but I was so honored, I had to ask Robbie why they had picked me," said Wallace, who has 843 national series starts. "Robbie told me that Matt said we were friends, they thought I had a lot of superspeedway experience and that we were the same size, so they wouldn't have to go through a lot of work because I'd fit right in the seat."

Wallace has 344 career Cup Series starts, including 42 points races at Daytona and Talladega -- including one of his career favorites, when he "pushed" Dale Earnhardt to his final career victory, at Talladega in 2000, with Wallace finishing a career-best second for owner Andy Petree.

Wallace drove 10 Cup races in 1994 for owner Robert Yates when driver Ernie Irvan was injured. Wallace drove the final 12 races of the 2001 season in Dale Earnhardt Inc.'s No. 1 Chevrolet when Steve Park was injured, and Wallace won the pole and finished second at Rockingham. In 2002, Wallace substituted for Kevin Harvick at Martinsville when NASCAR parked Richard Childress Racing's driver for one race after an incident in a Truck Series race. And in 2007, Wallace stepped into Petty Enterprises' No. 45 car for one race and ran four times in Yates Racing's No. 88.

"I went to my Nationwide owner, Robby Benton, and it was easy to work it out with the sponsors and the different manufacturers, because it came down to helping out my friends, Matt and Robbie -- and Jack has been really good to me," Wallace said of the team owner. "Hopefully I won't need to drive the car, but it was such a big boost in the arm to have them think of me and like I told Robbie, 'every dog needs a bone, and thank you for throwing me one.' "

Kenseth is the first of three Roush Fenway drivers that are expecting children, as Edwards and his wife, Kate, are expecting their second child and Greg Biffle and his wife, Nicole, are expecting their first child later this season.

After Speedweeks, Brian Ickler, who made seven 2010 Truck Series starts for Kyle Busch Motorsports, with five top-10 finishes; and five Nationwide Series starts for Roush Fenway, with a best finish of ninth, at Daytona's summer race will stand-by at Phoenix and Las Vegas, if needed.