Drama, spins, fireworks send Kenny Wallace out with a bang
RELATED: Wallace gets emotional surprise ahead of final race
NEWTON, Iowa — Kenny Wallace received more than his fair share of adventure in his final XFINITY Series start, closing the book on a NASCAR career in his 905th national series event.
A pair of spins, a small post-race talking-to and plenty of special pre-race moments dominated Wallace’s warm night at Iowa Speedway, where he came home 15th in his last ride in NASCAR.
“It was exciting,” Wallace said. “Obviously, I’m not going to be upset over a hard-earned 15th-place finish. It was just a deal where everything was going good — what were we, like ninth, 13th all night — and looked like we were going to close in on a good finish but as normal with short-track racing, the horns came out at the very end.”
Late-race mayhem snagged the 51-year-old Wallace on two occasions, crinkling the front-end of his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota. But a mid-race gaffe provided another odd wrinkle when his left-side mirror came unattached, tapping his left leg as it fell to the floorboard.
Wallace said the missing side mirror was no excuse for the late-race contact that followed, including a brush with Ryan Reed that sent him spiraling. While Wallace was not pleased with Reed’s bump, he was more upset when the 21-year-old driver tried to shuffle past him to avoid a post-race sermon from Herman on pit road.
“I just chewed Ryan Reed‘s butt out,” said Wallace, who finished his career with nine national series victories. “I said, ‘Buddy, next time you spin somebody out like that, don’t pass me up.’ He was going to walk right past me on pit road. So tried to give those young kids a little bit of information. I said, ‘When you spin somebody out, you stop.’ Going out, trying to give advice. I’m not whining or crying about nothing — Earnhardt taught me. The only bummer is I can’t go back and get him next week.”
Wallace’s remarks were punctuated by a trademark laugh, but what he may not have known was that Reed had just been involved in a separate confrontation, shoving Ross Chastain on pit lane after the race before trying to make a frustrated beeline to his team hauler.
“Naturally, he wasn’t happy and he thought I was just going to blow it off and walk away, which is not my intention,” Reed told NASCAR.com. “With everything that had happened on pit road, I just wasn’t thinking about it. Again, really sorry to Kenny. That was not my intention. I definitely didn’t want to be the guy to spin him out in his last race, but it was 100 percent unintentional. I will end up saying, ‘I’m sorry,’ as many times as I have to. … Hopefully, we can talk later on.”
As many subplots as Saturday night’s 260-lap overtime thriller provided, it failed to take the glow off the many heart-warming moments before the event. More family members flew in Saturday for the race, posing for a pre-race photo after driver introductions. But Wallace was also honored during the pre-race drivers’ meeting, sharing a few words and pulling out his phone to reference a tweet from longtime friend DeLana Harvick.
Wallace thanked everyone in attendance and was feted with a standing ovation in appreciation for his time in the sport, a tenure that will continue in the broadcast booth and in recreational dirt-track racing.
“That drivers’ meeting was over the top,” Wallace told NASCAR.com. “It started getting a little crazy there before the race, such superstars and drivers I admire were tweeting me. DeLana Harvick tweeted something I’ll never forget and I shared that with everyone at the drivers’ meeting. I think we all learned what DeLana said, ‘Don’t be sad that it’s over, be happy that you did it.’
“Hey, it’s all over now. I’m excited. That’s it. On to TV and on to dirt racing.”