Kenny Wallace Perseveres, Salvages a Solid Finish in Final NASCAR Start
Kenny Wallace inspects a specially prepared helmet for his final NASCAR race over the weekend at Iowa Speedway.
Post-Race Highlights:
Kenny Wallace made the final start of his 26-year NASCAR career on Saturday night at Iowa Speedway behind the wheel of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry sponsored by U.S. Cellular. The former XFINITY Series Rookie of the Year and three-time Most Popular Driver leaves behind a remarkable legacy of longevity and perseverance that is nearly unparalleled in the sport. Following his final dash across the finish line Saturday night, Wallace now has an all-time record 547 career XFINITY Series starts and 904 combined NASCAR national series starts.
Wallace scored a seventh-place starting spot for the U.S. Cellular 250, making it his best-career qualifying result at Iowa Speedway out of eight previous starts.
The “Hermanator” held his Toyota Camry in the top 15 throughout the first 200 laps, reaching up to as high as seventh position at one point and laying down some of the fastest lap times on the track. With just 40 laps to go, however, contact from another competitor on the restart caused Wallace to spin and make slight contact with the wall on the front end. Once the damage was repaired on pit road, Wallace picked off several spots before trouble struck again. To avoid a spinning car, Wallace was forced to slow down when another competitor hit him from behind. The unavoidable contact forced Wallace to come back to pit road for four tires before rejoining the field in 19th for a green-white-checkered finish. Wallace charged through traffic and picked up four positions before the caution flag waved again, setting the field up for a second attempt at GWC finish.
Being a true NASCAR veteran, Wallace knows that sometimes, you can’t control the unpredictable. Wallace survived two spins, neither of which was of his own making, and still crossed the finish line on the lead lap in 15th position.
Kenny Wallace’s Post-Race Thoughts:
“It was exciting. Obviously, I’m not going to be upset over a hard-earned, 15th-place finish. You know, it was just a deal where everything was going good – what were we, like ninth, 13th all night – and it looked like and we were going to close in on a good finish, but as normal short track racing, the horns came out at the very end. No excuse – running along in the middle of the race there and I felt something hit my left side leg and low and behold my left side spot mirror fell out. I just chewed Ryan Reed’s butt out. 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 try 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 and I’m not whining and crying about nothing – (Dale) Earnhardt taught me. The only bummer is I can’t go back and get him next week.”
