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Wallace: ‘It’s just the right time’ to end NASCAR career
Jul. 31, 2015 9:03 pm
NEWTON - The relentless positivity and passion for racing emanating from Kenny Wallace is such that this weekend being the last in a NASCAR racecar seems impossible.
The St. Louis native has started more than 900 races in NASCAR's three national series, with the record for the Xfinity Series at 547 - including Saturday's U.S. Cellular 250 at Iowa Speedway. But No. 547 also will be the last one for the venerable racer and TV personality, whose trademark laugh is recognizable to anyone who's paid attention to NASCAR in the last 25-plus years.
As much as fans and industry personnel don't want to see him stop competing, he said at nearly 52 years old, it was just time to make it official.
'Everyone (else) is afraid to say they're done and, hell, I'm just done,” Wallace said in between Xfinity Series practices on Friday. 'It's like taking an orange and squeezing it, and there's no more to come out. I'm real happy and I love this sport, but to be honest with you, I'm exhausted trying to find money. For me, at my age to drive a car, you've got to bring money.
'All these things collectively; it's just the right time.”
His impending retirement from NASCAR - but not racing, as he's still going full tilt on the dirt with his UMP Modified - will come after one final ride in some of the best equipment in the Xfinity garage in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
The No. 20 car has three wins in the 18 races so far this season - two with Denny Hamlin and one with Erik Jones - has five poles, nine top-5s, 13 top-10s, an average finish of 9.8 and sits fourth in owner points behind the No. 22 Penske Ford (Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski), No. 33 (Austin Dillon, Paul Menard, Brandon Jones) and the No. 60 of Chris Buescher.
Those kinds of stats serve to boost Wallace's effort in his final race and give him a shot at either a good finish or a win, but they also turn up the expectations as well.
'I couldn't have gotten in a better car, because they're used to working with a different driver every week,” Wallace said. 'I think that benefited me.
'I'd be lying to you if I said I wasn't nervous, right? I want to perform. I'm all focused right now.”
Iowa Speedway rolled out the veritable red carpet for Wallace in his retirement weekend, with a billboard above Turn 2 thanking him, as well as naming the K&N Pro Series race Friday night the #ThanksKenny 150 and making him grand marshal. He's also done much more media as a driver throughout the week than he's done in other starts the last three seasons.
But the biggest struggle of the week has been balancing meeting the myriad requests from friends, family, sponsors and others who all want to be a part of the final race. He's even had people hit him up for St. Louis Cardinals tickets since he's close to home.
He just wants to get in the car, drive and enjoy the final stanza of his 26-year career. His good humor has carried him through some of that stress and enabled him to deal with it.
'It's been a little difficult,” Wallace said. 'I've had people call and ask, ‘Can you get me in the Newton Club?' And I'm like, ‘Really? The most important race of my life and you're calling me for damn tickets?'
'I told my wife yesterday, and I wasn't mean by any means, I said, ‘OK, y'all have to let me race now.' It's been a little difficult. I didn't think it was going to be.”
The U.S. Cellular 250 is set for 7 p.m. on Saturday night and can be seen on NBCSN.
GASE 20TH IN FINAL PRACTICE
Extra sponsorship has paid dividends for Cedar Rapids native Joey Gase and his Jimmy Means Racing team already this weekend at Iowa Speedway, and it's just two practices old.
Gase cited extra funding from ForeverHip.com and the Iowa Donor Network as the sole reason his team was able to have the best engine in their stable - normally reserved for the superspeedways - in the car for the U.S. Cellular 250. That plus the full allotment of tires was enough to prompt Gase to call this the best he's ever been at Iowa Speedway and put him 20th in final practice.
'I'm pretty happy with it. Depending where we end up, this is the best we've ever been here,” Gase said. 'It's the motor. We have it because of sponsorship. It's an R07, and even though we own it, it's expensive to run it. They have to be (rebuilt) more than the older motors and the parts are more expensive in them.”
Earlier in the week he said a top-20 in the race would make him extremely happy, but with how his two practices went Friday - he was 26th in the first practice - that's closer to reality.
'I think (in qualifying) I wouldn't expect to be quite as high up there, but maybe we will be,” Gase said. 'Either way, we're better than we ever have been here. We definitely have a chance right now at getting a top-20.”
l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com
Xfinity Series driver Kenny Wallace (20) drives past a billboard recognizing his racing career during the second practice for the NASCAR XFINITY Series 7th Annual U.S. Cellular 250 Presented by New Holland at the Iowa Speedway in Newton on Friday, July 31, 2015. Wallace is retiring from NASCAR national series competition after Saturday's race. Friday's NASCAR K&N Pro Series race is named the #ThanksKenny 150 in his honor. (Cliff Jette/The Gazette-KCRG TV9)
Xfinity Series driver and Cedar Rapids native Joey Gase (52) prepares for the first practice for the NASCAR XFINITY Series 7th Annual U.S. Cellular 250 Presented by New Holland at the Iowa Speedway in Newton on Friday, July 31, 2015. (Cliff Jette/The Gazette-KCRG TV9)