Mike Wallace Homestead Post-Race Report

HOMESTEAD, FL. (Feb. 26, 2000) -- Last week at Dayton International Speedway, Mike Wallace piloted a dominant truck to victory in the Daytona 250 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race. On Saturday, Wallace steered a less than perfect mount to yet another top effort, this one a second-place finish in the Florida Dodge Dealers 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. "We brought home what I honestly thought was a fourth- or fifth-place truck in second place," said Wallace, who was not only looking to follow up his Daytona triumph with a victory, but was also looking to defend the Florida Dodge Dealers 400 crown he won a year ago. "I really have to say congratulations to Andy (winner Andy Houston) and his crew. They did a real good job. They were just better than us. I was real concerned we were going to be racing for third or fourth, but everybody ran a good, clean race." Wallace knew defending his Homestead race title would be a handful especially after he qualified 10th in the 36-truck field. At the drop of the green flag, however, the St. Louis, MO native wasted little time roaring to front rolling into the Top-5 by Lap 10. Wallace then hung around the front all day, leading a handful of times. "The Team ASE crew did a great job today trying to get the truck right for me," said Wallace. "I just couldn't get the truck to turn the way I needed it to all day. Early on in the race, it was loose so we adjusted and went too far because it got tight on that last run." Despite the changing chassis conditions, Wallace was able to put himself in position to win late in the race when he elected to stay on the track while front-runners Jack Sprague, Greg Biffle and Joe Ruttman all pitted for fresh tires with less than 30 laps remaining. Wallace raced off behind Houston, who also didn't pit, on the restart and try as he might was unable to muster anything for Houston. While mission out on the win, Wallace was able to skillfully hold off his pursuers taking home second in the final running order. "I think it was a good race at the end," said Wallace, who earned $28,501 in prize money for the effort. "We were fortunate to be able to outrun Jack, Joe and Greg at the end of the race because they were faster than we were. We won last week, we finished second this week. We're points racing this early in the year. We didn't lead today like we needed to, but all in all we had a good day." Wallace will take a 355-305 lead over Houston in the battle for the 2000 NCTS season championship when he and the #2 Team ASE Ford take the green flag for the next race on the tour, the Chevy Trucks 150 at Phoenix International Raceway on Saturday, March 18. The 150-lap race on the unique, D-shaped one-mile Phoenix oval starts at 3 p.m. eastern time and will be telecast live on ESPN.