Homestead: Rusty Wallace Racing Friday report

S. WALLACE AND GAUGHAN FAST ON FRIDAY IN HOMESTEAD
--RWR Duo Looking for Strong Performances in Final Event as Teammates--

HOMESTEAD, FL (November 20, 2010)--While the single-lap speed charts may not show it, RWR teammates Steve Wallace (No. 66 5-Hour Energy Toyota Camry) and Brendan Gaughan (No. 62 Aspen Dental Toyota Camry) are excited about their chances for strong performances in Saturday night's NASCAR Nationwide Series season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Wallace enters Saturday night's event in search of his third-straight top-ten finish and his sixth finish of 12th or better in eight races. If Friday's two practice sessions are any indication, Wallace seems poised to do just that.

Noted Wallace, "This weekend has been the best we've unloaded off the truck all year. Our 5-Hour Energy Toyota has driven really well in race trim ever since we got it on the track. We never really did a full-blown mock-qualifying run, so we're not up there on the speed charts, but I feel like we have one of the best race cars we've had all year long.

"That's just proof of the hard work that our engineering group and the folks at TRD (Toyota Racing Development) have been putting in. Our simulations are getting better and we've been spending a lot of time on the pull-down rig, on the seven-post and in the wind tunnel. Hopefully we'll be able to end the season on a high note and pick up another spot or two in points."

Meanwhile, Wallace's teammate, Brendan Gaughan will start his final race for RWR on Saturday night, before Michael Annett assumes the helm of RWR's No. 62 Pilot Travel Centers Toyota Camry in 2011. Gaughan was one of seven drivers to run ten straight laps in the final practice and posted the second-fastest consecutive ten-lap average, besting drivers such as Kyle Busch and Paul Menard.

Said Gaughan, "Looking at the lap times, I feel like we had a top-three car in the first practice and a solid top-five car in the second practice. Our Aspen Dental Toyota has been really good right off the truck and I think we've got a great shot at having a really strong run tomorrow night. After spending two years with this team, nothing would make me happier than to put this 62 car in victory lane before it's all over."

-source: rusty wallace racing