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NASCAR NEWS

Race/Date:AMP Energy 500 – Oct. 5, 2008
Location: Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway
Start Position: Sixth
Finish Position:30th

TALLADEGA, Ala. – It was a blown tire and not the expected perils of restrictor-plate racing that ended a strong run in the AMP Energy 500 by Mike Wallace and the No. 33 Realtree Driven to the Outdoors team at Talladega Superspeedway.

After qualifying sixth in a fourth Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Impala SS, expectations were high for Wallace heading into Sunday’s 500-mile event on the 2.66-mile high-banked tri-oval. The race started off well as Wallace maintained his position in the top five for the first 40 laps. Extra time spent on pit lane to work on an alternator issue while under caution on lap 47 dropped Team Realtree back to the 35th position for the lap 50 restart but Wallace & Co. stayed focused on getting back to the front.

Wallace made it up to 17th by lap 74 and was poised for more when, on lap 81, the right-rear tire of the No. 33 Chevy exploded, causing extensive damage to the rear quarter panel and fender. Crew chief Shane Wilson had his crew attempt repairs on pit lane but, after just a lap back on track, Wallace called in that there were bigger mechanical problems to be dealt with back in the garage.

Team Realtree did yeoman’s duty getting the car back in working order in less than 20 laps. The competitive side of the race now out of reach, Wallace spent the rest of the afternoon on the track to provide as much information possible on the potential 2009 restrictor plate race package the team was running as well as help his RCR teammates where possible with a push toward the front of the pack.

“I hate that the race ended the way it did for the Realtree Driven to the Outdoors team because they and everyone at RCR did such a great job getting this car ready," said Wallace. I have to thank Richard [Childress] for the opportunity to drive one of his cars and Bill Jordan of Realtree for the sponsorship to do so. We had a really good race car today but there’s just not a lot you can do when something like that happens.”

Tony Stewart broke his 43-race winless streak with his first victory at Talladega. Paul Menard was second, David Ragan was third, with RCR teammates Jeff Burton, Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick fourth, fifth and 20th, respectively. Harvick, who was collected in a multi-car incident, was able to get back on track to complete a couple of laps and kept alive his modern-era record of 74 consecutive races running at the finish.

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HAD GREAT TIME AT THE RACE THIS WEEK.WANT TO THANK BILL JORDAN FOR TAKING THE TIME TO SIGN MY HAT AND ALLOWING ME COME INTO THE REALTREE SUITE.IT WAS AWESOME I'VE ALWAYS HEARD BILL WAS A NICE PERSON. EVERYONE I MET WAS NICE ESPECIALLY ONE FINE LADY FOR GETTING ME UP THERE THANKS DARLING.JHEAD CHUNCHULA AL.

#0 - JAMES HEAD jr - 04/28/2009 - 14:56

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