NNS: Kenny Wallace Is A Gush Of Fresh Air

Nationwide

NNS: Kenny Wallace Is A Gush Of Fresh Air

At age 46, Kenny Wallace remains one of the most colorful personalities in NASCAR...

Larry Woody | http://www.RacinToday.com | Posted June 04, 2010 Nashville, TN

Up against several Sprint Cup Series drivers each week, Kenny Wallace faces long odds of winning in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

I’d forgotten how much fun it can be to talk to a NASCAR driver who seems to enjoy the company, and how simple and easy it is when you don’t have to hack your way through layers of PR guardians.

I got a reminder the other day when Kenny Wallace called.

Wallace, headed to Nashville for Saturday’s Federated Auto Parts 300 Nationwide Race, is a driver throwback – a genuinely good guy who’s always accessible and never makes the media feel like it’s imposing on his time.

Chatting with Kenny almost makes me miss my 40-year-old newspaper racing beat. Almost. If I lie down awhile it goes away.

Wallace’s quick wit and bubbly personality make him a natural on his TV show. He connects with viewers, just as he connects with fans face-to-face. I’ve watched Kenny work a crowd and there’s nobody better. I’ll bet he never met anyone who didn’t come away a fan – if he or she wasn’t before.

Saturday’s race will be run without two dominate drivers in the lineup – Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick both are skipping the Nashville stop to concentrate on their Sprint Cup duties at Pocono. Busch has won five times and Harvick twice in the 12 Nationwide races this season.

But although they’re out of the lineup, there will still be three Cup heavyweights on hand that Nationwide-only drivers must get around: points leader Brad Keselowski, fourth-place Carl Edwards and sixth-place Paul Menard. They are running full Cup/Nationwide schedules, and the second-tier series’ title likely will be between them.

RAB Racing hopes to make their NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut in the 54th-annual Daytona 500 with driver Kenny Wallace. (Photo: Getty Images)

That means that Wallace’s odds remain long. How discouraging it is to keep battling full-time Cup drivers and their powerful teams? Wallace tells this story:

“One of the biggest wins in my career came at Richmond in 1984. I was in front on a late re-start, and in my rear-view mirror was Dale Earnhardt and Mark Martin. I managed to hold both of them off through the final laps for the win. What a thrill – to beat two greats like Earnhardt and Martin. But let’s be honest – I couldn’t do it on a regular basis, race after race.

“Back then the Cup guys ran only an occasional (Busch) race. Over time that changed. Now some of them run the full schedule and there’s no way we (Nationwide-only drivers) can compete with them week after week. I’m confident that I can race against those guys but my team can’t compete against their team. That’s where they have the advantage.”

Wallace, a veteran at 46, jokingly refers to himself as “the Mayor of the Nationwide Series” and says he has lobbied NASCAR for some relief – to no avail.

“All we can do is keep trying to do our best,” he said. “That’s what I do week after week. Maybe eventually we’ll get a break.”

Kenny Wallace deserves one. All good guys do.

Larry Woody is a veteran, award-winning sports journalist. Woody began working at the Nashville Tennessean in the 1960s and took over the auto racing beat full time in the early 1970s. Larry can be reached at lwoody@racintoday.com

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Larry Woody

RacinToday.com

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