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BUSCH: Chicagoland: Kenny Wallace race notes

Race Recap: The bad luck bug struck the Stacker 2/YJ Stinger team again this weekend at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill. The team was looking for a good run to break out of the slump it has experienced in the past month. The team paid ...

Edited: Apr 16, 2008, 12:40 AM

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Race Recap: The bad luck bug struck the Stacker 2/YJ Stinger team again this weekend at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill. The team was looking for a good run to break out of the slump it has experienced in the past month.

The team paid tribute to a special member of the Bill Davis Racing family who lost his life earlier in the week. Short Track, team owners Bill and Gail Davis' 16-year-old hound, died Wednesday. The team placed a special decal on the car to remember his life during the Chicagoland weekend.

"I really want to run well this weekend for Short Track," Kenny Wallace said. "He has been such a special part of Bill and Gail's life, and I think that it is only appropriate that we remember him this weekend."

During the first practice session, the team struggled to find a setup Wallace liked. The car handled too tight going into turns one and two, which hindered the team from posting a fast speed. The Stacker 2/YJ Stinger team did not give up, though. The team finally found the right combination, and Wallace and the team expected a top-10 run in the afternoon's qualifying session.

Wallace was the seventh driver to qualify. Having such an early time was not optimal, because the cars ran slower when the sun heated the racing surface. Wallace did manage to gain a tenth of a second, posting a time of 30.04 seconds around the 1.5-mile track. The team was pleased with the lap, since it would likely produce a good starting position. Qualifying was delayed more than an hour due to a fierce storm that came through the area. The rain cooled the track dramatically, causing the cars that qualified after the storm to gain time. When qualifying was completed, Wallace was listed in the 19th position.

More than 70,000 fans were on hand when the green flag waved on Saturday. Wallace was on a mission to get to the front. On lap 12, he reported to the Stacker 2/YJ Stinger team that the car had a tight handling condition in the center of the corner. By lap 30, the car's handling became loose as Wallace slid into 21st. Wallace assured the crew the track conditions were changing, and that he would have a better feel for the car in a couple laps.

When the caution came out on lap 43, Wallace brought the car to the pits for four tires and fuel. The crew also made track bar and air pressure adjustments to help correct the car's loose condition. The team helped Wallace gain seven positions to restart 15th on lap 48.

After the restart, Wallace told crew chief Chris Rice that the car was bottoming very hard out in turns one and two. Rice said when the air pressures increased in the tires, the car would no longer have that problem.

As hard as Wallace tried to break into the top 10, it was not meant to be. On lap 82, Wallace told the crew that the engine had expired. The team took the car behind the wall and tried to locate the problem. The diagnosis was a broken distributor cap, which the team repaired.

Wallace returned to the track on lap 114 to see if the problem was still evident. After several laps, Wallace said the car still had no power. Rice instructed him to take the car to the transporter. The Stacker 2/YJ Stinger team's day was over, and Wallace finished 36th.

NEXT EVENT: The Stacker 2/YJ Stinger has next weekend off, the first weekend off for the NASCAR Busch Series in three months. The next time the No. 23 team will hit the track is in two weeks at New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon.

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