Rusty Wallace Racing closing: UPDATES: Rusty Wallace is in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico this week, hosting his annual Charity Golf and Fishing Tournament. Next week, he'll return home to make some difficult decisions on the future of his Rusty Wallace, Inc. NASCAR Nationwide Series team.RWI fielded a pair of Nationwide Series Toyotas for son Steve Wallace and Michael Annett last season, with Annett finishing ninth and Wallace 10th in championship points. Major sponsor 5-Hour Energy departed at season's end to back Clint Bowyer's new Sprint Cup Series effort at Michael Waltrip Racing in 2012, and the search for a replacement has yielded no results. Now, Wallace faces the prospect of closing the doors on a team he has devoted the last seven years of his life to building. "I'm afraid we're getting really close to that right now," admitted the 1989 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion. "I don't want to do it. It breaks my heart even thinking about it. But if we don't have the money to do this thing right, it's not worth doing. We've got some sponsorship in place for next year, but not nearly enough to run the full season. Honestly, we've got just enough money to get ourselves in big trouble. My wife Patty and I are trying to decide what to do," he said. "We're looking everywhere for a way out; a way to avoid closing the doors. But I'm afraid that may be where we're headed."(Sirius Speedway)(1-6-2012)
AND: Reliable sources say that Rusty Wallace, Inc., will close its doors at the end of business [Friday], laying off a majority of its employees. Expect an official announcement within the hour.(Sirius Speedway)(1-6-2012)
UPDATE: Rusty Wallace is a man of his word. In September, the former NASCAR champion and current team owner warned if there wasn't enough money to run his Nationwide Series program, he'd put the shop in mothballs. Unfortunately, that day has come. Rusty Wallace Inc. is expected to shut its doors next Friday, sources told FOXSports.com.(Fox Sports)(1-6-2012)
UPDATE: Officials of Rusty Wallace Racing, LLC (RWR) announced today that the team's on-track activities will be put on a temporary hiatus. While the organization's day-to-day competition activities will temporarily cease, key elements of RWR's business staff will remain in place to continue development of future opportunities. The team is currently assisting #66 driver, Steve Wallace, in exploring several exciting opportunities for 2012, with backing from his current RWR sponsors. RWR will continue to maintain and manage those sponsor relationships on Wallace's behalf. #62 driver, Michael Annett has been released from the team and will pursue other 2012 opportunities with his longtime family sponsor, Pilot Flying J.(Rusty Wallace Racing)(1-6-2012)
Carter heads to Hendrick: Larry Carter has resigned from Rusty Wallace Inc. to join Hendrick Motorsports. Carter, 48, spent just over a year as general manager of RWI. The 12-year NASCAR veteran previously worked as a crew chief for Wallace in 2004 when the Cup champion still drove for Penske Racing. Carter also oversaw the Cup programs for Jamie McMurray at Roush Fenway Racing and Paul Menard at Yates Racing. Carter's departure is the third recent loss for RWI. Crew chief Doug Randolph, who joined the organization one year ago to work with Steve Wallace, will fill the same role at Brad Keselowski Racing with Parker Klingerman. Ryan McKinney, car chief on the #62 team and a 14-year NASCAR veteran, moved to Kyle Busch Motorsports.(FoxSports)(1-6-2012)
Wallace willing to shut down RWI UPDATE plans to keep running: Rusty Wallace is willing to put his race organization, RWI, "into mothballs" for a couple of seasons until the sponsorship landscape in NASCAR improves. RWI is losing backing from 5-hour Energy at the end of the season and has yet to secure full sponsorship for the teams for next year. 5-hour Energy is expected to sponsor Clint Bowyer at Michael Waltrip Racing in 2012. An announcement is scheduled for Friday in Kansas City. So what happens to RWI's existing NASCAR Nationwide Series teams? "I just want to find a good ride for Steven," Wallace said of his 24-year-old son, who is eighth in the point standings. Wallace added he's spoken with several Sprint Cup organizations that expressed interest in putting Steven in a Nationwide Series car next season.(FoxSports)(10-2-2011)
UPDATE: Rusty Wallace Racing, which will lose sponsor 5-Hour Energy after this season, is working with potential sponsors on a deal for Steven Wallace, Rusty’s son, to continue racing in the Nationwide Series. RWR also will field a car next year for Michael Annett, who has brought sponsorship to the organization. 5-Hour Energy is leaving the team to sponsor Clint Bowyer at Michael Waltrip Racing, a deal expected to be announced this week. Team owner Rusty Wallace said Monday that he has no plans to shut down his team and is looking for new sponsors. Wallace said if he can’t run a full Nationwide season with Steven, he would run a partial schedule. He didn’t want to name the sponsors he has commitments from until the formal announcements. “We’ve got about five of our sponsors under contract,” Wallace said in a phone interview Monday. “I don’t plan on shutting my team down at all. … I might have to slow down a little bit. I can’t put any of my personal money into this thing. I’ve already put personal money into this thing, more than I’m feeling comfortable with to keep it going. With that said, I’m not sitting here feeling sorry for myself because 90% of the garage area has this problem and my situation is no different.” While moving to the Sprint Cup Series is the eventual goal for his team, making the move with 5-Hour Energy was not an option, Wallace said.(SceneDaily)(10-4-2011)
Steve Wallace, no plans to run other races..yet: #77-Steve Wallace was interviewed during the Daytona testing rain dealy and said he doesn't plan to run the first five races of the season in Sprint Cup even though his team has owners points from the #77 Penske Racing team in 2011. Wallace will run the Daytona 500 in the #77 5-Hour Energy Drink Toyota and is testing there this week. Wallace did say they may consider running at Talladega or the July race at Daytona if they do well and the funding is there.(SPEED's streaming video)(1-21-2011)
Steve Wallace guaranteed a spot in Daytona 500? UPDATE 2: #77 Penske Racing team owner Roger Penske verified that the #77 car's [owners points, was 30th in 2010] points will be used by Stephen Wallace, who is attempting to make his Cup debut at Daytona. Wallace, 23, currently drives the #66 Toyota for his father at Rusty Wallace Racing [in the Nationwide Series].(in part from FoxSports), so Wallace is guaranteed making the Daytona 500.(1-15-2011)
UPDATE: Rusty Wallace is working on putting a Daytona 500 ride together for his son, Steve, but does not have the deal completed, according to Greg Wallace, Rusty’s oldest son. If the deal gets done, Wallace, 23, possibly could get the owner points of the Penske Racing #77 car from 2010, which would lock him in the field for his Cup debut. “In the past, Rusty has expressed a well-known interest in having Steve compete in this year’s Daytona 500, either with RWR or an established Cup team,” said Greg, who is vice president of Rusty Wallace Racing. “Various opportunities have arisen for that to happen, but as of now, nothing has been completed.”(Sporting News)(1-18-2011)
UPDATE 2 - Steve Wallace to make Cup debut: Rusty Wallace Racing (RWR) announced that 23 year-old Steve Wallace will make his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut in February's 53rd annual running of NASCAR's most prestigious event, the Daytona 500. Wallace will pilot the #77 Toyota Camry for RWR at Daytona, with backing from longtime sponsor 5-Hour Energy and new partner Aspen Dental. When Steve Wallace and the 5-Hour Energy Camry take the green flag on February 20th at NASCAR's most historic venue, the well-pedigreed racer will write his own chapter in NASCAR history. His Sprint Cup debut will make the Wallace family the first ever to have produced four Daytona 500 competitors, breaking a longtime tie with the Petty, Allison, Earnhardt and Bodine families. When Wallace starts the 2011 event, a member of his family will have competed in 27 of the last 30 Daytona 500s.
The third-generation driver will have familiar leadership for his first run in The Great American Race, as RWR General Manager, Larry Carter, will serve as crew chief for the #77 5-Hour Energy Toyota. A veteran Sprint Cup crew chief, Carter led Rusty Wallace to a top-ten in the elder Wallace's final Daytona 500 in 2005, as well as a fourth-place finish in the July 2005 event at Daytona.
Providing additional comfort to the younger Wallace in his Cup Series debut is a guaranteed place among the 43-car starting field, enabled through an agreement between RWR and Penske Racing.
Said Steve Wallace, "Starting my first Daytona 500 is definitely going to be the most exciting day of my career-make that my life-so far. It's something that every kid wanting to be a racer-including me-dreams of doing one day. It's the some of the best drivers in the world competing in the biggest race in the world. I really have to thank 5-Hour Energy and Aspen Dental for making this possible. As far as the race, my goals are simple: to stay out of trouble, earn all the respect I can from the other guys and make sure the 5-Hour Energy Toyota is there at the end of the race. The way restrictor plate racing goes, if we can do that, there's no telling what can happen."
Team owner Rusty Wallace shares his son's enthusiasm for the event. "This is a big event for all of us-for Steve, our team, our family and our sponsors," Wallace stated, "When you're a young driver coming up, you dream about racing in the Daytona 500 and now Steve's going to get the opportunity to do it. He's grown by leaps and bounds as a driver in the Nationwide Series over the last few years and we think he's ready for this opportunity. We've been looking at this race as an opportunity for a while, because I really believe that the new pavement at Daytona is going to be a great equalizer among the teams. The cars will have a ton of grip and it's going to make handling a much smaller part of the equation.(Rusty Wallace Racing)(1-19-2011)
No Daytona 500 or Nationwide races for Hornish UPDATE: Sam Hornish Jr. will not be in anything Penske-owned in Daytona. He is basically done. Penske Racing downsized not only Hornish's NASCAR Sprint Cup organization, but also its Nationwide Series crew. [Penske] cannibalized the #77 crew of Hornish and what was left of the #12 Nationwide crew to make up the best for one with Brad Keselowksi's organization, whatever they were lacking in Nationwide, but also to beef up what is now the #2 car for Keselowski for the Cup season. (Fox Sports)
BUT Brad Keselowski said on his twitter that Hornish would be his Nationwide Series teammate in 2011, driving the #12.(1-15-2011)
UPDATE: Sam Hornish Jr. will compete in at least 10 NASCAR Nationwide races this season, beginning with the DRIVEFORCOPD 300 at Daytona International Speedway, team owner Roger Penske confirmed by email on Saturday. Chad Walters will serve as Hornish's crew chief. Penske's acknowledgment confirms a report earlier this week by FOXSports.com’s Jeff Hammond, who said Hornish would not return to Sprint Cup competition in a Penske car this season.
Penske also verified that the #77 car's [owners points, was 30th in 2010] points will be used by Stephen Wallace, who is attempting to make his Cup debut at Daytona. Wallace, 23, currently drives the #66 Toyota for his father at Rusty Wallace Racing [in the Nationwide Series].(FoxSports), so Wallace is guaranteed making the Daytona 500.(1-15-2011)
Steve Wallace could run the Daytona 500: Steven Wallace is hoping to make his NASCAR Sprint Cup debut at the 2011 Daytona 500. His owner/father Rusty Wallace said, "I'm trying really hard. If I can align with someone who already has points, I'll do it." Wallace, 27, currently competes full time for Rusty Wallace Racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. He is ninth in the series standings right now. Wallace debuted in the series in 2005 and began racing full time there in 2007. He has 29 top-10 finishes, four of them top fives, as well as two pole positions in the Nationwide ranks.(FoxSports)(11-21-2010)
Steven Wallace to make Cup debut UPDATE denied: During SPEED's SPEED Report show, Bob Dillner reported that Rusty Wallace's son, Steven, a regular in the Nationwide Series, will attempt to make his Sprint Cup debut at Richmond International Raceway on May 1st. Steven will run a car from Rusty's team, Rusty Wallace Inc. and plans to attempt four other Sprint Cup races in 2010, no word on those venues.(SPEED)(2-28-2010)
UPDATE - Denied: per Greg Wallace of Rusty Wallace Inc/ Rusty Wallace Racing: "At Rusty Wallace Racing, we continually evaluate opportunities that align with our strategic objectives, including a future involvement in the Sprint Cup Series at some point. However, there are currently no plans for RWR to field a Sprint Cup entry in 2010. As for Steve Wallace, our focus remains on making Steve and the #66 5-Hour Energy Toyota Camry consistent contenders for the 2010 Nationwide Series championship."(RWR)(3-1-2010)
