A Wallace Wins Truck Event Too

Mike Wallace followed his famous brother’s lead Sunday, winning the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Dodge California 250 in Bakersfield.

“This was a special day for the Wallace family,” said Wallace, whose older brother, Rusty, won the Winston Cup series’ Food City 500 earlier in the day in Bristol, Tenn.

Mike Wallace banged his Ford past Randy Renfrow with just over four laps left and held off Kurt Busch by 0.345 seconds in the 125-mile race on the half-mile Mesa Marin Raceway course.

Wallace, who also won the season-opening race in Daytona Beach, Fla., earned $36,449 and a $10,000 bonus for winning from the pole. He averaged 69.082 mph in the race slowed by nine caution periods.

Busch closed within a half-length of Wallace’s Ford with one lap remaining, but Wallace successfully blocked the outside lane.

“I got nervous at the end and I got outsmarted,” the 21-year-old Roush Racing driver admitted.

Jack Sprague finished third, followed by Steve Grissom, Randy Renfrow, Bryan Reffner, Terry Cook, Dennis Setzer, Rick Crawford and Andy Houston. Wallace leads Houston by 14 points in the season standings.