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NASCAR: Square D Racing Review/Preview

26 May 1998

HARRISBURG, N.C., (May 26, 1998) - After starting back in the 42nd slot, Square D Ford driver Kenny Wallace clawed his way to a 25th place finish in Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 at the 1.5-mile Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.

"Charlotte was one heck of a race," said Wallace. "We raced hard all night long, even though we didn't finish where we wanted to. That's the norm - a racer isn't going to be happy finishing 25th and I'm not. There were times in the race when the car was pretty darn good, but evidently we just weren't fast enough. Sometimes you just get beat. We're going to Dover next week with a new race car and we hope to have a better run there."

The new car that Square D Ford driver Kenny Wallace will pilot in the MBNA Platinum 400 at Dover Downs (Del.) International Speedway is known as a three- quarter drop-snout car. Manufactured by renowned chassis builder Mike Laughlin, the front clip of the car is lowered three-quarters of an inch, thereby changing the angles of the upper and lower control arms. Additionally, specially designed spindles are also used on the front end.

"The three-quarter drop-snout car has different front end geometry than that of a standard Winston Cup chassis," said Wallace. "The car we'll race has never been on the track, but we feel that it's certainly going to help us run better. With 'The Monster Mile' being concrete, it takes a little different setup than normal because the surface is so rough. Rubber tends to build up on the track quicker too. With those conditions, we believe that the three- quarter drop-snout car is the way to go.

"We've steadily moved up in the points as of late (currently 28th in driver and car owner points), and we need to keep that momentum going with a good finish at Dover. It's been almost two years since I last won a race (1996 NASCAR Busch Series, Grand National Division Autolite 250 at North Carolina Speedway) and I'm real hungry to win again."