MOORESVILLE, N.C. (July 15, 2010) – Steve Wallace will be carrying two new sponsors aboard the No. 15 Billy Ballew Motorsports-fielded Toyota Tundra in Friday Night’s Camping World 200 at Gateway International Raceway. Wallace will be sporting the colors of Merit Pro on his hood and quarter panels, along with Avery Graphics on the truck’s bedliner.

“I want to thank Merit Pro and Avery Graphics for partnering with us at Gateway this week,” Wallace said. “They’re both top notch organizations and we’re excited to be working with them. It’s great to have them on our truck, especially at a track where I enjoy racing so much and that is so important to my family.”

Merit Pro is a complete line of painting tools and accessories that was created to the highest standards, offering high quality products for the lowest price. Merit Pro’s wide selection of products is designed to reduce work time and provide excellent results. More information can be found at www.MeritPro.com.

Merit Pro has been a fixture in NASCAR racing for several years and is a preferred partner of Rusty Wallace Racing, Michael Waltrip Racing, Phoenix Racing and Kevin Harvick Racing.

Adorning Steve Wallace’s bedliner this week is Avery Graphics, an associate sponsor of Rusty Wallace Racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.  Avery Graphics is currently offering race fans a unique opportunity to “supercast” the No. 66 5-Hour Energy Toyota Camry driven by Wallace in the Nationwide Series.  For more details, log onto www.SupercastMyRide.com.   MPI 1005 Supercast films provide the ultimate conformability along with easy application and long-term removability. Combined with Avery’s DOL films, you’ll achieve great printability and colors that pop.

The Camping World 200 begins at 8:30 p.m. EST, Friday, July 16.  Coverage will be on SPEED and MRN Radio.

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (July 13, 2010) – The uniqueness of Gateway International Raceway (GIR) has frustrated many NASCAR Camping World Truck Series drivers since its first race in 1998. With each end of the track having a different configuration of corners, it takes most competitors several races before grasping the rhythm to navigate the 1.25-mile speedway. Aric Almirola, however, showed little difficulty coming up to speed. He’s posted 10^th-place (2006) and fourth-place (2009) finishes in his only two races at GIR and is looking to add to that in Friday night’s Camping World 200.

Almirola’s No. 15 Graceway Pharmaceuticals/Zyclara Tundra blew a right-front tire in last week’s race at Iowa Speedway.  The damage forced an early withdraw from the event, which he finished in 28^th-place.  Despite the misfortune, Almirola remained second in the point standings and only trails points leader Todd Bodine by 88 points.

Amirola Comments on Camping World 200:

“At Gateway (International Speedway) it’s a tradeoff between the different ends of the race track. It’s really tough to get through Turns 1 and 2.  It’s so tight. Those corners have a lot of banking and it’s really rough.  Then you go down through 3 and 4 and it’s really wide. It’s really flat and it’s really smooth. It’s a balance to try and get your truck OK at both ends of the track.  The sets of corners are so different that it’s impossible to have a setup that’s really good everywhere. It’s never going to be perfect all the way around. I’ve got a 10^th-place and fourth-place finish there.  It’s a track that I feel comfortable at and always look forward to racing there.

“We’re going into the heart of the season.  We’re on our second week of a nine race stretch. After the month-long break, it’s nice to get back into a rhythm again. We’ll be hitting short tracks, big tracks and intermediate tracks. With the points battle being as close as it is, it’s important for us to stay focused. The schedule’s so tight. There won’t be much time between races to make repairs or work on setups, so any mistakes will be extra-costly. The good news is that Billy Ballew Motorsports has performed really well at the tracks ahead and I’m expecting that we’ll unload a pretty fast Graceway Pharmaceuticals/Zyclara truck each week. We had some really good test sessions during the break and I think these next few weeks will be a good chance for us to put some points on the board.”

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (July 12, 2010) – Steve Wallace may not be a St. Louis native, but his family ties to the area make him feel right at home. Wallace’s father, Rusty, and uncles, Mike and Kenny, launched their legendary racing careers in the dirt and asphalt of the St. Louis region.  The legacy and tradition his family holds in “The Mound” city have Wallace excited each time he races at Gateway International Raceway (GIR).

The Camping World 200 will mark Wallace’s fourth NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) start in the No. 15 Billy Ballew Motorsports Toyota.  Wallace most recently drove the No. 15 truck in the Lucas Oil 200 at Iowa Speedway, in which his right-front tire blew on Lap 38 ending a promising start. Wallace has never competed in NCWTS competition at GIR, but has four Nationwide Series starts at the 1.25-mile oval, posting a best finish of 24^th-place.

Wallace Comments on Camping World 200:

“Everybody thinks I’m from St. Louis, but I’m not.  I’m from North Carolina, but my family is from there.  The fans have been so cool to me, though, that it makes me feel like an honorary native.  I like St. Louis.  It’s cool. 

“I like the race track.  It’s one of the weirder tracks that we go to, but it’s always fun.  It’s really unique.  The corners of the track are completely different, so it’s impossible to have a setup that’s perfect on both ends. If you’re good through (Turns) 1 and 2, your truck will struggle through 3 and 4, or vice-versa.  It puts a lot of the race in the driver’s hands because he’ll have to be good where his truck isn’t.  

 “I’ve always gotten along with Billy Ballew.  I’ve been friends with him forever and he’s letting me run his truck at Gateway.  I don’t go truck racing because it helps my Nationwide program. There’s not a lot of information you gain from running a truck that will help your Nationwide car.  There’s just not much that will transfer between the two.  I do it because Billy puts me in great equipment and I have a lot of fun.  When Billy asks you to drive one of his trucks, you know you stand a shot of winning, so I jumped at the chance.”

NEWTON, IA (July 11, 2010) – Aric Almirola and Billy Ballew Motorsports came to Iowa Speedway this weekend with the hope of one-upping their second-place finish at the track last year.  After practice and qualifying on Saturday, a win certainly looked like attainable.  Almirola qualified the No. 51 Graceway Pharmaceuticals Zyclara Toyota second for Sunday’s Lucas Oil 200 after holding the provisional pole for much of the session until he was knocked off by Austin Dillon.

Starting from the outside of the front row Sunday afternoon, Almirola was confident in his No. 51 Tundra and was ready to race toward Victory Lane.  In the opening laps, he reported his truck was loose heading into the corners and tight coming off.  Crew chief Richie Wauters and the team made some track-bar and air-pressure adjustments under the first yellow-flag pit stop, and Almirola reported the changed helped.

Just 11 laps after that comment, Almirola’s hopes for a victory were wiped out when his right front tire blew, sending him into the Turn 1 wall in a hard crash.  The damage to the Graceway Pharmaceuticals Tundra was too much to repair, and the No. 51 was retired from the race.  Almirola finished 28th.

“I blew a right front,” Almirola said.  “It shows you how easy in this sport it is to go from the top to the bottom.  We were really hoping to have a good day today.  We felt like we had a really good truck in practice and it was pretty good today.  We were a little bit tight, but not that tight. 

“We missed something there on our cambers or something.  I don’t know.  Man, the truck wasn’t that bad to blow a right front like that.  That was a hard hit.  I’m glad all of the guys build safe trucks at Billy Ballew Motorsports.  Hopefully we’ll take our Graceway Pharmaceuticals Toyota Tundra to Gateway and go get them there.”

Almirola and the No. 51 team will return to their chase for a championship when the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series goes to Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Ill., on Saturday night.  The CampingWorld.com 200 will air live on July 16 at 8:30 p.m. on SPEED and MRN.