Mike and Chrissy Wallace set to make history at Talladega

You have to wonder just what is going through Mike Wallace's mind. Racing in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at Talladega Superspeedway can be nerve-racking enough. This time, however, he'll also have to marshal the emotions of having his 21-year-old daughter, Chrissy, on the track with him.
 
Their history-making run, scheduled for Saturday at the 2.66-mile track, is clearly drawing a lot of attention on a driver already used to inheriting just that. Chrissy Wallace carries the pedigree of a family steeped in NASCAR. Now, she's trying to make her own name in the sport. This weekend, she'll take another step in the slow process toward doing that - and she'll do so with her father also on the track.
 
The Wallaces will become the first father-daughter combo to compete against one another in one of NASCAR's major touring series. Mike Wallace will drive the No. 48 Andy Hillenburg Racing entry, and Chrissy Wallace will drive the No. 08 entry, fielded by Rick Ware Racing but carrying the locked-in points of SS-Green Light Racing.
 
Both are well aware of just how big this race will be and the change to go head to head at a track where Chrissy ninth in an ARCA race.
 
For both, the road to landing Chrissy a NASCAR ride has been somewhat fraught with frustration.
 
Chrissy Wallace has paid her dues in a slow climb into the sport. It's somewhat natural that Chrissy would be at least intrigued by racing. After all, her father has competed in NASCAR's Cup, Nationwide and Truck ranks, with four Nationwide and four Truck wins. Her uncle Rusty was the 1989 Cup champion and uncle Kenny Wallace has 344 Cup starts and 450 in what is now the Nationwide Series, with nine wins there. Rusty Wallace's son, Steve, is currently competing in the Nationwide Series for his father.
 
And now Chrissy is racing against hers. It's just another step in the development of her career - and yet another first in a long line of them.
 
Wallace was the first female to win a Bandelero race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the first to win in a Legends car at Friendship Speedway in Elkin, N.C., and the first to win a Late Model race at Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway in 2007. She finished second in the Pro Challenge Cars track championship at Hickory and has over 50 feature wins in Legends cars. She has 22 wins at Concord (N.C.) Motorsports Park in Legends and Bandelero cars. In 2006, she won seven out of the 10 Arena races in which she competed.
 
Then, in 2008, her career took the next logical step. She competed in a pair of ARCA races. And she competed in six Truck races. She made her series debut at Martinsville Speedway, driving for Germain Racing. At the time, her uncle Kenny talked about the thrill of seeing her name on the entry list - and offered some sage advice.
 
“The one thing about us Wallaces is we’re very realistic people. We tend to … tell her the way it is really going to be,” said Kenny Wallace, who will be her spotter this weekend. “We don’t paint a pretty picture for her.”
 
Since then, Chrissy Wallace and her dad have been forced to be patient as they tried to push her career further. She turned down a full softball scholarship to play catcher at Lenoir-Rhyne in Hickory, N.C. - and has since been waiting on that elusive full-time opportunity. She has shown her talent in the handful of races she has run, earning respectable top-20 finishes in three of her six races last year and finishing ninth in her second ARCA outing.
 
What has this time been like for her?
 
"Well, you know, I think I have got a little frustrated, and Dad could definitely agree with me that I've gotten frustrated. I think I've been more frustrated at myself that I haven't been in a car than anything," she says. "It is upsetting to go to a race track and see somebody else running the truck you were supposed to run or running the series you were supposed to run and knowing you were supposed to be there.  But if I get my hopes all the way down, then I know it's going to be hard to build them back up.  So I've had to keep some self‑esteem up knowing that there could always be another chance.
 
"I think that's a big deal is having Rick Ware come on board with me, prove to me that I can get back into it, and I should never get down on myself whatsoever about racing because there will always - I shouldn't say always, but hopefully there will always be another chance."
 
She's caught in that place where a lot of young drivers are, trying to gain sponsorship for a chance to race full time.
 
Now, she plans to study and learn as she prepares for the actual race this weekend. And she'll lean on her dad to help her pick up the nuances of the track.

They've only competed against one another once - in a Legends race.
 
This is obviously an experience that will be a career highlight for both of them.
 
"Racing against my dad, it's something that we've always wanted to do," she says. "It's something that means a lot to me, and I think it's a good thing for me and him both, and, hopefully, I'll wind up beating him."
 
He seems as thrilled by the opportunity as anyone.
 
Talladega is a track that requires constant concentration and attention to detail. It can be an exasperating, maddening, tense experience. Throw in racing against one's daughter, or father for that matter, and it can become even moreso.
 
Certainly, there will be some nerves among Wallace family members before the race begins. But Chrissy feels fortunate that she'll have input from her family and all the experience that they bring.
 
"Right now going to Talladega, I have to rely on my dad," she says. "He has gone there and won multiple times [at] Daytona and Talladega, so he knows the tracks there very well.  So for me to go out there and run really good, I'm going to have to go practice behind him or talk to him every day before the race, practice, and get to learn different things along the way.
 
"So my big person I rely on is going to be my dad.  But when the race comes, I'm going to have to rely on Kenny for giving me the help when he's spotting."
 
And her dad? 

Mike Wallace says he plans to be aware of Chrissy and where she is on the track throughout the race - and to do whatever he can to make for a smooth racing weekend for her. 
 
"I will always keep an eye out throughout the whole race to check and make sure where Chrissy is at, and if she can help me in any way keep us to the front or get us to the front, and if I can help push her, and when I say help her, I mean through the drafting side of things, I'll be there to assist her," he says.
 
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