GAFFNEY, S.C. – JD Motorsports with Gary Keller and Mike Wallace are teaming up for the inaugural NASCAR Xfinity Series road course race scheduled on July 4 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The reunion of team and driver will have Wallace in a Chevrolet who will, once again, be part of NASCAR and IMS history. He was part of the inaugural Brickyard 400 in 1994 and the first Xfinity Series race on the 2.5-mile quad oval in 2012.
Wallace is a four-time Xfinity Series winner, earning one of those trips to victory lane at Indianapolis Raceway Park in 1994. He drove for JD Motorsports from 2009 to 2013. This will be the St. Louis native’s first series start since 2015.
“Johnny and I have always kept a good dialogue going through the years,” Wallace said. “We started talking about my doing something with his team again and when the idea of Indy came up, we both agreed that was the perfect place.
“I was part of the first Cup race there in 1994 with Junie Donleavy and the first Xfinity race in 2012 with Johnny. This is a pretty big deal to be part of the inaugural series race on the road course, and the first under the ownership of Roger Penske.
“Roger is an icon in this sport and I was fortunate to have driven for him in eight races during the 2001 season. Being part of this race with Johnny as the team owner and Roger as the track owner is pretty special. I’m looking forward to getting back behind the wheel again for this race.”
Partnership inquiries are being accepted for this one-race deal with the team and driver, who are both committed to running this race. For Davis, who started and has owned this team since 1983, he was very receptive to JD Motorsports and Wallace working together again.
“Mike had some pretty good races and seasons when we worked together,” Davis said. “When the opportunity came up for him to get in one of our Chevrolets again, we talked and decided the IMS road course would be perfect.
“Mike is a good and dependable driver who will bring a lot of veteran knowledge to the team. We’ll be ready for him and I know he’ll be ready to go racing again.
“Whatever sponsor we partner with for this race is going to get some pretty good exposure, for sure.”