Five years after he last competed in a national NASCAR event, 61-year-old Mike Wallace is set to make his return to the cockpit.
Wallace, the younger brother of NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace and older brother of Kenny Wallace, is scheduled to compete in the July 4 Xfinity Series race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course for JD Motorsports.
Wallace was part of the inaugural Brickyard 400 weekemd in 1994 and the first Xfinity Series race on the 2.5-mile oval in 2012.
He competed for JD Motorsports from 2009-13.
“(Owner) Johnny (Davis) and I have always kept a good dialogue going through the years,” Wallace said said in a media release. “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.
“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.”
Wallace has 806 starts across NASCAR’s three national series. His last start was in the 2015 Daytona 500.
Should the race go as scheduled in three months despite the ongoing COVID-10 pandemic, Wallace wouldn’t be the only NASCAR driver coming out of retirement for the inaugural road course race. Hall of Famer Tony Stewart is also scheduled to make his stock car return in the race.
