Bio

One of NASCAR’s fastest, most promising and most well-pedigreed young talents, Steve Wallace storms into the 2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series season more confident than ever. Following a 2008 campaign which saw the rapidly-improving 21 year-old capture his first career top-five and top-ten finishes, many believe that the young wheelman is poised for a true “breakout” season in 2009.

In 2007—his first full Nationwide Series season—Wallace showed all that he had the speed to contend in racing’s big leagues. His season was highlighted by a pair of pole wins at Nashville and Bristol, where the then-teenager outgunned over 20 Cup Series drivers to win the pole in what was his 24th career qualifying attempt.

Following the 2007 season, Steve proved to all in 2008 that he has developed the consistency to match the speed he has shown throughout his young career. After earning his first career Nationwide Series top-ten finish in the road course event at Mexico City, Wallace went on to score back-to-back top-fives at Richmond and Darlington, en route to seven top-ten finishes and his first top-15 ranking in the year-end driver standings.

While the teenage Wallace garnered much attention in the 2007 and 2008 Nationwide Series, he was previously one of the biggest stories of the 2006 ARCA season as well. The third-generation wheelman steered his No. 61 machine to three wins and a series-high four poles in 2006, despite attempting only eight of the 24 events. En route to the season-long pole award, Steve failed to start from the front row only once. He finished outside of the top-five only twice and outside the top-ten only one time.

Facing stiff competition from a bevy of NASCAR NEXTEL Cup drivers, Steve had an impressive showing in his rookie outing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. The teenager proved that he belonged in racing’s upper echelon, earning three top-five and seven top-ten starts in his 17-race 2006 Nationwide Series campaign.

Steve turned heads in the racing world long before 2006 and 2007, however. 2004 was a breakout season for Wallace, a former INEX Bandolero Car National Champion, as he won the 37th annual running of the Snowball Derby, one of America’s premier short track stock car events. In doing so, Steve became the youngest winner in the event’s history and accomplished a feat which his legendary father unsuccessfully attempted nine times.

2004 also saw Wallace enjoy success in the UARA-STARS series, where he won three of the final four events, earned three poles and set three track records en route to the Rookie of the Year title. During that run, Wallace continued in his famous father’s footsteps, by scoring a victory in the inaugural late model stock car event at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Steve followed up his 2004 success with even more in the 2005 season. In late 2005, he won his first career ARCA RE/MAX Series race, capturing the checkers at Michigan International Speedway in August. By doing so, he became the youngest professional event winner in MIS history, at 18 years and one day. The event was Wallace’s first race on a track larger than one mile.

Steve Wallace currently resides in the Charlotte, NC vicinity. When not wheeling the No. 66 Rusty Wallace Racing Chevrolet Impala SS, Steve enjoys motocross riding, fishing and remote control cars. For more on Steve Wallace, please visit stevewallaceonline.com and rustywallace.com.