About Mike

Hometown: St. Louis, MO

Residence: Concord, NC

Wife: Carla

Children: Lindsey, Chrissy, and Matt

Mike is the middle brother of the Wallace racing family, which includes Rusty and Kenny. The family originated in St Louis, Missouri, and currently resides in the Charlotte, NC area.

A restrictor plate specialist, Wallace is known for having great success at superspeedways such as Daytona and Talladega. At Daytona in February 2003, Wallace recorded three Top 10’s in three days in three different Series and with three different manufacturers: 6th place in the Federated Auto Parts Chevrolet in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race, 4th place in the GEICO Pontiac in the NASCAR Busch Series race and 9th place in the Miccosukee Gaming & Resorts Dodge in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race.

Wallace also recorded a win at the inaugural NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Daytona International Speedway and went on to record two more wins at the historic 2.5-mile tri-oval, including an ARCA win.

More notably, on July 2, 2004, Wallace went from fifth to first on the final lap in the Winn-Dixie 250 and passed Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Jason Leffler coming out of Turn 4 to hand GEICO their first NASCAR Busch Series victory since they became involved in the sport in 2001. It was also Wallace’s first NASCAR Busch Series victory at the legendary superspeedway.

Wallace has over 300 short track wins, while also recording wins in the ARCA Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. In Cup, he has 8 career Top 10's and a career high finish of 2nd at Phoenix.

In 2007, Wallace had his best career finish in Busch Series points, netting 11th place in the standings after a season behind the wheel of the #7 GEICO Chevrolet.

In 2008, Wallace made his 600th NASCAR career start behind the wheel of the #7 GEICO Camry fielded by NASCAR champs Germain Racing.  Wallace was reunited with Mike Hillman Sr. and many other faces from his days in NASCAR's top three racing series.

Wallace first raced in NASCAR's #2 series in 1990 and has been a fixture in that circuit every year since. He has 295 starts in NASCAR's #2 series.  

When he fired up the #7 Camry to take the green flag this past April at Texas Motor Speedway, Wallace joined a short list of NASCAR racers with more than 600 races to their credit. Before he added that milestone to his resume, Wallace first hit 300 starts in NASCAR's #2 series in March at Bristol Motor Speedway.

EARLY CAREER

Mike Wallace made his Busch Series debut in 1990 at the season-closing Winston Classic at Martinsville Speedway. Starting twenty-fourth, Wallace finished sixth in the #40 Lowes Food Chevrolet. The following season, Mike ran nine Busch races for a variety of different teams, and had a third-place finish. He made his Winston Cup debut at the Pyroil 500, where he competed against his brothers Rusty and Kenny Wallace and finished 31st. This marked the first time since the 1950s that three brothers raced against each other in the Nextel Cup Series.

In 1992, Wallace signed on with Moroso Racing to pilot the #20 First Ade Oldsmobile. The duo was successful, eventually even earning a tenth-place  finish at Martinsville. They also ran a Cup race together at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where Wallace finished thirty-third. Late in the year, he was hired by Barry Owen to drive the #9 Oldsmobile. After a ninth-place finish in their first race, Mike posted a second-place finish at Martinsville. Wallace and Owen also ran a pair of Cup races, their best finish being a 20th at Atlanta. They ran the entire Busch schedule in 1993, with sponsorship from FDP Brakes. Wallace had nine top-tens that season, and finished a career-high 12th in the final points standings. His fifteenth-place finish in at Atlanta gave him the first top fifteen finish of his Nextel Cup Series career.

1994-1997

Early in 1994, Mike Wallace was hired by Junie Donlavey to drive his #90 Heilig-Meyers Ford Thunderbird in the Nextel Cup Series. Mike finished fifth in the Rookie of the Year standings, and thirty-third in the overall championship standings. He capped off his season with a fifth-place finish in the Hooters 500.

In the Busch Series, Mike won his first career race at Dover, followed by victories at The Milwaukee Mile and Indianapolis Raceway Park. Wallace also drove to an 8th place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway. His team then switched to the #90 with sponsorship from Duron Paints, and posted two second-place finishes. He also made his Craftsman Truck Series debut that season at North Wilkesboro Speedway, and finished 29th in the MB Motorsports truck.

Wallace began 1997 with high hopes in the #91 LJ Racing Chevrolet Monte Carlo owned by Joe Falk and Ron Neil. The team had moved up from the Busch Series to the Nextel Cup Series and signed Spam as a full time sponsor en route to a 17th place finish at Texas Motor Speedway. He also split time in the Busch Series in the #7 Chevrolet for Ed Whitaker, making six starts. Midway through the season, he left for the Truck series, driving the #52 Purolator Chevrolet Silverado for Ken Schrader Racing. Despite only running fifteen races that season, he finished twenty-third in points. He also finished in the top-ten in each of the last four races of the season, including California Speedway, where he finished second.

1998-2004

Mike Wallace returned to run the Truck Series full-time in 1998, driving for Ken Schrader. During that season, he recorded his first career NASCAR pole win at New Hampshire International Speedway and had eleven top-tens en route to a thirteenth-place points finish. He also ran six Busch races for Andy Petree Racing, Washington-Erving Motorsports, and the Curb Agajanian Performance Group, his best finish coming at IRP. In addition, he ran the Daytona 500 in an entry for Phil Barkdoll, starting and finishing 23rd.

In 1999, he left Schrader to drive the #2 Team ASE Racing Ford F-150 for Ultra Motorsports. He won in his first race for Ultra at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and won again six races later at Pikes Peak International Raceway. He finished sixth in points that year. He also returned to Donlavey in Cup to run the Daytona 500 for him, and finished 23rd, along with a  24th place finish in an Ultra-owned car at Richmond International Raceway. The following year, Wallace won an additional two truck races and moved up to fourth in points. He also ran eight Busch races for Moy Racing, his best finish a 14th at IRP.

After Ultra purchased the Mattei Motorsports #7 Nations Rent Cup team, Wallace was announced as the driver for 2001. Mike started off the season with a sixth-place finish in the Daytona 500 and later posted two consecutive top-ten finishes. During that time, he began running with a new Busch Series team, Biagi Brothers Racing, driving their #4 Geico Chevy. His best finish of his eight starts was a tenth at Richmond International Raceway.

Late in the season, Wallace joined Penske-Kranefuss Racing, driving the #12 Mobil 1 Ford Taurus, and making him a teammate to his brother Rusty. At Phoenix, he led 45 laps late in the race before giving the lead up to Jeff Burton, finishing a career-best second place. The following year Mike returned to run with Biagi for seventeen races in the Busch Series, posting two consecutive fourteenth-place finishes. Wallace also returned to the Truck series driving the Federated Auto Parts truck for Schrader, posting two top-tens. Mid-season, he signed onto the #14 Conseco Pontiac Grand Prix for A.J. Foyt Racing, his best finish being a tenth at Bristol.

In 2003, Biagi Bros. began racing full-time in the Busch Series with Wallace. Despite missing two races, Wallace had three top-tens and finished 13th in the final standings. In the Cup series, he had two top-tens driving for Phoenix, as well as making eight starts filling for Jerry Nadeau in the #01 U.S. Army Pontiac Grand Prix for MB2/MBV Motorsports. In addition to running two races for Schrader in the Truck Series, he also competed in a pair of events for Brevak Racing, with a best finish of fifteenth at Phoenix. In 2004, at the mid-season race at Daytona, Wallace took the lead on the last lap and won his fourth career race, the first for Biagi and one of the biggest wins of his career. The following week at Chicagoland, he led eighteen laps and almost won before running out of fuel on the final lap. In the Cup Series, he drove three races for Arnold Motorsports, before leading 45 laps and finishing seventh at Richmond for Phoenix. He finished the season driving the #4 Lucas Oil Chevy for Morgan-McClure Motorsports.

 PRESENT

 In 2005 Mike returned to the Truck Series briefly for Darrell Waltrip Motorsports, finishing in the top-nine twice. He drove for a variety of different teams in the Busch Series, including Akins Motorsports, Rusty Wallace, Inc. and Evernham Motorsports.

In 2006 Mike continued running the Phoenix's Cup car. Miccosukee Resorts Dodge also signed Wallace to be their full-time driver for the remainder of 2006, to replace Jason Keller, and has had three top-five finishes.

In 2007, Mike began piloting the #7 GEICO Chevrolet for Phoenix Racing. His teammate is J. J. Yeley, who is currently racing the #1 Miccosukee Indian Gaming Chevrolet.

Wallace qualified for the 2007 Daytona 500 by a few inches during the Gatorade Duels race. He finished 4th place in the Daytona 500, racing unscathed through a last lap incident that took out several cars in front of him.

In 2009 Mike Wallace will finish the Nationwide Series season in the 01 Chevy Monte Carlo owned by JD Motorsports.