One week after a disappointing finish in the season opening Daytona event, HT Motorsports find themselves with another identical result, despite a grueling effort from driver Mike Wallace and the HT Crew.  The No. 59 Melling Dodge placed 31st for the second week in a row, but crew chief Kevin Cram led a spirited effort all weekend.  "I don't know," said a dejected Cram following the event.  "We're better than this result, we've worked hard all month and deserve a little better than we've been able to show on the racetrack," he added.

Driver Mike Wallace echoed those same sentiments following the finish of the racetickets.com 200 at California Speedway.  "I'd like to have about two seconds of that race back," he intoned, following a mishap just two laps from the checkered flag.

After qualifying 30th earlier in the day, the No. 59 Melling Dodge was able to ratchet up the leaderboard at the start of the event.  By lap five, Wallace was up to 25th place.  "I'm just being a little cautious with it right now," he radioed.  "We can go a lot faster," he added.  In the next few laps following the first caution period, he showed just that.

Wallace worked his way up to 20th place by the 15th circuit around the 2-mile track.  "It's jut a little loose from the center of the corner off," reported Wallace.  The first chance to work on the truck occurred after the second caution period on lap 19.  Crew chief Kevin Cram ordered the track bar to be lowered three rounds and four new tires.  Trouble in the pits dropped the team to 27th on the restart, but Wallace made up the difference with hard driving.

The team pitted again on lap 45 following another caution.  Crew chief Kevin Cram took right side tires only in a bid to gain track position.  Wallace restarted in 18th.  He was able to get one position higher on the leaderboard to 17th just past the halfway point of the event.

After another caution flag on lap 58, the team pitted for the third time, taking two rounds of wedge in the left rear and putting four new tires on the No. 59 Melling Dodge.  However, the stop was slow again, forcing Wallace to once again make up the difference after restarting 28th.

Crew chief Kevin Cram wisely kept Wallace out on the track after the next caution on lap 71.  The No. 59 Melling Dodge restarted 15th with just 25 laps to go.  At this point, the HT Motorsports group was the highest running Dodge in the field.

The older tires started to give way and Wallace slipped back a few positions as the laps wound down.  With the race laps winding down, Wallace got into a battle on the track with rookie Kyle Krisiloff which ended poorly for the No. 59 Melling Dodge.  Wallace lost control of the truck and the chassis snapped back to the right and into the outside wall of turn two just two laps shy of the checkered flag.

The team will be happy to have a two-week break to sort out their issues, but one thing has been consistent.  Solid effort from a solid crew both weeks.  If only that counted for anything in the finishing orders.