Wallace hopeful of Nationwide date for Iowa

Now that Mexico City will not be on the Nationwide Series schedule in 2009, speculation is rampant about a replacement. And the one track that comes up constantly is Iowa Speedway.

But Rusty Wallace, who helped design the 0.875-mile track in Newton, Iowa, said NASCAR has not promised the track a date for next season.


"We have always asked NASCAR for a Nationwide race or a truck race, and there's never been room in the schedule," Wallace said at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, site of Saturday's NAPA Auto Parts 200. "Now, there's room in the schedule. NASCAR has not called me up and said, 'Hey, we're going to go to Iowa.' They have said they really like our track. They like what it looks like.

"At this point, I'm not going to speculate. I've got my fingers crossed. I hope we get it. But they have never come up to me and said, 'You're getting it. Here's the date.' We're absolutely 100 percent at their mercy."

Nationwide Series driver Landon Cassill, an Iowa native, said he'd love to be able to race there next year.

"It's just an awesome race track," Cassill said. "I raced there in Late Models, and there's three grooves in Late Models. I'd hate to see what it'd do in a Nationwide car. It would open up pretty good.

"Rusty did a nice job designing the place. Everything from the track surface to the campgrounds and the stands and the club seats, the bus lot. Every garage has a drain for your cool-down units, so you don't have water all over the place. Everything is so nice and state-of-the-art, you'd be crazy not to go there."

Wallace, of course, would agree.

"If Iowa Speedway could be the recipient of that [Mexico] date, I'd gladly take it," Wallace said. "But I've got to reiterate, they have not told us. I don't want to lead anybody on."