
XFINITY: Emotional Wallace honors grandmother after crash
Saturday night's Xfinity race
at Phoenix International Raceway.Wallace was one of the eight Chase drivers trying to advance to the Championship 4, although he started the race in seventh place, 20 points behind fourth-place Blake Koch. Wallace, who was running seventh behind Koch, tried to go underneath him, but Koch moved to the left, sending Wallace into the inside wall on the frontstretch. Jeremy Clements, Corey LaJoie and Garrett Smithley made contact trying to avoid Wallace's car and the red flag came out.
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A visibly emotional Wallace – who drove with "Granny Jan's" name above his door (pictured above) – was released from the care center.
"My grandmother was giving me the ride of my life," Wallace said through tears to NBC Sports. "That was the most fun I've ever had all year. And just circumstances took us out so, it's just hard. Thanks, Granny I love you. We're going to Homestead and let her ride again.
"Just thanks to my team for giving me the best racecar all year long. Granny was going up to win that thing on that restart, we were moving, it was probably the sexiest restart we've ever had, and just had it taken away from us. About like what happened with her. Everything was so good and the next thing you know she's gone from us.
"It was a long shot to get in the Chase, but to have a good race and get a good finish, we need one. We've had the sh****est luck for so long this year, and it's just so hard. I can't thank my granny enough for giving me that ride. It was fun."
Wallace finished 32nd; Koch was also eliminated from Chase contention. After the race, he apologized.
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JR Motorsports teammates Elliott Sadler and Justin Allgaier and Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Daniel Suarez and Erik Jones will compete for the championship in next week's season finale at Homestead.
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