Stacker 2 team confident heading to Rockingham.

Kenny Wallace arrives at the North Carolina Speedway this weekend knowing that he will have a good car underneath him following a decent run with the #23 Bill Davis team at the track last fall and his own personal successes at the 1.017-mile oval.

Although Wallace has had many 'close calls' in his thus far winless Winston Cup career none were 'closer' than the 2001 edition of the Pop Secret 400 at Rockingham where Wallace won the pole and finished a close second to Joe Nemechek. Substituting for the injured Steve Park in the #1 DEI Pennzoil Chevrolet Wallace was a leading contender all day and equalled his best career finish to date.

Now in his second event as the full-time driver of Davis' smart-looking #23 Stacker 2 Dodge team just about everyone in the Winston Cup garage knows that the Philippe Lopez led crew is on the up and up.

"It's a favourite track," said Wallace of the famed oval situated close to the hub of the NASCAR world. "It's close to home and I have loved going there since my first trip there. It suits my driving style."

After floating about for the first half of the 2002 season following Park's return, Wallace eventually hooked up with BDR and revitalised the flagging #23 team late in the season. The 2002 Pop Secret 400 came during a stretch of races where Wallace was a consistent top 15 contender and that race was no different with Wallace qualifying the #23 16th and finishing 13th. After a solid start to the season last weekend at Daytona, this Sunday's Subway 400 offers the team another chance to solidify their year from the get-go.

"I have a good feel for what the car needs," added Wallace, who came home 16th in the rain-shortened Daytona 500. "We sat on the pole and ran second a couple years back. From that run, I know what the car should feel like to be capable of sitting on the pole and I know how the car should feel to have a good top five finish.

"We have a good start on the year and we need it to continue this weekend in Rockingham. I have the knowledge to help get the car right and I know we can do it with Philippe. This whole year is about producing. It is about putting the numbers on the board."

Wallace was helped in his own preparations for the Subway 400 when he hitched a ride home from Daytona with defending Winston Cup Champion Tony Stewart. While most of the NASCAR teams and drivers were stuck in Daytona on Sunday night as snowstorms swept the eastern seaboard of the United States. Stewart and Wallace were able to relax and take flight. Almost.

"We were able to get home one Sunday, thanks to Tony Stewart," he added. "His pilot flew in the military, so we weren't really worried about his ability. We heard there was snow on the ground, but the ice was pretty bad. There was about 1/4 inch of ice on the runway. I had no idea there was ice too."