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With the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series drivers idle until their Sept. 6 appearance at Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis, the efforts of the Germain Racing operation are focused on the NASCAR Nationwide Series’ Saturday night event in Fontana Calif.

Germain Racing’s Mike Wallace will be among those participating in the Camping World RV Service 300 at the Auto Club Speedway.

Wallace, who drives the No. 7 Geico Toyota owned by Naples’ Bob Germain, remains among the top 10 drivers in the 2008 NNS points through 26 of 35 races. He is ninth in the standings and 23 markers behind eighth-place Jason Leffler. Wallace is 57 points ahead of 10th-place Marcos Ambrose.

Leffler and Wallace swapped places after last weekend’s racing at Bristol Motor Speedway, where Leffler ended up 15th and Wallace finished 35th after starting 18th in the Food City 250.

Though he hasn’t won an NNS race this year, Wallace, the 49-year-old from St. Louis, has one top-five finish and six top-10 finishes. This has been the first year in Wallace’s career, dating back to 1990, that he has been able to sustain a top-10 run. He did finish a career-best 11th in 2007.

“Racing is a job, and it’s a fun job,” Wallace said earlier this summer while competing at the O’Reilly Raceway Park near Indianapolis. “But you’ve to treat it as a business and a job if you’re going to be successful at it and have some fun with it.”

While Wallace says his arrangement with Germain Racing is the best situation he’s had in the series, he’s also been proud to watch his 20-year-old daughter, Chrissy, emerge as a driver in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series this season. She has run a partial schedule and next year hopes to be in the thick of the NCTS rookie of the year chase. She also has competed in the ARCA RE/MAX Series this season. Her next race will be in the Sept. 6 truck race at Gateway.

“That’s been one of the neatest things about this year,” Wallace said. “One of the best things about this relationship is that Toyota and Germain Racing have had the desire in my daughter. Nothing that had anything to do with me coming over here had anything to do with her. There was no talk about it, no speculation. They took her testing and she proved to have enough merit that Germain Racing is the one taking care of the program. The organization needs and will find sponsorship for her to run next year.”

Chrissy has raced since she was 10. She’s also an “incredible catcher who can throw you out from her knees” in softball. She was even offered a college scholarship in that sport.

“A couple of years ago, she said she wanted to race. It was hard because I never went to college. Hopefully this will turn out for her,” he said.

Mike’s 12-year-old son, Matt, is a racer as well, having been behind the wheel of Bandalero machines for three years at Charlotte. Another daughter, Lindsey, doesn’t drive, but she’s involved in the family’s racing business and often travels with Chrissy.

Mike Wallace, perhaps not always as high-profile as brothers Rusty and Kenny, is thankful to have had “better resources than we’ve had in years” as a Germain team member.

“They’re just incredible people to work with, they’ve been wonderful to me and wonderful to my family and to the guys on the team. I think the biggest thing is we’re having fun. We want to sit here and think about how great everything is, but we’ve also had some missed opportunities.”

* * *

A rainout last Saturday night translates into a busy night of on-track action at the Charlotte County Motorsports Park in Punta Gorda this weekend.

The headline event will be Saturday night’s 100-lap feature for the late models. Also to race are the Fastrucks, Road Warriors, Pro 4, Fab. 4, Mini Stock, Legends, Outlaw Street Stocks and Faster Pastor machines.

There will be practice Friday night and throughout the Labor Day weekend, the track will be host to a “Car, Truck and Bike Fest.” Festivities will run through Monday.

To find out more about the track and its activities, visit the Web at charlottecountyracing.com or call the speedway at 941-575-7223.

E-mail Tom Rife at heart22@comcast.net. His local racing column appears Fridays.