Early years Wallace first began racing in the 1970s making a name for himself on dirt tracks. Just like his brother Rusty, he eventually moved on to short track racing in the
Midwest where he racked up over 300 victories.
Early NASCAR career Wallace made his Busch Series debut in 1990 at the season-closing Winston Classic at Martinsville Speedway. Starting 24th, Wallace finished sixth in the No. 40
Lowes Foods Chevrolet. The next season, he ran nine Busch races for a variety of different teams and had a third-place finish at
Lanier Raceway. He also made his
Winston Cup debut at the
Pyroil 500, where he finished 31st in the
Jimmy Means-owned car. It also marked the first time since the 1950s that three brothers competed against each other in a Winston Cup race, as Rusty and Kenny drove in that race also. In
1992, Wallace signed on with
Moroso Racing to pilot the No. 20 First Ade
Oldsmobile. They also ran a Cup race together at
Atlanta Motor Speedway, where Wallace finished 33rd. Despite a tenth-place run at Martinsville, Wallace was dismissed from the ride nearly halfway into the season. Late in the year, he was hired by Barry Owen to drive his No. 9 Oldsmobile, replacing the late
Clifford Allison. After a ninth place finish in their first race at
Dover International Speedway, Wallace posted a second place finish at Martinsville. Wallace and Owen also ran a pair of Cup races, and their best finish was in twentieth place in Atlanta. They ran the entire Busch schedule in
1993, with sponsorship from FDP Brakes. Wallace had nine top-tens that season and finished a career-high twelfth in the final points standings. He also finished in the top-fifteen for the first time in his Cup career when he finished fifteenth at Atlanta.
1994–1997 Early in
1994, Wallace was hired by
Junie Donlavey to drive his No. 90
Heilig-Meyers Ford Thunderbird in the
Winston Cup Series. Although he competed in 22 of the scheduled 31 races that year, Wallace finished fifth in the
Rookie of the Year standings and 33rd in the final point standings. His season was capped off with a fifth place finish at the
Hooters 500. In the Busch Series, he won his first career race at Dover, followed by victories at
The Milwaukee Mile and
Indianapolis Raceway Park. The following season, Wallace failed to qualify for five races in the Cup series and dropped a spot in the standings. His lone lead-lap finish came at
Bristol Motor Speedway, where he finished ninth. In the Busch Series, his team switched to No. 90 with sponsorship from Duron Paints and posted two second-place finishes. He also made his
Craftsman Truck Series debut that season at
North Wilkesboro Speedway and finished 29th in the
MB Motorsports truck. Twelve races into the
1996 season, Wallace was released from his Cup ride with Donlavey. Despite moving back down into the Busch Series full-time, Wallace only posted one top-ten in the second half of the season, forcing Owen's team to close its doors. Wallace began
1997 with high hopes in the No. 91
LJ Racing Chevrolet Monte Carlo owned by
Joe Falk and Ron Neal. The team had moved up from the Busch Series and signed
Spam as a full-time sponsor but after many DNQs and the best finish of seventeenth at
Texas Motor Speedway, the team lost its sponsor and Wallace found himself without a ride. He also split time in the Busch Series in the No. 7
Chevrolet for
Ed Whitaker, making six starts. Midway through the season, he left for the Truck Series, driving the No. 52
Purolator Chevrolet Silverado for
Ken Schrader Racing. Despite only running fifteen races that season, he finished 23rd in points. He also finished in the top-ten in each of the last four races of the season, including
California Speedway, where he finished second.
1998–2004 Wallace returned to run the Truck Series full-time in
1998 for Schrader. Although he did not win that season, he won his first career NASCAR pole at
New Hampshire International Speedway and had seven top-tens en route to a fifteenth place point finish. He also ran six Busch races for
Andy Petree Racing,
Washington-Erving Motorsports, and the
Curb Agajanian Performance Group, his best finish coming at IRP for Petree. In addition, he ran the
Daytona 500 in an entry for
Phil Barkdoll, starting and finishing 23rd. In
1999, Wallace left Schrader to drive the No. 2
Team ASE Racing Ford F-150 for
Ultra Motorsports. He won in his first race for Ultra at
Homestead-Miami Speedway and won again six races later at
Pikes Peak International Raceway. He finished sixth in points that year. He also returned to Donlavey in Cup to run the Daytona 500 for him and finished 23rd, as well finishing 24th in an Ultra-owned car at
Richmond International Raceway. The following year, Wallace won an additional two truck races and moved up to fourth in points. He also ran eight Busch races for
Moy Racing, his best finish a fourteenth at IRP. Ultra promoted Wallace back to the Cup Series for
2001 after
Michael Waltrip left the team to drive for
Dale Earnhardt, Inc., placing him in the No. 7 Nations Rent Ford. Despite starting off the season with a sixth place finish at the Daytona 500, the team struggled in qualifying. Wallace did not qualify for the Coca-Cola 600 or the spring race at Michigan and was pulled from the ride for
Ted Musgrave at Pocono in June and
Robby Gordon the next week at Sonoma. Despite recording another top-ten at Daytona in the Pepsi 400 and one more at New Hampshire, he failed to qualify again at Indianapolis and Watkins Glen. During that time, he began running with a new Busch Series team,
Biagi Brothers Racing, running their No. 4
Geico Chevy. His best finish of eight starts was a tenth at
Richmond International Raceway. After the inaugural race at Kansas in the fall, Wallace left Ultra and joined
Penske-Kranefuss Racing, driving the No. 12
Mobil 1
Ford Taurus as a teammate to his brother Rusty after
Jeremy Mayfield was fired. At Phoenix, he led 45 laps late in the race before giving the lead up to
Jeff Burton, finishing a career-best second. Wallace recorded four top-twenty finishes in the No. 12, but after the season
Roger Penske and
Michael Kranefuss elected to dissolve their partnership. Although Penske would continue to run two teams, as rookie
Ryan Newman would be promoted to full-time for 2002, he would be doing so under his own team and thus Wallace was left without a ride when the partnership dissolved.
Andy Petree brought Wallace in to run a few races in his No. 33 Chevrolet as a replacement for
Joe Nemechek, who had left to join
Haas-Carter Motorsports. The team did not have sponsorship; however, since
Oakwood Homes left the team at the end of 2001, Wallace did not run the full season. However, by virtue of Nemechek’s victory in the fall race at Rockingham the year before, Wallace qualified to race in The Winston all-star race at Charlotte in the No. 33; he finished 23rd. Wallace returned to run with Biagi for seventeen races in the Busch Series, posting two consecutive fourteenth place finishes. Wallace also returned to the Truck series driving the Federated Auto Parts truck for Schrader, posting two Top 10’s. Mid-season, he signed onto the No. 14
Conseco Pontiac Grand Prix for
A. J. Foyt Racing, his best finish a tenth at Bristol. In
2003, Biagi Bros. began racing full-time in the Busch Series with Wallace. Despite missing two races, Wallace had three top-tens and finished thirteenth in the final standings. In the Cup series, he had two Top 10’s driving for Phoenix, as well as making eight starts filling for
Jerry Nadeau in the No. 01
U.S. Army Pontiac Grand Prix for
MB2/MBV Motorsports. In addition to running two races for Schrader in the Truck Series, he also competed in a pair of events for
Brevak Racing, his best finish a fifteenth at Phoenix. In
2004, at the mid-season race at Daytona, Wallace took the lead on the last lap and won his fourth career race, the first for Biagi in one of the biggest wins of his career. The following week at
Chicagoland Speedway, he led eighteen laps and almost won before running out of fuel on the final lap. In the Cup Series, he drove three races for
Arnold Motorsports, before leading 45 laps and finishing seventh at Richmond for Phoenix. He finished the season driving the No. 4
Lucas Oil Chevy for
Morgan-McClure Motorsports.
2005–present Wallace began driving for MMM full-time in
2005. Despite an eighth place finish at the
Pepsi 400, Wallace was released towards the end of the season by MMM. He returned to the Truck Series briefly for
Darrell Waltrip Motorsports, finishing in the top-nine twice. He drove for a variety of different teams in the Busch Series, among them
Akins Motorsports,
Rusty Wallace, Inc. and
Evernham Motorsports, with whom he finished second at his hometown track in Gateway. Wallace began 2006 in the Truck Series running for
HT Motorsports but was released after finishing 31st in each of his first two starts. Already signed on to run Phoenix's Cup car, Miccosukee Resorts Dodge signed Wallace to be their full-time driver for the remainder of
2006 to replace
Jason Keller and had three top-five finishes. In 2007, Wallace piloted the No. 7
GEICO Chevrolet for
Phoenix Racing with teammate
J. J. Yeley. Despite no top-ten finishes, he ended the season eleventh in points. Wallace finished 4th in the
2007 Daytona 500, his best finish in the event. In 2008, Wallace,
GEICO, and his car number moved from Phoenix Racing to
Germain Racing, where he drove a Toyota Camry. He had eight top-tens and finished a career-best eighth in points. After he had not renewed his contract with Germain, Wallace attempted the
2009 Daytona 500 for Kevin Buckler but failed to make the race by just one position in his Gatorade Duel qualifying race. In June 2009,
Larry Gunselman tapped Wallace for a ride in his No. 64 Toyota to compete in Pocono just days after Todd Bodine left the team. On October 31, 2009, in the Mountain Dew 250, he raced the No. 48 for
Fast Track Racing Enterprises in the Camping World Truck Series along with his daughter
Chrissy Wallace. It was the first time that a father and daughter raced in the same race. Wallace finished 28th after an accident and Chrissy finished thirteenth. He also signed on as a full-time driver of the No. 01
JD Motorsports in the Nationwide Series. Wallace led late in the 2011
Aaron's 312 but flipped in a multi-car accident. Wallace drove the car back to pit road and was credited with an eighteenth place finish. Near the end of the 2011 season, Wallace won the NCWTS
Coca-Cola 250 at
Talladega Superspeedway after being pushed by
Ron Hornaday for the majority of the race. Wallace attempted to qualify for the
2012 Daytona 500 in the No. 37 Ford, fielded by
Max Q Motorsports and
Rick Ware Racing, but failed to qualify for the race. Wallace drove for
JD Motorsports in the Nationwide Series full-time during the 2013 season. In 2014, Wallace drove part-time for
JGL Racing in the Nationwide Series. He also returned to Sprint Cup, driving for
Identity Ventures Racing in several late-season Cup events, with a best finish of 26th. Wallace began 2015 driving for
Premium Motorsports in the No. 66 Sprint Cup car. He began the season by finishing 36th in the Daytona 500, however, after failing to qualify for the next two races he was released. Wallace then had triple-bypass heart surgery in April, keeping him out of racing for the summer. Five years after his last NASCAR national series start, Wallace returned to the Xfinity Series in July 2020 for the
Pennzoil 150 on the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, racing for JD Motorsports. After starting fourteenth, his momentum was hindered at the start of the final stage when he stopped to avoid a spinning
Brett Moffitt; Wallace finished 24th. He returned to JD at
Road America and the Daytona road course in August. On September 10, Wallace was suspended indefinitely by NASCAR for violating the sport's behavioral policy over a social media post. NASCAR did not disclose what Wallace's social media post was the cause of his suspension. He filed two appeals; both of which were rejected by the National Motorsports Appeal Panel. He, alongside
Josh Reaume, was reinstated on March 31, 2021. On January 2, 2025, it was announced that Wallace would return to NASCAR to attempt the
2025 Daytona 500 driving the No. 66 for
MBM Motorsports. A few days later, NASCAR deemed Wallace ineligible to compete in the race due to his inactivity in major professional motorsports, with his last superspeedway race at the 2015 Daytona 500 and NASCAR-sanctioned event in 2020. He was replaced by
Chandler Smith for the event, who failed to qualify. On October 4, 2025, he made his debut in the Grand National Super Series, racing the No. 66 car at Dominion Raceway racing alongside his daughter
Chrissy. == Personal life ==