Jesse James

NHOF: Wallace Happily Surprised By Selection

In a hotly debated election day, no one was more surprised to be voted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame than 1989 Sprint Cup champion Rusty Wallace.

Wallace joined Herb Thomas, Leonard Wood, Cotton Owens and Buck Baker in making it into the 2013 NASCAR Hall of Fame class. Wallace certainly has the resume. His 55 Cup race victories rank him ninth all time, with the eight ahead of him all either already in the NASCAR Hall or still active and therefore ineligible.What was surprising, though — or at least surprising to Wallace — was that he made it in during his first year of eligibility. Of the others, Thomas and Baker had been on the list of finalists since the inaugural class of 2010, with Owens and Wood first nominated for the 2012 class. But 2013 is Wallace's first year of eligibility and he made it in the first time."All I can tell you is I'm glad to get in, and I didn't expect to get in in the first round," said Wallace. "There's huge names — I honestly didn't."Wallace was so wound up be...

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