Up and coming ... SteveWallace

WALLACE

Steve Wallace, the 18-year-old son of retired Nextel Cup driver Rusty Wallace and nephew of drivers Mike and Kenny Wallace, is trying to break into bigtime racing. He's running select ARCA and Busch Series races this year in his father's cars and plans to run Busch full time next year. He recently participated

in a teleconference

WALLACE

with reporters, including Rick Minter of Cox News Service.

On having racing family members to turn to for advice, if needed: "It's definitely a big help. You've got Dad, who is a Nextel Cup champion, won a bunch of races, finished second a bunch in the championship, and Mike's had a good career. He has won some Busch races and stuff like that. For example, we were at Martinsville - and I've never been there before as far as actually

driving on the race track - and Dad got in the race car first and he made some laps and got a handle real good and then I got in it. ... When my dad is not there and I have a question, I'll go to Kenny or Mike."

On the advantages of driving for his father: "I think if I wasn't driving for my dad, I might be fired by now, so it's definitely good to have your dad as a boss and as a driving coach."

On living with the boss: "Mom is real big on cooking.We have dinner every night.We sit down at the table and talk about stuff. So if I run bad and look like an idiot, [Dad] makes me feel like one. But if I run good, I'm kind of the superstar at the house."

On his future racing plans: "I've got about eight more races or so in the Busch Series.We have about four or five ARCA races left, too, in preparation for next year. I am going to run full time [in Busch] for next year so I'm real excited about that."