DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – For Darrell Wallace Jr., Sunday’s Daytona 500 doesn’t just mark his first race as a full-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver.
It marks the culmination of one journey and the beginning of another.
Wallace has scrapped, clawed and fought his way forward to have a chance at NASCAR’s premier level, going all the way back to his days in the Drive for Diversity and NASCAR Next programs as he hoped to be the next young gun to make his mark.
This weekend, that footprint will truly begin to form, as Wallace becomes the first full-time African-American driver to compete at the top level of the sport since 1971, the last year that Wendell Scott contested the Cup schedule.
It’s a role that has been widely publicized since Wallace was first announced as the new driver of the iconic Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43, but it’s also a role that Wallace has embraced.
After all, he knows it’s going to continue to be talked about, whether he likes it or not.
“(The media) is going to keep putting the black driver thing out there, so I’m telling fans to embrace it because that’s all they’re going to keep hearing,” Wallace said during Daytona 500 Media Day on Wednesday. “But I’m looking forward to it, to be able to represent the black culture. It’s going to be good.”
But Wallace also does recognize the history that comes with driving for a car owner who won seven Cup titles and 200 races, as well as the legacy that Scott started in the 1960s that he’ll continue when he takes the green flag this weekend.
“There’s a lot of stuff that’s riding (with me) this weekend,” he admitted. “I know it. I pay attention to it. I follow a lot of people on social media, and it’s being put out there, so I’m just doing my best at managing it, keeping it behind me and knowing that’s the best thing I can do.”
So what’s his strategy? Simply this: shut out the chatter and go race the race.
“I let the talk going into my truck debut here at Daytona get to me,” Wallace explained. “All the media went, ‘Oh, here comes Bubba out of the K&N Series’ and all that stuff, and I was like, ‘I’ve got to be top of the board. I’ve got to win qualifying. I’ve got to win the race.’ And what do you do? You wreck out because you’re not focused on what you really need to be focused on.”
“One thing that I’ve learned over the years is just to be super-relaxed, and that’s how I’m taking this season with everything that’s riding on it.”
After a solid debut stint for RPM last year, in which he made four starts as a substitute for the injured Aric Almirola and scored a best finish of 11th in the last of that quartet, Wallace feels that the team is primed to make a jump forward this year thanks to their new alliance with Chevrolet and Richard Childress Racing.
“I think we’ve still got a lot of headway to clear out, but coming from where they were at least year to where they’re at now, they’ve made a lot of improvements,” said Wallace. “I think this is a great switch over to Chevrolet and to RCR for this team. I think that part is going really well. But it doesn’t take just one season for a team just to be like a light switch and turn things up. It’s going to take us a little bit.”
“In all honesty, I’m excited to get to Atlanta,” he added. “I’m excited to run my first 500, but I’m just as excited to get to Atlanta, Phoenix and Vegas and places like that to really see how we stack up (against the rest of the field). It’s a little bit up in the air of what we’ll be like, but from how we ran last year at Kentucky and in my first four races, I’m excited about it. It’ll be good.”
Having only raced part-time last season, racing in the XFINITY Series for the first third of the season with Roush Fenway Racing and then winning a Truck race for MDM Motorsports after the funding dried up at RFR, Wallace is very eager to return to the rhythm of being at the track every week.
He said it also takes a lot of weight off his shoulders as well, not having to worry about whether he’ll have a job for the next race or not.
“It’s definitely a stress reliever knowing that I have a permanent home for this year,” Wallace explained. “I couldn’t be more thankful to Richard Petty, the King, for allowing me to step behind the wheel of the No. 43 and letting me pile in it all year and showcase everything. Just thinking about that and looking back on where we were at last year at this time, basically BS-ing, just to try to get everyone to latch on to that in hopes that it would out, to be here now and say that I’ll be running full‑time as a rookie in my first Cup season is pretty damn cool.”
And as far as Sunday goes? Wallace said he’s gotten one piece of advice from Petty on how to approach things.
“Richard told me before climbing in for the first time; there’s no need to be a hero. No need to overstep anything that you’re doing. He reminded me I’m here for a reason, and I’m here because I’ve proved my point, so just to go out there and do what I do. That’s the plan.”
