{"id":14579,"date":"2018-02-10T23:31:40","date_gmt":"2018-02-11T05:31:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=14579"},"modified":"2018-02-12T14:45:09","modified_gmt":"2018-02-12T20:45:09","slug":"darrell-wallace-jr-embraces-new-opportunity-in-the-famed-no-43","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2018\/02\/10\/darrell-wallace-jr-embraces-new-opportunity-in-the-famed-no-43\/","title":{"rendered":"Darrell Wallace Jr. embraces new opportunity in the famed No. 43"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. \u2013 New motor coach. Friends and family tickets to the Daytona 500. Lively media mixer at local go-kart track. Motivational call from Dale Earnhardt Jr.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Darrell Wallace Jr., driver of the #43 Click n’ Close Chevrolet, stands in the garage during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 10, 2018 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jerry Markland\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Check, check, check and CHECK. Darrell Wallace Jr.<\/strong> figures he\u2019s pretty set for his inaugural debut driving Richard Petty\u2019s No. 43 Smithfield Chevrolet in NASCAR\u2019s<\/a> biggest race, the Feb. 18 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway (on FOX at 2:30 p.m.).<\/p>\n

The popular driver known by friends and fans simply as, \u201cBubba\u201d showed up to participate in the \u201cNASCAR Road To Daytona 500 Tour\u201d in Orlando fresh off an unexpected cell phone call from the sport\u2019s longtime Most Popular Driver, the recently retired Dale Earnhardt Jr.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwenty minutes before we walked in the door, Dale Junior called me and he said, \u2018You have the potential of doing things outside of the box, which means outside the sport, that a lot of people don\u2019t have,\u2019 Wallace said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited to see what those things are. As long as I keep hitting every note right, we\u2019ll see what happens. But it was encouraging to hear from him.”<\/p>\n

Earnhardt\u2019s sentiment is shared by many. Wallace, 24, is the first African-American fulltime competitor in NASCAR\u2019s premier Monster Energy Cup Series since Wendell Scott in 1971.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a distinction that Wallace recognizes and embraces. However, it doesn\u2019t affect his already highly motivated will to win.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means a lot to be here,” Wallace acknowledged to reporters.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Darrell Wallace Jr., driver of the #43 Click n’ Close Chevrolet, practices for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 10, 2018 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cTo be here in front of you guys talking today about my first fulltime rookie season, going for the Daytona 500 is all surreal. To look back where I was say six years ago in the truck series, just thinking \u2018maybe one day I\u2019ll get there.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I\u2019m here and it\u2019s fun to talk about and be a part of and let it all sink in. To enjoy the moment.”<\/p>\n

There have already been plenty of big moments. But Wallace knows that first Cup win, that first Cup pole position \u2013 qualifying for the Daytona 500 pole position is Sunday \u2013 wouldn\u2019t just be a historic moment for the sport, it would be a life-changing moment for himself.<\/p>\n

Wallace has always been a bright star shining in the stock car world.<\/p>\n

He won a pair of pole positions and collected three top-10 finishes in four starts as an 18-year old in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2012.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Darrell Wallace Jr., driver of the #43 Click n’ Close Chevrolet, sits in his car during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 10, 2018 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jerry Markland\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

He won six times in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series including a dramatic victory in his only 2017 truck start at Michigan.<\/p>\n

After driving fulltime in the Xfinity Series from 2015-16, Wallace\u2019s team disbanded in early 2017 after the 12th race of the season leaving one of the sport\u2019s great talents looking for his next opportunity.<\/p>\n

When Petty’s driver Aric Almirola was sidelined with an injury last summer, Wallace got \u201cthe call\u201d from the team to make a handful of starts.<\/p>\n

He improved in each of his four starts in the Richard Petty Motorsport’s car, culminating with an 11th place at Kentucky Speedway. He finished a highly respectable 15th in a summer start here at Daytona.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat by far exceeded my expectations and I think we can build off that, granted this is totally different, but the attitude we have and the confidence we have, definitely built up from Kentucky is going carry us through the season,” Wallace said. \u201cWe kind of set our mark where we want to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have so much faith in my guys,” Wallace continued. \u201cIt\u2019s a new team for me but we worked together for my debut for my first four races in the 43 car. Same group of guys and the same amount of energy coming from them if not more.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are all excited I think we\u2019ll have a really fast Camaro.\u201d<\/p>\n

Listening to Wallace speak and seeing the genuine excitement in his smile, it\u2019s easy to see the importance of this career move to him. He is taking in all the trappings of finally having achieved the job he wants.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s actually a lesson in living in the moment \u2013 albeit with an eye on a hugely promising future.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s still a lot [going on] in between now and next Sunday and I\u2019ve got to get through from practice to qualifying to the Duels,” Wallace said. \u201cI\u2019ve got my mind full of a lot of things. I\u2019m pretty sure next Sunday morning when I wake up and doing those couple appearances and time starting clocking down and it\u2019s go time, I\u2019m sure the nerves will start flowing.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, just good to get back to the race track. It\u2019s been since September for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt hasn\u2019t hit me yet,\u2019\u2019 Wallace conceded with a smile.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think about it constantly and think about how the race will shake out watching past races. Watching what guys did and how aggressive they were, the biggest thing for me is paying attention to little details like that.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter how much you practice. You could have a week of practice and be taken out on Lap 1 and be done. The alliances you build up on the track during practice, they\u2019ll go out the window because by the end of it, there\u2019s only one trophy,” said Wallace. “If two guys work together, only one\u2019s getting it. I\u2019ll leave that guy hanging to get it, just to get that trophy.”<\/p>\n

\u201cNASCAR\u2019s back. It\u2019s a new season, 2018. A lot of exciting things happening for the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. \u2013 New motor coach. Friends and family tickets to the Daytona 500. Lively media mixer at local go-kart track. Motivational call from Dale Earnhardt Jr. Check, check, check and CHECK. Darrell Wallace Jr. figures he\u2019s pretty set for his inaugural debut driving Richard Petty\u2019s No. 43 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14581,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[473,16],"class_list":["post-14579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-darrell-wallace-jr","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/DIS-MENCS-Bubba-021018.jpg?fit=3360%2C2500&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-3N9","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14579"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14579\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14584,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14579\/revisions\/14584"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}