{"id":14880,"date":"2018-02-20T16:05:55","date_gmt":"2018-02-20T22:05:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=14880"},"modified":"2018-02-24T11:48:13","modified_gmt":"2018-02-24T17:48:13","slug":"ageless-bond-between-bubba-and-the-king-evident-at-daytona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2018\/02\/20\/ageless-bond-between-bubba-and-the-king-evident-at-daytona\/","title":{"rendered":"Ageless bond between \u201cBubba\u201d and \u201cThe King\u201d evident at Daytona"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. \u2013 Richard Petty<\/strong> walked onto pit road Sunday evening after the Daytona 500 just like he raced: fast and focused.<\/p>\n

\"\"

NASCAR Hall of Famer and team owner Richard Petty and Darrell Wallace Jr.
(Photo by Chris Trotman\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

As the cars began pulling off the Daytona International Speedway surface following the dramatic season opener, the NASCAR Hall of Famer was in full pursuit \u2013 looking for his No. 43 Click n\u2019 Close Chevrolet and its driver, Darrell \u201cBubba\u201d Wallace Jr., who had just finished runner-up in his first-ever Daytona 500.<\/p>\n

A sizable crowd of reporters surrounded Petty, who walked up and down pit road, and into the pits looking for his driver. He didn\u2019t have time to stop and talk though. He was in search of Wallace \u2013 for a handshake, hug and congratulations.<\/p>\n

Some last-lap contact near the finish line with Denny Hamlin left Wallace\u2019s Chevy damaged and meant a quick trip to the infield medical center for the \u201call clear,\u201d so Petty headed that way to check on the 24-year-old driver.<\/p>\n

After a few minutes inside, NASCAR\u2019s \u201cKing\u201d emerged wearing a huge grin topped by his trademark cowboy hat \u2014 and sunglasses, even in the night sky. It absolutely appeared as if Wallace\u2019s Daytona effort gave his beloved team owner a healthy dose of 200-mph rejuvenation.<\/p>\n

\"\"

NASCAR Hall of Famer and team owner Richard Petty and Darrell Wallace Jr. (Photo by Matt Sullivan\/Getty Images for Texas Motor Speedway)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThey were checking his blood pressure and I walked in, I asked him, \u2018What was the last thing I told you,\u2019\u2019\u2019 Petty said, smiling.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018I don\u2019t know.\u2019 I said, \u2018I told you don\u2019t mess up my car.\u2019\u2026I think his blood pressure went to 330.  I wasn\u2019t going to blame him, that\u2019s for dang sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Petty continued, \u201cThat\u2019s a heckuva start…They\u2019d make pit stops and he\u2019d run himself back up to sixth or seventh, he probably passed more cars than anybody, but he was in the race all day long.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few minutes later, Wallace made his way to the track\u2019s media center to formally address his record-worthy rookie performance. And it was clear the young Alabama native was dealing with some hefty emotions. He is now the top-finishing African American ever in the Daytona 500 and the impact of his hard work was not only a great season kickoff, it was a significant moment for him and for his sport.<\/p>\n

\"\"

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

Just as Wallace sat down in front of the microphone, his mother approached \u2013 full of emotion and intent for a hug \u2013 the first time they had seen each other since the race began four hours earlier.<\/p>\n

Wallace asked the room of reporters to give him a moment to compose himself. His eyes were red and still filled with tears when he began taking questions.<\/p>\n

When it came to his relationship with the 80-year-old Petty, Wallace wiped his eyes and shared a story.<\/p>\n

He spoke about going to dinner with the 200-time winner the night before the 500. Wallace joked that he was Petty\u2019s \u201cUber driver\u201d and conceded he was completely enthralled listening to the legend retell stories of Daytona racing — on the beach pre-dating the Daytona 500 and then all the fascinating tales of close calls and fantastic triumphs in the sport\u2019s greatest race \u2013 which Petty won a record seven times.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think having him \u2011\u2011 and then after the race, let me get to that – to where my heart is still pumping over that, sitting on the cot in the infield care center,\u2019\u2019 Wallace said. \u201cAnd I’m pissed off about the finish, obviously, and he walks in lived, and I’m like, yes, he’s mad, let’s go do something.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Darrell Wallace Jr.
(Photo by Jerry Markland\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cAnd he walks in, and the first thing he said is, \u2018What’s the first thing I told you?\u2019 with a very stern attitude. And I look, and I’m like \u2018ummmm,\u2019 and he says, \u2018I told you not to wreck the car,\u2019 and I was like, \u2018I didn’t do it.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we shared a good laugh, and he came in and gave me a big hug after that.  To see the smile on his face, I think you had to be there to experience that moment.  All the liaisons in there were pretty nervous for me, too, until he cracked the joke.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut just a great day, a great week, seeing him after the Duels, how pumped up he was and just the same amount of emotion, if not more, right here after the race.\u201d<\/p>\n

The result of the pairing \u2013 and its most promising start \u2013 has already resulted in big news for the team less than 24 hours after the Daytona 500 checkered flag flew. Driving 101 and it\u2019s “NASCAR Racing Experience\u201d brand signed on as a primary sponsor of Wallace\u2019s Chevrolet Camero ZL1 for this weekend\u2019s race at Atlanta.<\/p>\n

Fans and sponsors alike \u2013 ready to embrace and support the pairing of NASCAR\u2019s most legendary driver guiding a young talent full of unlimited potential.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. \u2013 Richard Petty walked onto pit road Sunday evening after the Daytona 500 just like he raced: fast and focused. As the cars began pulling off the Daytona International Speedway surface following the dramatic season opener, the NASCAR Hall of Famer was in full pursuit \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14882,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_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}},"categories":[11],"tags":[473,16,520],"class_list":["post-14880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-darrell-wallace-jr","tag-nascar","tag-richard-petty"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/TMS-MENCS-Petty-Wallacejr-110317.jpg?fit=4901%2C3289&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-3S0","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14880","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=14880"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14883,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14880\/revisions\/14883"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}