Darrell Wallace Jr., a development driver for Joe Gibbs Racing and successful participant in NASCAR's Drive for Diversity program, will run fulltime in the NASCAR Truck Series in 2013, the Observer and ThatsRacin.com have learned.
Wallace, 19, will drive for Kyle Busch Motorsports but remain under contract with JGR. Busch drives in the Sprint Cup Series for JGR.
An official announcement of Wallace's move is expected Saturday during the NASCAR Preview, part of NASCAR Acceleration Weekend activities, multiple sources confirmed Thursday.
JGR officials declined to comment.
Wallace would become the first African-American driver to run fulltime in one of NASCAR's three national series since Bill Lester's last season in Trucks with Bill Davis Racing in 2006.
Wendell Scott remains the only African-American driver to win a race in one of NASCAR's three national series. He won in what is now known as the Sprint Cup Series on Dec. 1, 1963, at Speedway Park in Jacksonville, Fla.
Wallace made four starts in the Nationwide Series in 2012 with JGR and earned three top-10 finishes, including a career-best seventh at Iowa. He has six wins in the K&N Pro Series East since 2010, including one in 2012.
Born in Mobile, Ala., Wallace has spent most of his life in the Charlotte area and graduated from Northwest Cabarrus High School in Concord.
Forbes released its 2013 list of America's Most Disliked Athletes and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Kurt Busch comes in at No. 8.
The latest public surveys from Nielsen/E-Poll show Manti Te’o and Lance Armstrong in a virtual dead heat for the dubious title of America’s most disliked athlete (though we give the nod to Armstrong based on higher name recognition, which gives his score a bit more heft). Each appeals to just 15% of the public, according to Nielsen’s polling, which it conducts on a rolling basis with the help of E-Poll, an Encino, Calif.-based market research firm.
See the story and whole list here.
In anticipation of his induction to the NASCAR Hall of Fame on Friday night, Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx has proclaimed Friday "Buck Baker Day."
In the proclamation, Foxx said Baker, a longtime Charlotte resident who died in 2002, had "established himself as one of NASCAR's early greats, becoming the first to win consecutive NASCAR premier series championships in 1956 and 1957."
Kyle Larson, who won the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East championship in 2012, is moving up.
Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing, which has Larson, 20, under a driver development contract, announced Wednesday Larson will compete in the 2013 Nationwide Series driving the No. 32 Chevrolet for Turner Motorsports.
Before attempting to run in the Nationwide season opener at Daytona, Larson will first compete in the Daytona ARCA race and will also participate in the Battle at the Beach held on a temporary 0.4-mile short track on Daytona’s backstretch that features three non-points special events from the NASCAR K&N Pro Series, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tours and the Late Model division of the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series.
“This is truly one of the happiest days of my life. I have been thinking about something like this since my very first days of racing," Larson said. "I am very proud to be part of Chip Ganassi’s organization and to be running with Turner Scott Motorsports. Daytona cannot come fast enough for me.”
Here it is, in black and white:
9-15 Pit Procedures During Race
M. The fuel handler must be in control of the fuel can at all times when fuel is being added to the car. The fuel handler will not be permitted to perform any adjustments or other pit stop procedures while the fuel can coupler is engaged with the car-mounted adapter.
Translation: So long as the gas man is pouring gas into the car, he is prohibited from doing anything else during the pit stop (In past, the gas man has helped make adjustments or stuck wrenchs in wedge-adjustment holes. This role expanded when catch-can position was eliminated).
"Midnight" - one of the most famous cars in NASCAR history - will be featured in Rusty Wallace's exhibit at the NASCAR Hall of Fame, beginning Saturday, Feb. 9.
"Midnight" (PSC-009), the ninth stock car assembled by Penske Racing South, made its debut in the Sept. 12, 1992 ,Miller Genuine Draft 400 at Richmond, Va., with Wallace at its helm. The Missouri native started the event from the third position and dominated the night, leading 231 laps on his way to victory.
Throughout his storied career, Wallace had a tradition of naming each of his cars that had won a race. Thus, he drove into Richmond's Victory Lane around the midnight hour, his veteran PR representative, Tom Roberts, suggested naming the car "Midnight." It was then that a legend was born.
Midnight became the workhorse of Wallace's Penske fleet during 1993 and 1994 - seasons that produced 10 and eight wins, respectively.
"Back then, it was Dale Earnhardt and I racing for the win all the time. I remember every week when we got to the track, he'd come up and ask me, 'What car you got? It's not that darn Midnight is it?' If it was, he knew he had his work cut out for him," Wallace said.
Starting with its 1992 debut, Midnight amassed a staggering record of 13 wins, 30 top-five and 31 top-10 finishes in 38 starts. The car led over 5,000 laps during that period - as both a Pontiac Grand Prix and a Ford Thunderbird -accounting for nearly one-third of all possible laps in those events. To this day, the car's 13 wins still comprise nearly 20 percent of Penske Racing South's Cup Series win total.
Midnight's restoration began in mid-2012 and was performed by former Penske Racing fabricator, Chuck Gafrarar, along with other former members of Wallace's Penske team. The car has been fully restored to race-ready condition, as a 1994 Ford Thunderbird featuring the famous black and gold Miller Genuine Draft livery. As part of a complete team effort, Penske Corporation, MillerCoors and Ford Motor Company all participated in the project.
Throughout his distinquished career as a NASCAR owner, Rick Hendrick has amassed quite a resume: 14 drivers' championships (10 Sprint Cup Series, 1 Nationwide Series, 3 Camping World Truck Series); 257 race wins (209 Cup Series, 23 Nationwide Series, 25 Trucks); and 245 poles (189 Cup Series, 35 Nationwide and 21 Trucks. Reaching the 200-win Cup series plateau in 2012 was one of Hendrick's biggest goals.
With that out of the way, what's next for Hendrick? Is there any one thing he'd still like to accomplish in an owner in NASCAR? What's left on the bucket list for one of NASCAR's most successful owners? I asked Hendrick during the recent NASCAR Sprint Media Tour.
"What I want to see is the drivers I have here reach their potential. Jimmie (Johnson's) done it. Jeff (Gordon's) done it. I want to see Dale (Earnhardt Jr.) do it. I want to see Kasey (Kahne) do it. I want to see championships come out of the complex. I want to be there every year to try to win it. I know we can't win them all - and nobody will - but to see these guys hit their potential and the company continue to be competitive is what I want," Hendrick said.
"Other than that, I never thought I'd win one championship, let alone 13 or 14. So, do I have to do anything? It's just the satisfaction of seeing these guys put another mark on the wall. Can we get to 275 wins? Can we get to 15 championships? I don't know.
"I'd love to see Jeff win No. 5. I'd like to see Jimmie win No. 6. But I'd really like to see Dale win one and I'd like to be a part of Kasey's. It's so cool to be able to say I've been a part of three guys winning championships (Gordon, Johnson and Terry Labonte). It would be so cool to get Dale and Kasey ones, too. That's what drives me."
