Give it up for Darrell Wallace Jr., who managed to hold on the the lead in the last 50 laps of Saturday's Kroger 200 Camping World Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway. Wallace Jr. is the first black NASCAR driver to win since Wendell Scott's victory in Jacksonville, Fla., in 1963, exactly 50 years ago. Arguably more impressive, Darrell Wallace Jr. is only 20 years old.
"I want to be a role model and inspiration to the younger kids and just change the sport as a whole and for the better, and winning helps everything," Wallace Jr., 20, said. "I think that'll help kind of pave its own way there and hopefully get my name out there even more. That's what I've been trying to do is to get my name out there to keep pushing (and) striving for kids younger than me to get in the sport."
Darrell Wallace Jr. belongs to a class of young guns that graduated from the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program, which formed in 2004 to foster the growth of multicultural backgrounds and female drivers into the sport. Earlier, Japanese-American rookie Kyle Larson, a fellow Drive for Diversity graduate, held back Joey Logano to win at Rockingham.
"We congratulate Darrell Wallace Jr. on his first national series victory, one that will be remembered as a remarkable moment in our sport's history," said NASCAR chairman Brian France. "Darrell's success, following fellow NASCAR Drive for Diversity graduate Kyle Larson's win earlier this season, is indicative of a youth and multicultural movement that bodes well for NASCAR's future growth."
Kyle Larson's win at Rockingham in April was only his fifth truck start. What's more, Larson totally dominated, having led 187 of the 205 laps. That said, Larson's victory was under threat on the last lap as a crafty Joey Logano went high and low to find a different lane to pass Larson.
On the other hand, Darrel Wallace Jr.'s race was a little more eventful as he did not take the lead from Ty Dillon until a restart on lap 151. What's more, Wallace Jr. fought the pack when three more restarts at Martinsville. However, Wallace Jr.'s lead on the last lap was so great that the young black driver admitted that he lifted off the throttle on the finish straight as his emotions took over.
"I had so much confidence coming into this race," said Darrell Wallace Jr. "I told everybody that asked if I was going to win, 'Hell yeah' every time. So before, it was, 'No, maybe we're going to try,' this one was, 'For sure,' and we capitalized. This means a lot. It's indescribable. I'm bawling my eyes out."
While it's easy to interpret Wallace Jr.'s win as a personal accomplishment, the victory belongs to the team as a whole. According to team owner Kyle Busch, the victory is also important because the team still needs a sponsorship to run the truck next year. Darrell Wallace Jr.'s future is uncertain.
"This is certainly a monumental day and hopefully one that he'll remember for a long time and can cherish," Busch added. "The first one is always the most important one because it seems like they can just come right after that pretty easily. We've seen great things out of Darrell this year, and he's really come a long ways throughout the season."
Be sure to watch the last lap of the Kroger 200 Camping World Truck Series below as well as the post race interview with Darrell Wallace Jr. That followed.
