DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – It wasn’t the “Great American Race”, but it sure felt like it for Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series rookie Darrell Wallace Jr. of Richard Petty Motorsports.
The rookie driver crafted his way to an impressive third-place performance in the Can-Am Duel Race No. 1 putting his seventh on the starting grid for Sunday’s Daytona 500.
Wallace stuck his No. 43 Click ‘n’ Close Chevrolet near the rear bumper of best friend Ryan Blaney – and while Blaney went on to record his first victory as a Team Penske driver, Wallace gave his RPM team some momentum into his first 500.
“Let me start off by saying I had a bodyguard walk me from the car to here. His name was Richard Petty,” said Wallace. “I have never seen him that excited before. That was the coolest thing. Him coming up, huge hug. Sunglasses were off. Got to see how much he was truly excited about that.
“So that is probably the highlight of the night, better than finishing third. Just seeing how pumped he was, the words he said that were definitely words of encouragement.”
While Wallace didn’t have the fastest Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, Wallace kept his nose clean and avoided a crash-filled event to put the No. 43 in familiar territory – running up front at Daytona.
“From the drop of the green flag, we had kind of a pack made up. We were going to ride, get to the top as soon as we could. That’s what we did. Every time the top prevailed at restarts.
“Our Click ‘n Close Camaro was decent all night. I don’t know enough about these races to say what I really need. But we kept all four tires underneath us, kept it off the fence, kept it off other cars. I’d say all in all it was a good day.”
If Wallace didn’t have a race-winning car, he knew the best place to keep his No. 43 tucked up was near the Ford of Blaney.
“That last restart, I was pretty proud of Ryan for taking the bottom there, stop doing all that team stuff. Logano didn’t like it. I gave Ryan a good shot there. I think I gave him too big of a shot. But it was a good race back to the line. I just moved up a little bit too late. Joey and I said we both would have wrecked if I went up any higher at the end.
All in all, came home third. It’s a good start for our Daytona 500.”
While the NASCAR Next alumnus knows that Thursday’s night’s qualifying race was important for a number of reasons, Sunday’s race is where it counts.
“Right now, I’m just like, great, got through tonight. Didn’t get in any wrecks, didn’t make any dumb moves. Hopefully, earned some respect from the veterans out there.
“It’s a big reset button on Sunday. Still a lot of work left to be done before we climb in. Just so proud of my guys, what they brought to the racetrack, what they’re bringing as far as attitude wise to the racetrack. Sure, as hell is fun to be around.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
