Continuing a campaign against racial injustice Darrell Wallace Jr. will sport a “Black Lives Matter” paint scheme on his No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro during Wednesday night’s NASCAR Cup Series Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
“I’m excited to run a #BlackLivesMatter car for Martinsville, one of our best race tracks and my best race track for sure,” Wallace said in a tweeted video issued by RPM.
“This statement that we have here that we’re about to make on live television on FOX will speak volumes to what I stand for but also the initiative that NASCAR and the sport is trying to push.”
Prior to this past Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway, NASCAR president Steve Phelps addressed the competitors, teams and attendees as well as the watching nation pledging that the sport is extremely sensitive to the country’s current social unrest and committed to improving race relations.
“Our country is in pain and our people are justifiably angry, demanding to be heard,” Phelps said. “Our sport must do better. Our country must do better.”
Wallace, 26, said his RPM team did not have sponsorship sold for the rescheduled April Martinsville race the “Black Out Tuesday” peaceful protest campaign last week sparked a conversation on running a “blacked out car.”
“They (RPM) brought that idea to me and I jumped all over it,” Wallace added. “Why not dive in straight to the root and putting Black Lives Matter on the car – one of the most powerful hashtags going around the last couple of months.
“It’s true, black lives do matter. We’re trying to say black lives matter, too. We wanted to be treated equally and judged off our skin color. The actions that we (face) off our skin color are different.
“We want to be part of this nation as one, come together as one. By running this branding on the car, it brings more awareness to it, it lines up with the videos we have put out in NASCAR about listening and learning and educating ourselves.”
Wallace, a native of Mobile, Ala. is the only full-time African American driver in NASCAR’s Cup Series and has taken a stern vocal stance in recent weeks on racism and the murder of George Floyd, an African American by a Minneapolis officer who knelt on his neck for about nine minutes while he was handcuffed.
Floyd died a short time later.
On pit road at Atlanta, Wallace wore a shirt that read “Black Lives Matter” and “I can’t breathe,” referencing Floyd’s plea to police in his final moments.
Monday night Wallace also appeared on CNN with host Don Lemon discussing a variety of topics, including his belief that it was time NASCAR banned the Confederate flag from being displayed at tracks.
In four Cup starts at Martinsville, Wallace has a best finish of 13th last fall at the 0.526-mile oval. He also has five Truck Series starts from 2013 through 2019 with two wins, four top-five and five top-10s.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01
