DOVER, Del. – Considering the way his weekend started at Dover (Del.) International Speedway, it was hard to even imagine that Darrell Wallace Jr. could contend for a win in Saturday’s Ollie’s Bargain Outlet 200.
A slow start to the season added another bruise Friday morning at “The Monster Mile” when Wallace Jr. wrecked his primary car in the opening laps of NASCAR XFINITY Series practice. Thrashing to get the back-up ready, including Wallace lending a hand for himself, the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing team utilized strategy to allow Wallace to contend for victory.
And despite his best effort, Wallace’s Ford didn’t have quite enough for the dominate Toyota of Erik Jones, but brilliantly kept Alex Bowman who had fresher tires at bay to earn his career-best finish in XFINITY Series competition.
“I keep saying it, we never give up,” said Wallace. “It is really a credit to my guys right here for really thrashing this thing. It is unfortunate when you do have to bring the backup car out like we talked about earlier. We never give up and we work really hard to get some speed in this baby. I can’t thank LoudMouth Exhaust enough for coming on board. This is a good debut for them. They will be on our car in Charlotte. We will go have some fun in two weeks, a home track for us, and hopefully, we can get one spot better.”
Quite possibly, no one needed the boost more than Wallace.
Considered a favorite amongst his peers in the garage, Wallace and the Roush Fenway Racing team have struggled to earn results. Results that have been well expected for the Mobile, Alabama native in his second full-time XFINITY Series season.
Saturday’s finish though could be the boost they need to put them back on track.
Oddly enough, races this season where Wallace has experienced misfortune during practice has resulted in a better than expected result.
In the season-opening race at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, Wallace found himself a victim in the draft during the opening practice session causing severe damage and ultimately a backup car. In the race, Wallace rebounded to finish sixth.
Nine races later, the team was able to overcome adversity once again and keep their driver in the hunt to be one of 12 participants in the XFINITY Series version of The Chase.
“We have to win races,” Wallace admitted. “We will be fighting all day over that. We just have to continue on. We can use this for motivation but I said earlier we are nowhere near close to where we need to be. We are off on speed and handling and we know that. We have another off weekend to find some more for our Ford Mustangs.
“We have to keep plugging away. We can’t get frustrated and just give up on it. We have to keep our heads up and work together to get our team better. This is a really good day for us. I can go to sleep tonight knowing that we gave it our all, especially after the backup car and all those shenanigans.”
Saturday also marked the debut of a new partner LoudMouth Exhaust, who will return with Wallace and team in two weeks at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway on May 28. Wallace finished fifth at
the 1.5-mile speedway last May after starting second.
“I can’t thank LoudMouth Exhaust enough for coming on our Ford Mustang,” Wallace added. “It is a good day for us. This is my favorite track and to do really well after the season we have had – we have been working really hard but running into some dead end spots. We keep turning around and searching for more. We will go have some fun on this off weekend and go searching for more at home in two weeks.”
Wallace’s runner-up performance at Dover was the highest-finishing position set by an African American in XFINITY Series history. Previously, Wallace himself held the previous record with a third place finish, occurring twice, most recently at Auto Club (Calif.) Speedway in March.
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