Looking to make his name
Wallace hoping to build off last year’s 2nd-place finish
DAYTONA BEACH — His nickname is custom-made for stock car racing. His backstory is a marketer’s dream. As NASCAR’s only African-American driver, he is positioned to grow the sport like few others.
Yet, Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. still cannot find someone to back him full time. Instead of lining up to sign him, sponsors are giving the 25-year-old from Alabama the stiff arm.
“I’m as baffled as a lot of people are in this room,” Wallace said during Wednesday’s Media Day. “But you just have to go out and try harder.”
The uncertainty this past offseason was frustrating, but nothing new for Wallace.
He also thought things might be different after his surprising runner-up finish to Austin Dillon at last year’s Daytona 500.
Wallace’s post-race press conference, complete with him breaking down in tears, won him as many fans as his racing.
“Shed a little tear for TV ratings trying to get those up, that was all part of the plan,” he joked. “It worked out. Hell, I got a lot of people on my side over that.
“Got to pump up the waterworks again
this year.”
Wallace hopes he gets another chance at a race track where the difference between second and 22nd place can be a one false move or a stroke of luck.
“A lot of people hyped this story up as coming back as, ‘Oh you are going to do it again,’ ” Wallace said. “It’s like, let’s pump the brakes, let’s get through the rest of the week and let’s make it to lap 199, let’s stop and have a break and do an interview on that last lap and see if we have a shot.
“If I make it to 199, hell yeah, I’m going to go for it.” NASCAR star Jimmie Johnson’s schedule is busy enough.
But what’s one more race, especially when it’s one he’s dreamed of running for more than five years.
The Boston Marathon has been on Johnson’s mind and his to-do list ever since the tragic 2013 bombing near the finish line killed three people and injured hundreds.
Until now, though, NASCAR’s schedule never made it possible for Johnson to race hundreds of miles one day and run 26.2 miles 48 hours later.
Two days after the NASCAR’s April 13 race in Richmond, Va., Johnson will lace up his running shoes in Boston for his first marathon.
“I have Sunday recover, and then try to go run it,” he said. “That was kind of a key moment in time for me.”
Johnson, an avid runner and fitness fanatic, was determined to run the Boston Marathon the year after the bombings.
“I can only imagine how special the following year would be with Boston Strong,” he said. “I was convinced I was going to do it. The NASCAR schedule changes, it’s Sunday Bristol and Sunday Boston.
“I maybe could limp my way through it, but there’s just no way.”
Johnson has much loftier goals for April.
The 43-year-old hopes to reach the finish line in fewer than three hours.
To that ambitious end, Johnson has logged 70 miles during each of the past five weeks, including one 20-mile run every seven days. The goal is to increase the workload 90 to 100 miles a week by the time the race is three weeks out.
The key to hitting those marks is staying in one piece. The Iliotibial band along the side of Johnson’s right leg, just below the knee, has bothered him recently.
“As long as I stay healthy and I keep that volume up, I think I’ll have the type of day I want to have,” Johnson said.
Johnson spent Tuesday’s day off at Daytona International Speedway working on a game plan with the folks at Gatorade. Johnson was put through the paces to determine how the levels of food and hydration he would need depending on his body temperature and heart rate.
“It’s just crazy how I spent yesterday treating my body like it was that race car,” Johnson said during Wednesday’s Media Day. “What lubricants it needs, what fuel it needs and all the particulars that go with it. I feel like I have a good plan coming together.”
The biggest challenge for Johnson — and everyone in the field — awaits on race day.
Around the 20-mile mark begins Heartbreak Hill, an ascent over 0.4 miles that has caused many marathoners to hit the proverbial wall.
“I have, I tried to ignore it until I have to meet her in person,” Johnson said with a laugh.
Chasing a repeat: Austin Dillon does not want to be a one-hit wonder.
The Daytona 500 has produced its share.
The reining champion of the Great American Race wants to make another kind of history on Sunday. Dillon looks to become just the fourth repeat winner, joining Hall of Famers Richard Petty (1973-74) and Cale Yarborough (1983-84), as well as Sterling Marlin (1994-95).
“That would be very cool,” Dillon said. “It seems like a hard thing to do. This place is not easy to win at. That's why it's so special ... so many people haven't won here.”
Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch and Rusty Wallace are among 14 drivers with at least 49 career wins, but without a Daytona 500 win.
The unpredictability of restrictor-plate racing leads to plenty of wrecks and overtime finishes. Since 2005, eight of the past 14 races lengthened because of the green-white-checker finish.
Even when the 2017 race ended after 200 laps, winner Kurt Busch’s car was banged up virtually beyond recognition, his No. 41 barely discernible.
“This place, everything has got to line up,” Dillon said. “Everything has got to line up just perfectly for you to go to Victory Lane, and that's what it's all about.”
Last February everything fell into place for Dillon.
The race featured eight caution flags and wrecks of seven and 12 cars. Busch, his brother, Kyle, Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick and Chase Elliott were among the big names out of the race by the time it went to extra laps.
Dillon had been a lap down with 17 to go, but found himself in position to win when it mattered.
Aric Almirola led the race with a lap go go. But Dillon passed Almirola and turned him into a wall when he mistimed blocking Dillon on the backstretch.
Based on his experience, the 28-year-old Dillon knows it will be impossible to follow a script come Sunday.
“It's definitely very hard to make a game plan that's predictable,” he said. “I think the only game plan you can make is anything can happen, and you have to be ready for that, and your team has to be ready for that. Just be prepared for everything that could happen and could go wrong.”
Or go right, in Dillon’s case.
“The celebration afterwards was pretty awesome,” he said. “I remember looking up and going — coming to the checkered flag off of Turn 4 and everybody is behind you. That's a good feeling looking in the mirror where you know no one is going to get to you, and it's over.”