Wallace set to make history as 1st black driver at Daytona since 1969
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Richard Petty rarely visits pit road after a race anymore and usually with good reason. The Hall of Fame driver’s eponymous race team has toiled for decades in mediocrity, with checkered flags all but extinct.
Bubba at Daytona changed the game. Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. had driven the iconic No. 43 car to a third-place finish in a Daytona 500 qualifying race, setting off a celebration for Richard Petty Motorsports almost worthy of winning NASCAR’s marquee race itself.
The King strolled to the pits and hugged Wallace. The 80-year-old Petty wrapped his arm around Wallace, and they walked off smiling toward what each side hoped was the start of a fruitful alliance.
Darrell Wallace Jr. films a video as he walks around during media day for the NASCAR Daytona 500.
“I just had a guard walk me from pit road to the media center. His name is Richard Petty. I’ve never seen him so excited in my life,” Wallace said.
That Wallace can energize Petty may symbolize as much a true passing of the torch as NASCAR John Raoux / AP
could want: Petty and his deep kinship with old-school fans and the 24-year-old Wallace, a video game playing, social media darling about to make history as the first black driver since 1969 in the Daytona 500.
Busting down racial barriers in a sport long reserved for whites is heavy stuff for Wallace, and he’s keenly aware all eyes are on him. The rookie invites glare from his fans and haters, starring in his own eightepisode docu-series “Behind the Wall: Bubba Wallace,” on the Facebook Watch show page.
Wallace, the son of a white father and black mother, has openly talked of becoming the Tiger Woods of NASCAR — a black star who can transcend the sport and prove people of all colors can race and flourish in corporate America.
“There’s a lot of stuff that’s riding on this weekend. I know it. I pay attention to it,” Wallace said. “I follow a lot of people on social media, and it’s being put out there. But I’m doing my best at managing it, keeping it behind me, and that’s the best thing I can do.”