Rookie Darrell Wallace Jr. turning heads at Daytona
DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. » The first black driver to start the Daytona 500 since 1969 continues to blaze a trail at Speedweeks.
Darrell Wallace Jr. turned heads again Saturday at Daytona International Speedway and topped the speed chart in the final practice for today’s NASCAR season opener.
“A lot of stories, a lot of headlines being talked about,” Wallace said.
Wallace sparked plenty of his own.
He went 196.954 mph in the No. 43 Chevrolet for Richard Petty Motorsports, one more astounding moment in a week in which he finished third in a Daytona 500 qualifying race and earned a seventh-place start for today.
There’s only one box left to check on his list.
“To win something is good,” Wallace said.
He’ll have 39 other drivers to beat to the checkered flag today, including the favorite, 2012 Cup champion Brad Keselowski.
Keselowski, Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney give Team Penske a potent 1-2-3 punch to win NASCAR’s marquee race. Blaney finished first and Logano second this week in a qualifying race used to set the field. Penske was mum on how he’d tell his drivers to race in the Daytona 500.
And if the three of them are competing hard on the final lap for a victory?
“If they end up all three wrecked in a ball because they were racing for the win, then they end up wrecked in a ball racing for a win,” Penske said.
Keselowski already won an all-star race that opened Speedweeks.
Wallace and 20-yearold Hendrick Motorsports rookie prospect William Byron are Daytona 500 firsttimers and headline a crop of blossoming young talent NASCAR is banking on to lead the sport into the next decade.
Three drivers under age 25 will start in the first two rows, and there are six drivers under age 30 in the first eight spots.
Pole sitter Alex Bowman, who was often confused for a rookie in Daytona because of his one-year sabbatical, sits on the pole in the No. 88 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. He played it safe Saturday behind the wheel long held by the retired Dale Earnhardt Jr., and hit 191.160 in the fastest of his three laps.
While NASCAR is undergoing a youth movement, Danica Patrick is on her way out. Patrick, 35, was ninth-fastest in the final practice headed into her last NASCAR race.
She will race the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis 500 as part of a retirement tour she dubbed the “Danica Double.” She starts 28th today.
Also racing in the Daytona 500 is 66-year-old Vietnam veteran Mark Thompson.
Xfinity race ends in closest finish ever
Tyler Reddick needed five overtimes, a brief red flag and the closest finish in NASCAR history to take Dale Earnhardt Jr. to victory lane.
Reddick won the Xfinity Series’ season-opening race by beating JR Motorsports teammate Elliott Sadler in a photo finish. The margin of victory was 0.000 seconds, breaking the mark set by Butch Miller when he beat Mike Skinner by 0.001 seconds to win the Truck Series race July 15, 1995 at Colorado National Speedway.
“How do I protest that? It’s a tie, and it should go to the elder,” joked veteran Sadler of the win that went to the 22-year-old Reddick.
It was a nail-biting and tense opener at Daytona Speedway for NASCAR’s second-tier series, which celebrated its 100th race sponsored by Xfinity on Saturday.
The victory came in Reddick’s debut race for JR Motorsports, the team in part owned by Earnhardt Jr. This is Earnhardt’s first season in retirement from full-time racing, and his presence at the race track is still strong through his race team.
JR Motorsports has won five of the last nine Xfinity Series races at Daytona, and Reddick’s victory led a 1-2 sweep for the company
For Reddick, it was his second Xfinity victory and in the biggest race to date of his career. He won once last year driving a partial schedule for Chip Ganassi, then moved to Earnhardt’s team this season.
“A hell of a way to start the year off with JR Motorsports,” Reddick said.
Ryan Reed was third, and Kaz Grala fourth, in Fords. Garrett Smithley was a career-best fifth, and Daniel Suarez was the highest finishing Toyota driver in eighth.
“Was it only five overtimes? It felt like a dozen,” Grala said.
The race was zipping right along and dominated by the combination of Kyle Larson, Joey Logano and Chase Elliott. Then a late accident sent the race to overtime.