He’s the first full-time African-American driver to compete in NASCAR’s top series since 1971, he’s taking over the legendary No. 43 car owned by Richard Petty and he’s one of a gaggle of young guns that are seemingly taking over NASCAR.
While that seems like an awful lot of pressure, Wallace would rather have that than what he dealt with last season when he was trying desperately to find an opportunity in one of NASCAR’s three national divisions.
“Yeah, that was a stressful time,” Wallace said Wednesday during the NASCAR Media Tour. “I’ve been stressed out before, but nothing like that. Not sleeping, not eating, not being my normal self, just because it was always ‘What in the heck am I going to do?’
“I didn’t know — I had no idea what I was going to do. I was like, I hated school. I didn’t want to go back. But I didn’t go to college, so I’d have to go back. It was a year of uncertainty. Spell that out, change 2017 to uncertainty for me because that’s what it was, just — I did not know what was going to happen.”
Wallace started 2017 by racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with Roush Fenway Racing. He was a model of consistency in the first 12 races of the year, earning seven top-10 finishes to put himself squarely in the championship hunt.
Then came the punch to the gut. The team didn’t have enough money to run the full schedule and the No. 6 car that Wallace had been driving was parked following the 12th race of the year at Pocono Raceway.
That weekend at Pocono could have been heartbreaking for Wallace, but instead it proved to be more important than he could have imagined. Just a week prior Aric Almirola, at the time the driver of Petty’s No. 43, was injured in a crash at Kansas Speedway.
Petty needed a replacement, someone he could trust not to crash the car while Almirola was recovering. Wallace got the call and made his Cup Series debut at Pocono.
Wallace made four starts in place of Almirola, earning a best finish of 11th at Kentucky Speedway. The rest of the year Wallace was mostly on the sidelines. He did manage to get back to victory lane in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series for the first time since 2014, picking up a victory for MDM Motorsports at Michigan Int’l Speedway. He also ran one more Xfinity race at Chicagoland Speedway, finishing 10th.
“Going through those races and trying to balance that, I don’t know how in the hell I did it,” Wallace recalled. “A balance of no ride to one ride here and there, win Michigan, run really well at Chicago, and be like, OK, now you have a ride for 2018. I never would have thought it. It’s just what you go through in life.”
All that is behind the 24-year-old driver now. He’s officially the driver of the No. 43 for Richard Petty Motorsports and he’s ready to accept the burden that comes with.
“I’m beyond excited,” Wallace said. “I might not show it, but man, this is it. We’re here. We’re at the Cup level. I’m one of the Cup guys walking around today on Media Day. I’m not an Xfinity guy like ‘Oh, where’s such and such, he’s in the Cup Series.’ I’m there now, so it’s good. I’m ready to go.”
Being successful in the Cup Series won’t be easy. Not only is Wallace a rookie, the RPM team has gone through a lot of changes in the last few months. They’ve switched from Ford to Chevrolet and moved to the Richard Childress Racing campus in Welcome, N.C.
Those changes, not to mention learning the new Camaro ZL1 body, could present a steep learning curve for Wallace and his Richard Petty Motorsports team.
“We’ve got a lot of stuff that has obviously changed over the offseason,” Wallace said. “Switching over to Chevrolet, the new Camaro ZL1 is awesome looking, looks great, especially with our colors on there, that Petty blue touch to it. Moving up to RCR, being on campus with them, so I’m adjusting to it all, and it’s all coming together pretty good.”
Coming together good enough to win races? Not only does Wallace think that is possible, he says that is the expectation.
“Our realistic goal is to win a championship. I wouldn’t be here today if I didn’t say that,” Wallace said. “I have an idea of what it takes to win a championship, and we have to capitalize and minimize mistakes and capitalize on our good days and try to get the most out of that.
“We’ll see what happens, man. We’re just along for the ride. I’ve learned a lot from those four starts that I’ve had (in the Cup Series) to not let the emotions get too high, and just take everything lap by lap.”
Source :speedsport.com
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