NASCAR’s Darrell Wallace Jr. to make Nationwide start at Daytona

Darrell Wallace Jr., NASCAR’s most promising black driver, plans to make another start in NASCAR’s second-level Nationwide Series on Friday night at Florida’s Daytona International Speedway.

Wallace, who mainly drives in NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series, will drive the No. 20 Toyota prepared by Joe Gibbs Racing at the high-banked, 2.5-mile Daytona oval.

“With superspeedway tracks, things happen so quickly and we just need to keep ourselves out of trouble and be there at the end to have a chance for the win,” Wallace, 20, said in notes released by Gibbs.

Wallace has made five previous Nationwide starts with three top-10 finishes. But he’s still looking for his first top-five finish in the series.

An Alabama native who grew up in Charlotte, N.C., Wallace made history in October when he won a truck race in Martinsville, Va., becoming the first African American driver to win a race in one of NASCAR’s three national series in nearly 50 years.

No black driver currently races full time in the Nationwide Series or NASCAR’s premier Sprint Cup Series.

Wallace won his second truck series race last month at Gateway Motorsports Park in Madison, Ill., and he’s currently eighth in the series’ title standings.

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