DAYTONA, Fla. — Diverse new faces
Darrell Wallace Jr. is a product of NASCAR’s effort to recruit young minority drivers.The 19-year-old from North Carolina, born to a mixed-race couple in Mobile, Ala., will drive in the Camping World Truck Series race tonight for Joe Gibbs Racing.Wallace won 35 Bandolero Series races as a 12-year-old. He has been in a NASCAR development series the previous two years.“You can ask any African-American that watches football and say, ‘Do you know who Darrell Wallace Jr. is?’ They will say, ‘Nope,’ ” he said. “That’s the problem — they don’t have anybody up in the ranks to look at. That’s where I’m trying to break through and get to the top.”Still the oneJimmie Johnson has been off the Sprint Cup championship throne for two years, but to Matt Kenseth, he still looks like the driver at the top of the mountain. “Last year, he was the one to beat. If you were going to win it, you had to beat him, and Brad [Keselowski] was able to beat him,” Kenseth said. But Kenseth cautioned: “Man, it’s pretty early to be talking championships.”Newtown smileMichael Waltrip qualified for the Daytona 500 by finishing 14th in his Duel on Thursday, ensuring exposure for his No. 26 Toyota with a paint scheme dedicated to the Sandy Hook School Support Fund. “We needed to make it for the folks in Newtown, Conn.,” Waltrip said. “We wanted to have something for them to smile about on Sunday, and now they do.”Daddy timeKevin Harvick won the first Duel then spent the second sitting outside his mobile home. He didn’t dare go in because his baby was asleep inside, and everyone who is or has been a parent knows the value of a sleeping baby. “I’m just relaxing out here, got my shoes off,” he told a SPEED television reporter.Crash CarlIt has been a banged-up Speedweeks for Carl Edwards. He got knocked off the track again Thursday in his Budweiser Duel in a crash when Denny Hamlin got loose. “This is the fourth time we have wrecked since we have been down here,” Edwards said, but he managed a smile. “We are getting it out of our systems.” Last year, Edwards won the pole for the 500 yet didn’t have a good race or a good year. “Hopefully this is a sign that this will be a great year.”Numbers game6Years in a row that Toyota has won the season-opening Camping World Truck series race at Daytona.They said it“I was worn out. We did Disney all day on Monday, and we did Legoland all day on Tuesday. That is hard work.” — Matt Kenseth on why he didn’t watch the short-track races at Daytona at the start of the week.
Jimmie Johnson has no trouble remembering last Daytona, but he’d rather forget it
Don’t forget — Jeff Gordon is starting on the front row at the Daytona 500, too
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