FANTASY NASCAR Racin

an African-American professional stock car racing driver. Wallace was first signed as a development driver for Joe Gibbs Racing. The son of a white father and African-American mother, Wallace was born in Mobile, Alabama but grew up in Concord, North Carolina. He started racing in the Bandolero and Legends car racing series. Wallace began competing in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, a developmental series, in 2010; driving for Revolution Racing, which operated as part of NASCAR's Drive for Diversity program, Wallace was contacted as a development driver for Joe Gibbs Racing. He won his very first race in the series, at Greenville-Pickens Speedway, becoming the youngest driver ever to win at the track. Wallace's 2011 season would see him winning three times, at Richmond International Raceway, Columbus Motor Speedway, and Dover International Speedway, and he finished second in points to Max Gresham. Wallace

moved to race directly for Joe Gibbs Racing for the 2012 season. Racing the entire K&N East Series season along with four to six selected races in the Nationwide Series. Wallace made his Xfinity Series debut in late May, driving the No. 20 Toyota for JGR at Iowa Speedway; he ran in the top ten for most of the event, finishing 9th. He went on to post top ten finishes in his next two starts in the series. In February 2013, it was announced that Wallace would run a full season in the Camping World Truck Series in the No. 54 Toyota owned by Kyle Busch Motorsports. On October 26, 2013, Wallace became the first African American driver to win in one of NASCAR's national series since 1963, winning the Camping World Truck Series Kroger 200 at Martinsville Speedway wheeling the #54 ToyotaCare vehicle. The only previous win by an African American driver, was by Wendell

Scott in the Cup Series, on December 1, 1963. Wallace ran full time in the Truck series in 2014, with some occasional Nationwide events. He ran the entire Truck series and posted a win at Martinsville. In 2015 he ran the full Xfinity and Truck series; a very busy schedule. But he was able to get four Truck series wins and finish third in the points. He was able to finish seventh in the Xfinity points. For 2016 Wallace drove the #6 Ford Ecoboost for Jack Roush in the Xfinity Series and finished 11th in the points while at the same time raced a full schedule in the truck series for Kyle Busch Motorsports. This was the first year that NASCAR implemented the Chase format in the Xfinity Series. Wallace easily ran well enough to make the playoffs; but he got

wrecked twice in the first three races and failed to advance to the next round. It was expected that Wallace with drive for Roush full time again; but only in the Xfinity series in 2017; as Kyle Busch has shut down operations on the #54 truck. With Wallace standing fourth in the points before the 1/2 way part the season; Jack had to shut down the #6 Xfinity car that Wallace was driving due to lack of sponsorship. He spent the rest of the season without a ride. However, due to Aric Almirola being injured in a race, Richard Petty Motorsports turned to Wallace as a fill in driver wheeling the #43 car. Wallace got his first Cup start at Pocono, starting 16th and finishing 26th. Wallace would race four events and each race he showed improvement.

At Michigan he finished 19th; Daytona 15th and Kentucky 11th. It was announced in October of 2017 that Wallace would wheel the #43 car for Petty full time in 2018. Aric Almirola had left the #43 Richard Petty Motorsports team to drive for Stewart-Haas; so Wallace was at the controls of the #43 for 2018. Being a single car team; RPM was always a bit behind in technology and speed. Having a rookie driver pilot the car didn't help matters any. Wallace did pull off a surprise finish with a second in the Daytona 500. It was his only Top 5 of the season. He only added two additional Top 10's by the time the final checkered flag fell. Most races he finished at least one lap down as the

organization struggled for speed; and Wallace learned how to drive the fast, high powered cars. For 2019 RPM plans on having Wallace back to give it another go and see what kind of improvements they can make. Like many others; Wallace kicked off 2019 being involved in a crash at the season opening Daytona 500. Unlike many others; his performances after that were not very impressive. He finished 17th at Martinsville; and it would be his only finish better than 20th all the way to the Daytona in the 18th race of the season. There he finished 15th, before he resumed a bunch of finishes in the 20's. He had a surprise run at Indianapolis where he pulled off a third place finish

after running in the Top 10 all day. Despite having mediocre finishes in 2019; Wallace displayed his full potential with RPM at the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race by winning the second stage of the Monster Energy Open and finishing fifth in the All-Star Race. He started last in the race at the Roval and drove a great race, working is way up to 12th. Wallace also had good runs on the short tracks of Richmond and Martinsville. He did run afoul of NASCAR on a couple occasions during the season. First there was the incident at the Roval. Bowman clearly had a much better car and after Wallace blocked Bowman on a couple occasions; Bowman spun him out. Bowman's car was strong enough that it went on to finish second.

Wallace retaliated after the race by splashing water on Bowman's face as Bowman was being tended to by medical personnel. NASCAR called Wallace to the hauler to have a conversation about the altercation. In October Wallace was fined $50,000 and docked 50 points for intentionally manipulating competition at Texas when he spun his car on the track after experiencing a tire failure. He once again finished 28th in the final points standing. Wallace has a contract with RPM through 2020, but the team needs sponsorship and the altercations Wallace has had, combined with poor finishes makes it questionable if he will be retained after that. For 2020 crew chief Jerry Baxter was brought in to see if he could help improve Wallace's

results. Bubba had a up and down season in 2020. He had a few runs inside the Top 10 and one finish of fifth. He had 14 finishes inside the Top 20. At the end of the season it was announced that Wallace was leaving Richard Petty Motorsports to drive for a brand new race team. NBA star Michael Jordan decided to partner with Denny Hamlin to form 23XI Racing. They will be an associate of Joe Gibbs Racing and get technical support from them for 2021. Bubba had an up and down season. Some weeks he would look like he had gained a lot of knowledge and was making strides forward. Other weeks he’d look like a raw rookie. He only posted three Top 5 finishes; and had

16 finishes 20th or worse. Perhaps that could be partly attributed to driving for the new upstart team 23XI Racing. It was a one car team; still it was heavily supported by one of the best teams in NASCAR; Joe Gibbs Racing. Lady luck did smile on Bubba one in 2021. At the race at Talladega weather was imminent. Black clouds moved in, and rain was certain to fall shortly. The race had started late; and if it rained again it would be dark before the track could be dried. Somehow, Wallace found himself in the lead after Kurt Busch had pushed him to the front. Then there was a big crash on the back stretch that would certainly take a while to clean up. Before they could get the track clean; the skies opened up in a torrent of rain. The race was

called official; and Wallace had claimed his first career Cup win. Wallace returned to 23XI Racing in 2022; and Kurt Busch was his new team mate. It was anticipated that the many years of Cup experience Busch had would serve to help Bubba mature and become a better Cup driver. The team once again got support from JGR. He raced at the 2022 Daytona 500 with a full McDonald's sponsored paint scheme, finishing runner-up to Austin Cindric by 0.036 seconds. From there Wallace ran pretty much how most folks had assumed he would. Over the next 11 races; other than when he had a suspension failure and finished 38th; all of his finishes fell between 13th and 28th. He broke through and got a tenth place finish at Kansas; and learned info about his car and set up that would serve him

well later in the season. After Kansas he failed to finish three of the next five races with mechanical issues or crash damage. After he lost his brakes at Elkhart Lake; he seemed to flip a switch and the team started to gel. Maybe it was the fact he was learning and gaining knowledge from Kurt Busch and now he was putting it to use. At Atlanta he finished 14th. The next week he finished third at Loudon NH. He followed that with an eighth and a fifth. At Michigan he was impressive as he won the pole, and finish second to a resurgent Kevin

Harvick as he broke a 65 race losing streak. Wallace was 13th at Richmond; but a suspension failure knocked him out at Watkins Glen. He closed out the season with an 11th place finish at Daytona. With 15 different winners in 2022, Wallace missed making the Chase. He had a good run at Darlington finishing ninth; and when the Cup Series returned to Kansas, Wallace put his new found knowledge to good use as he led 58 laps and got his second career win. The next three races he finished no better than 16th;

but managed a seventh place run on the Roval at Charlotte. The 2022 season for Wallace; is probably best remember for what he did at Las Vegas. While running in the top ten; Kyle Larson went to pass Wallace and drifted up. He never touched Wallace, but it seemed Wallace panicked and put himself into the outside wall. It wasn't a hard hit; more of a glancing blow; but it angered Wallace so much, he chased Larson all the way down to the infield grass and when he caught him, he hooked Larson in the right rear fender and turned him into the outside wall. After that he walked down to Larsons car and tried to pick a fight with him; and also ignored instructions from NASCAR officials. Wallace was suspended for one race; a punishment most folks called "light"; many saying he should have been fined and suspended the rest of the season. Here we had three drivers in 2022 that had received concussions from crashes; and Wallace hooked

Larson and turned him in the most likely way to cause injury. In fact, Wallace's team mate Kurt Busch had been one of the drivers who received a concussion. Add to that, Wallace's owner, Denny Hamlin, had been one of the most vocal about the cars and them causing injury. It all caused a black eye for Wallace, Team 23XI, and NASCAR. Since Busch had won a race; the car was in the Chase for the owners Championship; so Wallace moved over to drive the #45 car during the play-offs. Busch later announced his retirement from driving full time any further and Tyler Reddick is being brought over to drive the #45 car for 2023

while Wallace will move back to the #23. Wallace showed he was perfecting his craft in 2023. He had nearly matching results as he had five top five and ten top ten finishes in both the 2022 and 2023 seasons. Where he seemed to improve was he went from 15 top 15’s in 2022; up to 22 top 15’s in 2023. The team is looking for more improvement in 2024. His best finish came at Texas as he won the pole, and ran well enough to finish third. The final eight races of the season saw him finish outside 16th on only one occasion. He ran well enough that he made the Chase, even without a win. He advanced through the first round of the playoffs, but poor finished in the Round of 12 saw him be eliminated. He ended the season tenth in points, and is expected to be back with 23XI Racing in 2024. He also made two Truck series starts. He drove the #1 for TRICON Garage. At Darlington he started 15th and finished seventh. Then at North Wilkesboro he started 14th and drove home to a fifth place finish after leading 13 laps. Some info from Wikipedia

Fantasy NASCAR Racing

DARRELL "BUBBA" WALLACE - 10/08/1993