Wallace Jr. claims his first truck win at Martinsville
Darrell Wallace Jr. is the second African-American to in score a victory at the NASCAR national level - Wendell Scott won in 1964.
Race winner Darrell Wallace Jr.
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The No. 54 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota of Darrell Wallace Jr. maintained the lead on a restart with six laps to go in the 200-lap Kroger 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway on Saturday and pulled away in the closing laps for the race win.
It was the first-career truck win for Wallace, making him only the second African-American driver -- the first since Wendell Scott in 1964 -- to win at the national level in NASCAR.
"I'm speechless right now," Wallace said. "I couldn't even hold it together coming off turn four to the checkers."
The No. 62 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet of Brendan Gaughan was second and the No. 4 Turner Scott Motorsports Chevrolet of Jeb Burton was third.
That final restart came after the 10th caution of the race for a multi-truck incident involving the No. 88 ThorSport Racing Toyota of Matt Crafton, the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet of Ty Dillon and the No. 14 NTS Motorsports Chevrolet of Kevin Harvick.
"He was kind of hogging the bottom," Dillon said. "I have him a tap, and he got sideway."
Harvick, however, attributed the incident to a rich kid with a "silver spoon in his mouth" being handed opportunities in racing.
"The 3 just bumped me. That's the reason I'm leaving RCR," Harvick, who is in his final year with Richard Childress Racing in the Sprint Cup Series, said.
The No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota of Denny Hamlin started on the pole but wasn't credited with leading a lap until he took the lead from Wallace on lap 41. The KBM teammates on Hamlin and Wallace ran first and second for awhile before Hamlin lost several positions on a restart just past the halfway point of the race.
Wallace continued on up front until he lost the lead to the No. 19 Brad Keselowski Racing Ford of Ross Chastain with 80 laps remaining. Chastain stayed out when the fifth caution of the race came out with 73 laps to go, while everyone else headed for pit road. When the race returned to green, trucks on fresher tires passed Chastain, and Dillon took the lead.
Wallace got back up front on a restart that followed the seventh caution of the race with 57 laps to go. He remained up front the rest of the way, including holding on to the top spot through three additional restarts to claim his first win.
Ben Kennedy, the great-grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., finished fourth in the No. 30 Turner Scott Motorsports Chevrolet. The No. 29 Brad Keselowski Racing Ford of Ryan Blaney rounded out the top-five.
Hamlin recovered from a spin with 57 laps remaining to finish sixth. Finishing seventh through 10th were the No. 77 Red Horse Racing Toyota of German Quiroga, the No. 98 ThorSport Racing Toyota of Johnny Sauter, the No. 92 Ricky Benton Racing Chevrolet of Scott Riggs and the No. 31 Turner Scott Motorsports Chevrolet of James Buescher.
NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee Wendell Scott scored his victory at Speedway Park in Jacksonville, Fla. on Dec. 1, 1963 when he was running in the NASCAR premier series which is now known as Sprint Cup.
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