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NASCAR Cup

Wallace: RPM opportunity "definitely boosted my career"

For Nickelodeon, one of the leading Children’s television networks, using NASCAR to promote its content has been a winning proposition.

Lee Spencer

Edited: Sep 15, 2017, 8:43 PM

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Darrell Wallace Jr., Richard Petty Motorsports Ford

Darrell Wallace Jr., Biagi-DenBeste Racing Ford

Darrell Wallace Jr., Richard Petty Motorsports Ford

Darrell Wallace Jr., Roush Fenway Racing Ford

Darrell Wallace Jr., Richard Petty Motorsports Ford

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Roush Fenway Racing Ford, Darrell Wallace Jr., Richard Petty Motorsports Ford

Ryan Blaney, Wood Brothers Racing Ford, Darrell Wallace Jr., Richard Petty Motorsports Ford

Darrell Wallace Jr., Richard Petty Motorsports Ford, Drew Blickensderfer

Race winner Darrell Wallace Jr., MDM Motorsports Chevrolet

Darrell Wallace Jr., Roush Fenway Racing Ford

Race winner Darrell Wallace Jr., MDM Motorsports Chevrolet

Not surprisingly, when “Nick” searched for a driver/spokesperson to represent its Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. was an easy choice. At 23, Wallace is still a kid himself.

And as he battles to remain relevant as a race car driver still searching for a permanent ride, a partnership with Nickelodeon couldn’t come at a better time.

“That is what the sport is about, staying relevant,” Wallace told Motorsport.com as reporters clustered around him in the Chicagoland Speedway media center. “Damn, there are a lot of people here. It is about staying relevant. If you don’t have a ride, it's about 'What are you trying to do?'

“This great partnership with Nickelodeon and them putting me in a car this weekend is keeping my name out there."

Wallace quickly rose through the NASCAR ranks. He won at every level until he reached the Xfinity Series. While he remained consistent over the last three seasons, Roush Fenway Racing couldn’t continue funding the program without sponsorship. Wallace completed 12 races and was fourth in the standings when RFR shuttered the team.

Cup opportunity

In June, Richard Petty Motorsports provided Wallace with a new opportunity to display his potential, this time in a Monster Energy Cup Series car. Just when his NASCAR XFINITY Series ride with Roush Fenway Racing ended because of lack of sponsorship, Aric Almirola was sidelined from the No. 43 Ford with a fractured vertebra, and Wallace received a four-race audition where he improved in each outing. The team and driver developed a special chemistry they hope to build on for 2018.

"That Cup platform did a lot," Wallace said. "It definitely boosted my career, those four races that we had. But that was a couple months ago, and now we're just doing one-offs. We have to keep grinding. That's what we have been doing. It is part of the game.

“I think getting the opportunity to race again after the Xfinity deal was suspended or ended, was huge. They were there to keep me going for a little bit. They were helping me. I was helping them with Aric dealing with his injury. That was the biggest thing they could have done for me. I knew something good would come out of it.

“We kept getting better and better. It would have been interesting to have another few races. It would have been cool to race at Loudon and see how that would have went because I love that place. It is one of those things I am very thankful for. It was a cool opportunity and I got so much exposure. I don’t have a full time ride but here I have tons of media around me like I am announcing something.”

As for this weekend, Wallace will pilot the No. 98 Nickelodeon Green Slime Ford at Chicagoland Speedway — a collaboration between RPM and Biagi DenBeste Racing. Wallace’s earlier impressions were so positive with the network that they elected to induct the driver into the Nickelodeon Family by being “slimed." Wallace joins the likes of Russell Wilson, Kobe Bryant, Bubba Watson and Michael Strahan with the slime badge of honor.

A marketable driver

“He’s been on our network and his “Q” scores with kids are through the roof,” Anthony DiCosmo, Senior Vice President, Sports Marketing & Content Development, Nickelodeon told Motorsport.com. “When he unveiled our car, I couldn’t believe how well spoken and informed he was. He was a one-take wonder. He just nailed it.”

DiCosmo was never exposed to motorsports as a kid growing up in New York City. While he always gravitated to stick and ball sports — and played in the NFL with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for four season — DiCosmo quickly grasped the popularity of NASCAR after his first trip to the track.

DiCosmo is hoping potential sponsors research Nickelodeon’s data and other sources to grasp Wallace’s immense marketability.

“Take a good look at him and say this is the guy we want to be the face of the sport inside NASCAR. As this sport continues to grow, it’s going to continue to evolve. We all know that this sport has to evolve. I think that’s part of the reason NASCAR has been so gracious working with us and has allowed us to push the envelope into an uncomfortable space. I think everybody has to follow suit and say, ‘Bubba might not be what the traditional driver has looked like, but he’s the face of what tomorrow is and where the growth opportunity is and see the value in that.

“Once they’re able to do that, someone is going to get a really good pitchman. I wish I was in a position to have him for a whole year. We’re not a sports company by trade. We’re a kids entertainment company — and this a part of it. But if I could sign him up for the whole year, I absolutely would. I think someone is going to get somebody really amazing once they take a look and say, ‘Ok, this kid is the real deal.”

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