Wallace Becomes Nascar’s Second Black Winner

It took 65 years for a black driver to make it to victory lane in Nascar. On Saturday, it finally happened.

Steve Helber/Associated Press

Darrell Wallace Jr. on Saturday at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway after becoming the second black winner of a Nascar national series race.

Darrell Wallace Jr., 20, took the checkered flag in the Camping World Truck Series's Kroger 200 at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia, becoming the second black driver to win a Nascar national series race since the sport's inception in 1949. But he was the first permitted to celebrate in victory lane.

When Wendell Scott won in Jacksonville, Fla., on Dec. 1, 1963, he was kept out of victory lane. Wallace's victory and tearful celebration Saturday gave Nascar, a sport with a sometimes ignominious history with regard to race, an opportunity to showcase its growing diversity.

"We congratulate Darrell Wallace Jr. on his first national series victory, one that will be remembered as a remarkable moment in our sport's history," Brian France, Nascar's chairman and chief executive, said in a statement. "Darrell's success, following fellow Nascar Drive for Diversity graduate Kyle Larson's win earlier this season, is indicative of a youth and multicultural movement that bodes well for Nascar's future growth."

Nascar has worked for nearly 10 years to develop minority and female drivers in the hope they can help attract a younger and more diverse audience. Danica Patrick arrived from the IndyCar Series a few years ago. With her large following, she gave Nascar a high-profile female presence.

Wallace, along with Larson, a Japanese-American driver, came up through the Drive for Diversity program. Larson, a top dirt-track driver before arriving in Nascar, is racing full time in the Nationwide Series this season and has a Truck Series win as well. He is moving up to the premier Sprint Cup next season.

Wallace's future is not nearly as certain. A rookie in the Truck Series and only the third black driver to race a full season in a Nascar national series since Scott competed at the Cup level from 1961 to 1973, Wallace has not yet secured his ride for next season. The team owner Kyle Busch, a Cup driver for Joe Gibbs Racing, said Saturday that he was working to secure full sponsorship of his No. 54 truck for Wallace in 2014. Saturday's victory cannot hurt those prospects.

Wallace has been seen for years as the black driver most likely to break through in Nascar. But he conceded that the pressure to attract a sponsor and help diversify a sport were too much for a time. Although he has 11 top-10 finishes in 19 races, has secured one pole and has led 340 laps as a rookie, Wallace said his earlier performances suffered from the expectations he put on himself.

"I used to go out there and think I've got to do this to help better the sport — I've got to go out there and run top five and try to win a race," Wallace said in a telephone interview Sunday. "Now I just go out there and do my best, and hopefully it settles it. If not, I'll try again next week. I do believe this win did help that a lot."

Still, it is just a beginning. The integration of Nascar is far from complete; Nascar has not had a black driver race in the Cup Series since Bill Lester ran two races in 2006. Willy T. Ribbs competed in three Cup races in 1986. Before that? You have to go all the way back to Scott in the 1960s and '70s to find a black Cup driver. He remains the only Nascar driver to race a full season in the Cup-level series.

It is too soon to know if Wallace will be the second. But he took a big step toward that goal on Saturday.

Among those watching the race were Wendell Scott Jr. and Franklin Scott. They are the sons of Wendell Scott, who died in 1990 and is buried in Danville, Va., 30 miles east of Martinsville Speedway.

It has long been a part of Nascar legend that officials scored Buck Baker the winner of that Jacksonville race because they did not want Scott in victory lane kissing the white beauty queen, as was customary after races in those days. Nascar did not officially change the scoring until hours after the race. Scott never saw the winner's trophy; a replica was given to his family in a ceremony in 2010.

Scott's sons have known Wallace for years. They had been waiting for this moment, too.

"When the checkered flag dropped," Franklin Scott said Sunday at a news conference in Martinsville, "I heard a big boom from heaven, and my daddy said, 'Hell, yeah.' "

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