Darrell Wallace Jr, driver of the #18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, stands in the garage during practice for the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East G-Oil 100 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sep 21, 2012 in Loudon, NH
Photo – Geoff Burke/Getty Images
The latest news concerning the Truck Series in the upcoming season was announced today at the NASCAR Preview in Charlotte when Kyle Busch and Joe Gibbs announced Darrell (Bubba) Wallace Jr will drive the full-truck schedule for Kyle Busch Motorsports/KBM this season. Wallace Jr is an up and coming driver for Joe Gibbs Racing and success came immediately for Wallace Jr when he entered NASCAR. Wallace Jr is also part of NASCAR’s drive for diversity and Wallace Jr may be the most successful African-American driver in NASCAR history.
KBM announced that Wallace Jr will drive the No.54 Toyota Sponsored truck and compete for the championship in the upcoming season. Wallace Jr competed in the K&N East Series last season and also ran a few Nationwide races for Joe Gibbs Racing/JGR. JGR wanted Wallace Jr in one of NASCAR’s top series’ this season and they decided to put him in a KBM truck. Wallace Jr will also likely run a few Nationwide Series races for JGR this season.
Even though Wallace Jr is a JGR development driver, JGR works closely with Kyle Busch Motorsports since Kyle Busch races in the Cup Series for JGR. JGR and KBM’s goal for Wallace Jr is for him to have as much success as possible. Wallace Jr is clearly a great racer and it won’t be too soon until he’s winning a bunch of races.
KBM will be fielding three total trucks for 2013. Joey Coulter will drive the No.18 truck, Wallace Jr will be in the No.54 truck and Kyle Busch will drive ten races in the No.51 truck. With the off-season moves KBM has made, they’re putting their whole organization in a great position to find success in 2013 and beyond. Seeing team-owner Kyle Busch in victory lane often this season may be a sight to get used to. KBM is on the track to success for 2013.
Wallace Jr will look to have success in his first full-time season in one of NASCAR’s top series’. Based on past performances, Wallace Jr should have a strong performance in each and every race. As the season is set to begin, the final pieces are being put together to make 2013 better than ever. Wallace Jr is now part of a rapidly growing KBM team and the whole organization should be able to find success easily this season.
