NASCAR: Why Darrell Wallace Jr. should drive Danica Patrick’s car in 2018
By Asher Fair
There is uncertainty surrounding the future of Danica Patrick at Stewart-Haas Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series. Here is why Darrell Wallace Jr. deserves her ride.
After Richard Petty Motorsports driver Aric Almirola suffered a compression fracture of the T5 vertebra in a crash at the NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas, Darrell Wallace Jr. was announced as his primary replacement in the #43 Ford.
Prior to Almirola’s crash, Wallace Jr. had never driven in a Cup Series race before. He had, however, completed two full-time Truck Series seasons back in 2013 and 2014. He had also competed for two seasons as a full-time Xfinity Series driver in 2015 and 2016 and was in the midst of a third before Roush Fenway Racing suspended the operations of his team.
Wallace Jr. ended up making four starts in the Cup Series in the #43 Ford, and he did very well, improving every race. He started off his replacement role with a 26th place finish at Pocono. The following race at Michigan, he finished in 19th place before finishing in 15th and 11th place at Daytona and Kentucky, respectively.
He posted an average finish of 17.75 in his first four career races on four completely different tracks in the Cup Series as a replacement driver driving for just a one-car team, which is impressive and certainly gives Cup Series teams a reason to look at him as a potential full-time driver in the near future.
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Yesterday at Michigan, Wallace Jr. won his first Truck Series race since the 2014 season in his first Truck Series appearance since the 2014 season. He delivered MDM Motorsports their first career Truck Series victory as the seventh different driver of the #99 Chevrolet this season, and he did so by holding off Christopher Bell, the current Truck Series points leader, and Kyle Busch, who has had arguably the more success in the Truck Series than any other driver. You can’t ask for more than what Wallace Jr. did at Michigan yesterday.
If there is one Cup Series car that Wallace Jr. belong in full-time next season, it’s the #10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford currently driven by Danica Patrick. In just four races driving for a one-car team, he showed more potential than Patrick has shown in her entire Cup Series career driving for a top-tier organization.
Wallace Jr., 23, is over 11 years younger than Patrick, 35, and he has far more upside. Patrick has driven in 176 career Cup Series races, 166 of which for a top-tier organization in Stewart-Haas Racing. Yet she has just one top 10 finish in the last 86 races (10th place at Dover earlier this season) and only seven career top 10 finishes with no career top 5 finishes.
There are really plenty of drivers that deserve Danica Patrick’s ride in the #10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford than she does, as she has failed to perform in top-tier equipment in each of her five full-time seasons. But Darrell Wallace Jr. is the driver who most deserves that ride, and Stewart-Haas Racing should take notice, as they could seriously use the upgrade that he would provide for the #10 Ford.
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Do you think Darrell Wallace Jr. is deserving of driving the #10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford currently driven by Danica Patrick? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to follow Beyond the Flag on both Instagram and Twitter. Also, don’t forget to follow along with Beyond the Flag for the latest news, opinions and analysis stemming from a number of different motorsports series. You don’t want to miss any of it.