NASCAR: What can we expect out of Darrell Wallace Jr. in his first full-time Cup Series season?

Enter Darrell Wallace Jr.

Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr., 24, is a young driver who has felt the worst impact from this transition with an odd path to a full-time ride in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. He started out with a crack of thunder with Kyle Busch Motorsport in the Truck Series, where he amassed five wins and 25 top 10 finishes in 2013 and 2014.

With that major wave of momentum, he signed a development deal with Roush Fenway Racing in the Xfinity Series, where he garnered 29 top 10 finishes in two full seasons and over a quarter of the 2017 season, only to be met with the aforementioned disease that is making its way through all of NASCAR: lack of sponsorship, which has become a major problem for all teams, big and small. Wallace Jr. was left without a ride for most of the 2017 season.

With plenty of talent but no ride to show it off in, he was left in limbo. However, when Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM) were without a driver for seven races after full-time driver Aric Almirola had to sit out due to injury, they called up Wallace Jr. from the Ford Racing stables to take the reigns of the #43 car for four races to keep the team afloat.

He struggled in his first race at Pocono, where he finished in 26th place after experiencing multiple issues on pit road. After an initial bump in the road, he raced to three top 20 finishes, and as sad as it is to say, one of the most consistent three-race stints RPM have had in a while.