Wallace returns to site of historic win

On October 26, 2013, Darrell Wallace Jr. led the final 50 laps on his way to win the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway, joining Wendell Scott of nearby Danville, Va., as the second African-American driver to win a NASCAR national series event almost 50 years after Scott’s victory.

This weekend, Wallace, a Drive for Diversity graduate, and the rest of the truck series return to the short track for Saturday’s Kroger 250 (1:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1) for the first time since his historic win.

“This is an emotional win for me, especially to do it in Wendell Scott’s backyard,” Wallace said at the time of his victory in October. “I love coming here to Martinsville; it’s always good to me and it finally paid off.”

A win this weekend would make Wallace the first driver to win back-to-back truck races at the track. In Wallace’s only other truck start at Martinsville, which came last spring, he finished fifth after leading 34 laps. After two starts at the track, his driver rating is 115.9.

The truck series returns to action for the first time since its season opener at Daytona International Speedway on February 21. Kyle Busch won that event in which Wallace finished 26th after getting caught up in an accident 25 laps short of the finish line.