Darrell Wallace Jr.

Birthday: October 8, 1993

Hometown: Mobile, Ala.

Residence: Concord, N.C.

Darrell Wallace Jr., 16, still has a few months to wait before he can get his North Carolina driver’s license, but that doesn’t keep him from finding his way around the race track. Wallace, who lives in Concord, N.C., started racing when he was 9 years-old and has found plenty of success along the way.

In 2009, Wallace was named a development driver for Joe Gibbs Racing. With support from JGR, he competed with his family-operated team in a number of late model events throughout the Southeast. Wallace has been racing late models for three years; he won his first late model race at Franklin County Speedway (Callaway, Va.) in 2008. At just 14, he was the youngest competitor to ever win a late model race at the historic speedway.

Before late models, Wallace raced karts, bandoleros and legends cars, often dominating the competition. In 2005, Wallace’s first year of INEX Bandolero division competition, he won 35 of 48 races. The next year he moved up to INEX Legends cars, winning 11 races.

Now Wallace is ready for a new challenge – his 16th birthday last October marked his move to NASCAR. He’s now old enough to compete in the NASCAR  K&N Pro Series, NASCAR’s premier development series.

Off the track, Wallace, a junior at Northwest Cabarrus High School, is a regular teenager. He loves to play basketball and paintball, and spends his free time honing his skills on iRacing, an online racing simulator.

Career Highlights

• Competed in 23 late model events, including nine UARA Late Model division events; scored three wins and 11 top fives.
• Won a late model race at Franklin County Speedway in 2008, becoming the youngest driver to win a race at the track.
• Began racing late models in 2007; competed at several races throughout the Southeast, including Tri‐County Motor Speedway and Greenville Pickens Speedway.
• Completed the 2006 season with 11 wins, 27 top fives and 34 top 10s in 38 Legends car races.
• Competed in the Bandolero division in 2005, winning 35 of 48 races entered. Became the first driver to win all six races on the way to capturing the Lowe’s Motor Speedway Winter Heat Championship.