Historic victory for Wallace Jr. at Martinsville
By Chris Knight
Special to NASCAR Wire Service
Distributed by The Sports Xchange
MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- The clock struck one for Darrell Wallace Jr. on Saturday afternoon at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, as he earned his first career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win in the Kroger 200.
By claiming the victory, Wallace Jr. became the first African-American driver to win a NASCAR national touring series event since Wendell Scott won in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 1963, a span of five decades.
While the Kyle Busch Motorsports driver was celebrating his triumph, tempers were flaring in the garage following a late-race tangle between Ty Dillon and Kevin Harvick. A bump from Dillon sent Harvick, making a rare start for NTS Motorsports, around and subsequently collecting point's leader Matt Crafton and Chase Elliott. Harvick and Dillon entered pit road before Harvick stopped in Dillon's pit stall to voice his displeasure.
From there, chaos ensued as crew members for the Richard Childress Racing stables fired back with words of frustration and also what looked like a sledge hammer thrown at the No. 14 Anderson's Maple Syrup Chevrolet Silverado. Harvick pulled his machine behind the wall and was done for the day, while Dillon continued on to finish 22nd.
On the final restart, Wallace, in his No. 54 ToyotaCare Toyota Tundra, held off a challenge from Brendan Gaughan and Jeb Burton to collect Toyota's 11th NCWTS win of the season and fifth of the year for KBM.
Ben Kennedy, in just his fourth NCWTS race for Turner Scott Motorsports, finished fourth with Ryan Blaney recovering from an early race spin to finish fifth.
Denny Hamlin, the pole sitter, recovered from a spin to bounce back to sixth, German Quiroga Jr. was seventh, Talladega winner Johnny Sauter eighth, Scott Riggs ninth and James Buescher comprised the remainder of the top 10.
Just three races remain on the NCWTS calendar. Next up is a return trip to the Lone Star State for some Friday night racing. The WinStar World Casino 350K is set for Nov. 1 with live coverage on FOXSports 1, the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM Satellite Radio (Channel 90).
