Ford Performance NXS Notes and Quotes
Drive To Stop Diabetes 300 Advance – Bristol Motor Speedway
Friday, April 17, 2015
Darrell Wallace Jr., driver of the No. 6 EcoBoost Ford Mustang in the NASCAR XFINITY Series, ranks fourth in the current standings going into this weekend’s event at Bristol Motor Speedway. He visited the infield media center to discuss the start to his season before today’s practice.
DARRELL WALLACE JR. – No. 6 EcoBoost Ford Mustang – YOU ARE AN AVID VOLUNTEER FAN, SO HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE BACK AT THIS TRACK? “I think this is exciting to be back in Tennessee, for sure. I’m always in Knoxville for the UT games, so the atmosphere is up this weekend and the excitement level is up. Bristol is a grassroots racing track, it’s a short track and what we grew up on. I’ve actually raced here since 2008 in late model stuff, so this track has brought me a lot of success. I’m happy to be here with the XFINITY Series a new team in Roush Fenway. It’s gonna be an exciting weekend. I think our cars have turned around. We’re showing a lot of speed over the last couple of weeks and hopefully we can that going.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE YOUTH MOVEMENT GOING ON IN THE XFINITY SERIES RIGHT NOW? “It’s huge. It’s everybody that you grew up racing against and some new faces, so it’s exciting to see where the sport is heading with the youth movement and I’m just proud to be a part of it. I’m trying to be the top young guy, but I’ve got a bit of work to do.”
WHAT HAS THIS MOVE TO THE XFINITY SERIES BEEN LIKE FOR YOU SO FAR? “I think it’s been a really smooth transition since the start of the season. It’s really been just getting comfortable with everything. I think our best race was Auto Club, which was really early in the season, where I just messed up there and got in the fence early. It was a rookie mistake on my end, but this past weekend in Texas was another good run for us too. I’m just happy with the way things are going, but it’s all about getting comfortable with the team and figuring out what Chad likes and Chad’s figuring out what I like and we have to vibe there, but it’s growing. I have a lot of fun with my guys and Roush as a team is growing as well. There are a lot of us great drivers in the XFINITY Series and we’re trying to get up there with the Cup guys, so we’ll see what happens.”
SO YOU’RE SATISFIED AND HAPPY WITH THIS MOVE? “Yeah, besides the fact we haven’t got a win yet. That’s about it.”
ANY IDEA WHAT YOUR SHORT TRACK PROGRAM IS LIKE? “No, not really. Chad has talked about how they were a little bit of a struggle last year, but the year before that they were pretty fast. Different things change, tire models change, so a few setup changes this time. They’re gonna come back with a little different package than what they ran last year, so we’ll just have to see. This place, you don’t have to worry about having the car having that shear speed like you do at a mile-and-a-half. You don’t have to worry about that, but you definitely have to have the drive have the raw speed and see what we can do, but I guess we’ll find out here at 1:30.”
IS IT MORE DRIVER HERE THAN THE BIGGER TRACKS? “It is more driver, but still the car is a huge factor in what needs to happen here. If you can’t get off the corners here, you’re not gonna be fast. It’s all about how you tackle it. That’s where the driver part comes in and being able to maintain that is where the car comes in too, so it’s a fair balance, but I’m just as anxious to see how we roll off here as you are.”
ARE YOU SURPRISED HOW WELL YOUR TEAM HAS COME TOGETHER AFTER GETTING SORT OF A LATE START DURING THE OFF-SEASON? AND IS SPONSORSHIP SET FOR YOU FOR THE ENTIRE SEASON? “Yeah, I think everything coming late in the year is a re-occurring thing for me. It’s been happening for like the last three years, so no surprise there on my end, but it’s cool how fast we are jelling and vibing and getting used to everything. Like I said, I enjoy my guys. The guys are a lot of fun. It’s a really young group of guys. Chad is I think the youngest crew chief I’ve had, so that’s a milestone knocked off, but as far as sponsorship we are gonna be at Homestead.”
HOW CLOSE DO YOU FEEL YOU ARE TO WHERE A WIN IS WAITING FOR YOU EVERY TIME YOU GO TO THE TRACK? “I think the last two showings we’ve had at Auto Club and Texas it gets you pumped up to go back to the race track. This is the first true short track, so we’ll see what we’ve got here, but we know we can go back to Charlotte and feel like we’ve got a really good piece. It’s part of our habit and part of a driver knowing that we have a good shot at winning each and every weekend. It would be wrong for me to say, ‘I don’t feel it this weekend,’ so we have to show up and bring that.”
HOW MUCH OF A CATALYST IS IT TO HAVE THE TEAMMATES YOU DO PUSHING EACH OTHER? “That’s tough. Having everybody there in-house and being able to talk to those guys you really learn some things. It’s cool to be teammates with all of them. The Cup guys will pop in every once in a while. You’ll get to see them, but as far as the XFINITY guys we’re all trying to work together and be top four out there on the race track. So it’s really cool to see the three of us that are in the top five in points, although you know me, I hate talking about points so it doesn’t really matter to me right now. We’re just out here trying to win races. Ryan’s already got his, so I think it’s time for Chris, Elliott and I to get ours.”
