DARRELL WALLACE JR., No. 54 Toyota Care Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
How was the practice session this morning?
“This and Daytona are probably the only two tracks where we don’t worry about where we’re at on the speed charts. Had some issues early on in practice that kept us from getting out in the big pack draft. We’re good enough for I believe 22nd or so — nothing to worry about. We did get some practice time though and feel like our Toyota Care Tundra was good. We worked on little stuff to get us where we need to be and I think we’re right there. Next thing is just trying to figure out this qualifying deal and I’m still kind of up in the air about it. I don’t know what we’re doing, I just know that it’s going to be crazy.”
What is the plan for qualifying this afternoon?
“I didn’t even know that we had multiple rounds — that’s how different it is. Isn’t it different from what we did at Daytona? I’m still new on that. My guys just texted me and told me that we need to come up with a game plan so after this I think we’re going to start brain storming some ideas. I think I’m on the only one that has qualified here doing the Nationwide race. My engineer just said, ‘We’re relying on you for practice.’ I just laughed. We’ll see how that goes.”
How do you approach the race tomorrow?
“It’s Talladega — cautions breed cautions here. We just have to be on the plus side of that and on the frontend of it. You see guys — really you’re in trouble anywhere you go. If you’re at the front, the middle or you’re at the back then you can get caught up in it. I just think of where I see Kyle (Busch) running at Talladega and he’s either second or third or leading the race and he ends up winning. That’s what we need to do. We need to qualify up front — if not, get up front fairly quick and try to control our own destiny and just ride. You feel like you’re doing that already and something happens so you never know. You’re never safe until the checkered flag so we’ll see. Hopefully nothing as bizarre as last race.”
Was the team able to fix the issues from practice and are you worried about being a second off the leader?
“That’s what the difficult thing is to the outsiders looking in is when you don’t have 15 cars out there together, the speeds aren’t going to be the same. You think seven cars are the same as 15 cars with speeds and it’s not. We’re a second off or two seconds off, but everything — the travels were right and everything felt good inside. We had no motor issues like we were fighting at the beginning of practice so everything was fixed. It’s just everybody is saving their stuff for the race. It’s a speedway race so you don’t come out here and work on it. You have what you’ve got from the shop. We felt like our Toyota Tundra was right there with just minor adjustments to see if this helped or hurt and moved on. Me and Jerry (Baxter, crew chief) know we’re a second off, but we’re not worried about that. We’ll be just fine. We practiced our sucking up and getting a tow to see if we can suck up to the other guys in front of us and we did just that so we’ll be cool.”
Are you looking forward to Martinsville one year after your victory?
“It’s huge and I’m excited to get back to Martinsville with our No. 34 Toyota Tundra. It’s going to be an exciting weekend for sure — huge media hit for us. Coming back to keep the title going — we need to win us another grandfather clock and win us another race. We should have had a couple more before this. I’m excited — the colors look good with the blue and white Toyota Tundra and the No. 34 will be different for sure. I’m excited to carry on the Wendell Scott banner and represent their family and his legacy for that weekend. It’s going to be an exciting weekend — we know we’re fast. If we unload with what we’ve had in the past few races then we’ll be okay.”
How have you changed since the win at Martinsville last year?
“I turned 21 since then so happy birthday to me. The maturity level has gone up I would say inside the race car — Alicia (Deal, PR rep) probably says different. I think just learning everything and learning the tracks and understanding how things work, letting little stuff go and focusing on the end of the race instead of getting flustered at the beginning when I lose six or seven spots and get upset and end up wrecking — Charlotte and Kentucky last year. Now we just go out and have fun, smooth race and still not happy if we don’t win. It’s still a good points day finishing sixth versus 26th. I think that has changed a lot and I’ve relaxed and learned to take in more and listen more and go out there and utilize that what I’ve learned in those races and it’s definitely shown. Our mile-and-a-half program has turned around a tremendous amount. I’m excited to go to mile-and-a-halves now and that was a lot to say last season. We would qualify 15th and run 10th and that’s no fun. Now we qualify front row and we’re running one and two with Kyle (Busch) and Erik (Jones) in it — one and two at Vegas, one and two at Kentucky. I’m excited for our mile-and-a-half stuff and that has changed me as a person for sure.”
Do you know where the points shake out and what the team needs to do?
“I don’t like to think about points. I know what we have to do, but this is a race and a big enough stress ball to worry about so if we can come of here then maybe we can start talking, but I probably still won’t talk after this race. We just go out here and have fun — that’s the biggest thing we do. We’ve been playing catch up for the past two seasons now and our talent and what our team has hasn’t really shown and it’s been because of incidents happening early on this season and we should be higher up in the standings than where we are now. I can say that for sure. That’s part of it. We’ll go out here and be on the front side of things and hopefully come out in front and then go on to home field next weekend at Martinsville.”
What did you do for your birthday?
“My girlfriend came home from college — she goes to South Carolina, a rival school of the University of Tennessee. And on November 1 we play each other and we both suck so it’s going to be a good game. Girlfriend came home and we had an idea of going to the pumpkin patch and carving pumpkins, but we were kind of pressed for time so we went to Home Depot and got a pumpkin there — such a cute, traditional couple going to Home Depot to pick up two pumpkins and then sat in my apartment kitchen and carved two pumpkins. Hers was really intricate and really cool and mine I thought would beat hers, but at the end of the day hers looked a little better. Did that and then went down to ‘Chima’ in downtown Charlotte and tried that out — I was in a food coma for the next two days after that.”
