Darrell Wallace Jr. said the last three days have been a “crazy 72 hours.”
The Roush Fenway Racing driver will make his Cup Series debut this weekend at Pocono Raceway in Richard Petty Motorsports’ No. 43 Ford.
That will come a day after potentially his last race driving Roush’s No. 6 Ford in the Xfinity Series.
Wallace sat down with NASCAR America analyst Dale Jarrett to discuss his whirlwind week.
“I knew about it a couple of days before we announced it and I think the stress factor of not knowing what was next from the Xfinity program was kind of overshadowing that,” Wallace said.
Wallace told Jarrett at one point he began making a list on his phone of potential ways for him to earn money if his Xfinity ride went away.
“After Pocono in our Xfinity race that was it for me, not going to the race track anymore,” Wallace said. “What can I do to get a source of income? The things you don’t usually think about when you’re racing. Now I’m 23 and I guess I’m a grown man. Still a big kid, whatever you want to call it. Trying to figure those things out is pretty tough. This opportunity came about and it’s about timing.”
Wallace will be driving in the place of Aric Almirola, who suffered a compression fracture in his back in a crash at KAnsas Speedway.
Watch the above video for the full interview.
Back in the NASCAR America studio, Jarrett discussed Wallace with Parker Kligerman and Rick Allen.
“I’m going to give a little shout out to his sponsor here,” Jarrett said. “Somebody’s missing the boat with this young man. ... Bubba Wallace has so much to bring to this sport that could be really good for our sport to help it to grow. ... In the right situation to where he doesn’t have to overdrive the car, you get him in a really good race car I think he could really do some great things. As he pointed out, he’s very confident in himself and that’s what you have to be and what a sponsor wants.
“He’s really a sponsor’s dream.”