NASCAR Cup Series

'Bubba' Wallace to run Daytona NNS race for Joe Gibbs Racing

Published Jun. 26, 2014 9:14 a.m. ET

Jared Turner

The good news just keeps coming for Darrell Wallace Jr.

Nary two weeks after scoring his second career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win at Gateway Motorsports Park, the 20-year-old alumnus of NASCAR's Drive for Diversity program learned on Thursday he will drive the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Daytona International Speedway on July 4.

Wallace, a JGR development driver who is in his second full truck season with Kyle Busch Motorsports, made his first Nationwide start of 2014 in May at Talladega Superspeedway where he started third and ran well before being collected in an accident on Lap 45, resulting in a 31st-place finish.

Wallace, who is a guest on Thursday's special half-hour edition of NASCAR Race Hub (6 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1), will seek to make it back-to-back truck wins in Thursday night's race at Kentucky Speedway.

"What an awesome couple of weeks -- with the win at Gateway in my Tundra to learning that I'll be in the Nationwide race at Daytona behind the wheel of the No. 20 'Share a Coke' Toyota Camry," said Wallace, who last October at Martinsville became the first African-American to score a NASCAR national series win in nearly 50 years. "Superspeedways haven't shown the best results for me so far, but every time I've competed we have been super-fast, and I know this time will be no different."

The driver nicknamed "Bubba" has one pole, two wins, seven top-five finishes, 15 top-10 finishes, and has led a total of 459 laps with an average finishing position of 12.9 over 29 Truck Series starts.

Wallace, who made his Nationwide debut with JGR in 2012, has five previous Nationwide starts with one pole and three top-10 finishes, and has led 36 laps while posting an average finish of 13.8.

"I'm stoked to get back in a Nationwide Camry, and hopefully we can take the positive momentum from Gateway straight into Victory Lane and celebrate by sharing an ice cold Coke with everyone for the Fourth of July," Wallace said.