For many drivers going through the ranks of NASCAR they just want a chance in good quality equipment to be able to show off their true talents. But unfortunately for some they don't get it and fade out and are forgotten. Darrell Wallace Jr or as many people know him as Bubba Wallace Jr was a standout K&N Pro series racer finishing 2nd in the points in 2011 and then in 2012 he got to do 4 races for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Xfinity Series and and in those races he got 3 top 10s and a 12th. That was enough for Cup Series star Kyle Busch to give him a full time ride at his truck series team Kyle Busch Motorsports, a true chance for him to show off his talent. And in 2013 had an underperforming year with an 8th place points finish but however he had a good end of 2013 with his 1st career win at Martinsville along with 4 other top 5s and would end with 12 top 10s but still in 2014 he was looked at as one of the championship favorites. But it would not be a favorite way for anyone to start the year off with a 26th place finish at Daytona after being involved in the big one with about a quarter of the race to go. But Martinsville would be different for him, he'd start on pole and run up front while also leading some laps on route to a 2nd place finish. But the next few races just fell apart all together for the 54 team. First was Kansas when his fan broke damaging the oil cooler and destroying the radiator meaning Wallace started 25th. But he was in the top 10 at a quarter point of the race until a vibration in the front of his truck tore loose some radiator ducting and brackets meaning he finished 15th 11 laps down. Next was Charlotte also a top 10 run but his battery was losing power so Bubba made the call to pit and get it changed but after 2 turns during a restart he gets taken out in a wreck placing him 26th. Then Dover happened when he was 6th had a vibration which was a loose wheel ruining his day and placing him in 16th. He left Dover 11th in the standings 49 behind Timothy Peters. With 5 of the 22 races completed Darrell needed to fix the damage done from his bad start. At race 6 it looked like he would running up in the top 5 but a bad pitstop halted his progress. He would fall into 9th. He spent most of the race afterwards from 5th-7th. At one point it looked like he was fading at the end of the race until he moved up to the high side and drove his way back into the top 5. But since it was a fuel mileage race he needed gas so he finished 10th. Well somewhat unlucky for Wallace Jr but it's a top 10 so a actual positive besides his 2nd place at Martinsville. And he needs all the positive momentum he can get because he lost 13 points still placed 11th in the title race. Especially going to a racetrack that he never raced on before, Gateway Motorsports Park makes it's return to the truck series after last being used in 2010. Many unknowns were brought to this race with a lot of the field never even being at this place before. But Bubba drove his truck to a 2nd starting position and dominated early on. But on his green flag pitstop his left rear wheel wasn't properly installed so when he tried to drive off and hardly went anywhere. His crew did get it on but there wad damage to the left rear quarter panel because of the left rear wheel initially not going on. The yellow came out while this was happening so he lost a lap. But the wavearound got him back on the lead lap in 12th. He then quickly drove his way to towards the front getting to 6th in the span of 8 laps. Gateway isn't so easy to make a pass on so the 54 truck still had a lot of speed in it. But he had his hardest task of the night ahead of him getting past the top 5 trucks. First he worked his way around Johnny Sauter and then Ryan Blaney by the time there was 37 laps left in the race. But at that same time championship and race leader Matt Crafton blew a right front tire. He was in 3rd but after the final pitstops was in 2nd. And at the restart with 27 to go he wrestled the lead away from rookie 17 year old John Hunter Nemecheck. But it wasn't so straight forward because he was being heavily pursued by Erik Jones. When Wallace was leading early on it looked like Jones was the only driver that could challenge him and now it looked like a duel between two drivers who only have 1 carrer victory to their names. But after Nemecheck spun from a flat tire another restart was afoot. 8 to go and the two KBM trucks are side by side for the lead for about an entire lap and then here comes German Quiroga 3 wide into turn 1! Wallace Jr goes from the lead to 3rd and Quiroga is after Jones but Erik gets loose and gets spun around by the 77! Kyle Busch Motorsports went from a 1-2 to running 2nd and wrecked out of the race in just one lap! Annnnnd ANOTHER restart is at hand with the win still up for grabs. Darrell Wallace Jr does ensure that the win streak for Toyota continues to 9 in a row for the manufacturer and 7 of those wins are from Kyle Busch Motorsports, Darrell Wallace Jr now contributes to the streak of dominance by winning at Gateway! With this victory he now is 9th in points 43 behind new championship leader Johnny Sauter. Kentucky was another strong performance going up against his teammate and boss Kyle Busch. They were in another zip code all race running 1-2 for a lot of the first half but during pitstops under yellow he took 4 tires when everyone either took 2 or stayed out. But he would get up to 6th while Busch got to the lead. Bubba did use strategy on the final stop to get up to the front to be able to battle for the win by taking fuel only. With 8 laps left he tried to make a run at the 51 but couldn't pull it off as he could only watch his boss head a 1-2 for KBM. This helped Bubba climb a spot in the points and gain 7 points on the leader. He was the race leader at the start of Iowa from pole and would dominate early on being pressured massively by Erik Jones and Ryan Blaney. After first pitstops he faded slightly falling behind the two so under green he pitted early trying to start a green flag cycle of stops to jump his competitors but a caution ruined everything. Darrell Wallace lost a lap because of this and he wouldn't get back on the lead lap due to a yellow not coming out again for the rest of the race putting him in 13th. The next race however brought a new taste of racing, dirt racing at Eldora. The track that 3 time Cup champion Tony Stewart owns is making NASCAR return to the roots of it's birth since 2013 is up next to race on. He started 6th and drive his way past Johnny Sauter and Ryan Blaney early on and ran 4th for the first quarter of the race. But he got 3rd unfortunately to his teammate's demise. A left rear tire to be exact. Afterwards Bubba would drive his way ahead of Jeb Burton and 4 time champion Ron Hornaday to get the lead and dominate from there on. But he still had to work hard if he is to win this race because Cup rookie Kyle Larson is all over him he pulled the slidejob over the 54 and got into the wall while doing it and even got the lead but Wallace crossed underneath him to try to get it back but a caution for a truck that spun out right in front of them meant he had to admit defeat....briefly. At the final restart he got the lead back but was being heavily chased by Kyle Larson. Wallace would need to be perfect to get the win but Larson wasn't going to make it easy on him. Kyle has demolished the right side of his truck in the whole race driving his guts out and even spun out at one time, but with 2 laps remaining he hit the wall one time too many meaning Bubba Wallace got his 3rd career win after leading 97 of 150 laps. With his 2nd win of the season he got to the highest point he has been in the points so far at 6th 28 behind his good friend Ryan Blaney. An 8th at Pocono put him in the top 5 in the standings but lost 3 points to the top. Michigan came next and he had himself a hot rod of a truck. He might have been 4th but he battled for the lead against Blaney but lost out early on. However after a caution came out for the 2003 champion of the series Travis Kvapil he stayed out while alongside Timothy Peters while everyone else pitted. But nothing was a cause for concern for Wallace and crew chief Jerry Baxter. He led 41 of the first 75 laps and was set to win or at least he was until he ran out of gas setting him back to an 11th place finish with the most dominant truck. Another time when Bubba had a fast truck but didn't get the finish to show for it. Now he is almost a race worth of points behind new leader Johnny Sauter in 5th. Bristol was supposed to be a Thursday night race but because of rain it would be a Friday morning race. Darrell was pumped up for this race and ran in the top 5 for most of the race mainly racing against one of his championship rivals Matt Crafton. But late in the race he just seemed to be getting faster and faster. With 48 to go he got past Hornaday and his boss Kyle Busch to give himself a chance to chase down Brad Keselowski who was going for his first truck win. Yeah I know, you'd think he won one race. He won as an owner before but nope he is still trying to get his first as a driver. Wallace was there and he could just taste the victory but he was no match for the BKR truck. With Crafton finishing 4th Bubba was still 33 points out of the lead. At the road course known as Bowmanville located in Canada he finished in a mediocre 12th meaning any slight gains he made in the points was lost as he is now 38 behind Johnny Sauter. 8 races remain in the year so Wallace and his team are gonna need to be on their A-game to have any chance of getting into the championship fight. At Chicagoland the 54 would begin 6th and race against the 3 drivers he is trying to catch in the points Sauter, Crafton, and Blaney. Not only that but Kyle Busch had to start at the rear of the field so Wallace is going to have his work cut out for him to win. After leading laps in the middle of the race he fell back to the 5th position. But Wallace is slow on track! he blew a right front tire but his truck is still in tact. After taking fuel only on his first pitstop he went about 70 laps in the race on one set of tires so the right front was just worn out. The 54 gets in and out of pit road just fine. But something that isn't fine? A caution coming out when you made your stop and things haven't cycled out. But it's not the end of the world with the wave around rule so he is back on the lead lap. Plus he fought his way back to 6th. A nice recovery run when he lost a tire and now he is 35 points behind. In Loudon things would look up for Wallace and company with Crafton starting from the back. But he made his way up to 3rd after leading 20 laps while Bubba finished 2nd and because he didn't lead at all the gap is still 35 points with 6 races to go. Time is running out for the 54 and they need to have a dominanting race. At Las Vegas it looked like the domination they needed for the most part being in a league of their own. But sadly the "most part" wasn't the most important part, the end. Despite leading 84 of 146 laps he got passed by his teammate Erik Jones with 14 to go meaning Bubba has to settle for 2nd once again. Crafton finished in 3rd so the 54 was now 33 points behind the lead in 4th. Things looked like they got even worse at Talladega starting 27th but with the great equalizer that is the draft he was able to make his way to the front. It can also be a wild card in the championship which first began with with Johnny Sauter with engine faliure from a random bolt on the track putting him out of the race. His friend Ryan Blaney speed on pit road under green so he lost the draft and eventually a lap. Last but not least the championship leader Matt Crafton gets penalized for locking bumpers. I know this is a wierd penalty but because the bumpers lined up so well in the Truck series NASCAR made it a rule to not lock bumpers and push, you can bump all you want but you cant push. The 2 drivers caught locking bumpers will BOTH get a pass through penalty much to the frustration of crew chief Carl Joiner. Anyway Wallace finished 9th while Blaney was 5th and Crafton was 14th. This put the 54 3rd in points 28 behind the 88. But the 54 would turn into the 34 for a one of race at Martinsville. It was in honor of Wendell Scott the only African American driver to ever win a race. Scott would get inducted to the NASCAR hall of fame in 2015. Wallace would start of the race on pole and race with his fellow championship rivals but at one point early on said that he is just riding along but still in the end showed his hand yet Johnny Sauter was racing hard with him late but had the whole field behind him on the last restart of the race.

Just like that Bubba claims his 3rd win of the season and it was a needed one to closing the gap to Crafton point by point now 22 behind with 3 races to go. Onwards to Texas and he has picked right up where he left off at Martinsville being super fast and dominating. The momentum almost went into full swing into Bubba's favor leading laps closing in on Crafton piece by piece. The only other driver that night worthy of competition is his boss Kyle Busch. Even after pitting off sequence a little bit it looked like Wallace would zoom his way up to the front with the finish in sight but oh no, the engine on Wallace was finished too early in the race! At the worst possible time Bubba Wallace who lead 51 laps looking like a serious threat to win and gain a lot of points in the title fight is now in 26th and out of this race! Just like that he is 43 points behind the 88 with 2 races to go. At this point they really needed a miracle to get back into the fight but after a 6th place at Phoenix the miracle never came. There is only one last race left, Homestead. Now all he Jerry Baxter and the whole 54 crew can do is end 2014 on a high note.

When everything was said and done a 3rd place finish and 34 points was what separated Wallace from the championship. Things would work out for him though after 2014. For the next 2 years he would race in the Xfinity series for Jack Roush but a third of the way through 2017 Wallace would be unemployed due to his 6 car running out of sponsorship. Bubba how was called off the bench to fill in for an injured Aric Almorola in the Cup series who broke his back in a wreck at Kansas. Bubba would also win a Truck race at Michigan in a one off race for Matthew Miller. Still afterwards in 2018 Wallace would actually go to Cup and replace Aric Almorola in the legendary 43 car and race for the man who is known ad "The King" 7 time champion Richard Petty. And after this new beggings will occur in his career as he will drive for basketball legend Michael Jordan and even JGR driver Denny Hamlin in 2021. Still gotta ask, what if Wallace's engine would have held on in Texas? What if he started of 2014 in the style he finished the season? While the future looks ever so bright for Bubba Wallace some might still ask "What might have been?"