Xfinity Series Spotlight: Darrell Wallace Jr.

Darrell Wallace Jr. caught a break at the right time.
Starting in go-karts around 2002, Wallace had a fast racing progression. From karts to Bandoleros and Legend cars, Wallace was competing in Late Models by 2009. And up until that point, Wallace was doing so with the financial backing of his parents, Darrell Wallace Sr. and Desiree.
“We had a small business that was able to get us to 2009,” Wallace told NBC Sports, “and we were able to get that far. They spent a quarter of a million dollars in 2008, so that was a lot for them.”
Wallace ended up signing a development deal with Joe Gibbs Racing. He made his way into the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East with the Drive for Diversity program. Wallace won six races between 2010-12 and earned 2010 Rookie of the Year honors.
In 2012, Wallace went full-time in the Camping World Truck Series under the tutelage of Gibbs driver, Kyle Busch. After two full seasons and five wins, Wallace again made a move. This time, it was to the Xfinity Series, where he now competes for Roush Fenway Racing. Although he has yet to break into victory lane, Wallace is championship eligible after advancing into the second round of the inaugural Xfinity Chase.
As for the journey, Wallace admits, “Kind of the right spot at the right time.”
The following Q&A has been edited and condensed
NBC Sports: On your website, it says your interest in racing was by chance, what does that mean?
Wallace: I started racing when I was nine, but my dad bought a Harley Davidson and he wanted to trick it out and make it look good and the guy who did that, Chris Rogers, he had a bike shop. He raced out of the back of his shop, so we became good friends, and he invited us out to one of his races. We were sitting in the stands, and my dad was like, ‘Hey, you want to try it?’ So it was just one of those going out to watch and ended up buying a go-kart.
NBC Sports: How important was signing with Joe Gibbs Racing, in addition to participating in the Drive for Diversity program?
Wallace: The way it worked out was 2008 had a really good year; 2009 is when we signed on with JGR, and they gave us a little financial backing with the Late Model stuff, but that ended up being our worst year in Late Models. I don’t know why. We ran about half a season there and called it quits so then we were trying to figure out what’s the next step. JGR had their (K&N Pro Series) East program going on at the time, but they had Max Gresham and Brett Moffitt driving. So they didn’t really have anything, but they looked into the Drive for Diversity deal for us. We did some research and saw that Andy Santerre was running the whole deal, and we’re like, ‘Well, hell yeah, we’ll go over there and run that.’ It was kind of a blessing that we did because those two great years with the Drive for Diversity program really helped my career launch.
NBC Sports: Do you have a racing story you like to tell or one that stands out?
Wallace: Got a lot of good stories; got a lot of bad ones, too. I ran over my dad when we were go-kart racing. We were at Concord Speedway, and Chris (Rogers) and my dad were out there, and I leveled my dad at like 45 miles per hour. I thought I killed him and he comes hobbling up and says, ‘All right, let’s keep going.’ So that one’s probably the scariest one I’ve had. The best one is probably Dover. The first Dover (September 2010) I was scared. Driving into the corners like, ‘Heck no.’ Had motor problems, and we were in a Rookie of the Year battle with Cole Whitt. He blew a right front tire Lap 27; I blew a right front tire Lap 37. So we locked up the Rookie of the Year title.
Going back (in September 2011) I’m like, ‘Here we go with this place again’ and that’s when my mom lost her uncle. We took my name off the door, and I just put a piece of tape down and wrote his name on there. It was pretty special because we went out and won both practices, sat on the pole (by) two-tenths and won the race. So I think that was a pretty special weekend. That’s one of my favorite stories.
NBC Sports: Take me back to the Camping World Truck Series race at Talladega when you had that really bad accident in 2013, is that the most scared you’ve been behind the wheel?
Wallace: Yeah, I think so. When I hit for some reason there was a flash of like an actual car going down the highway, which I don’t know why that crossed (my mind), but it was like, ‘Holy crap.’ I had no brakes and was sliding towards I think it was Jeb Burton’s pit stall. Kyle (Busch) come down into me; hit the wall head-on, and I went back down heading straight for their pit box and closed my eyes and come to stop. Didn’t hit the wall. Then my spotter was like, ‘Put it in reverse, we still gotta finish,’ so I threw it in reverse not having brakes, so I’m gassing on it and John Wes (Townley) beats me by inches and then I don’t know how I stopped. I don’t know if I hit the wall or if it just kind of come to a stop. But that one was pretty scary.
NBC Sports: How did your love of instruments start and did you teach yourself how to play the drums?
Wallace: Mom says I was banging on pots and pans since I was two, so I had an itch for it. In middle school, you could try out for band when you got to seventh grade and you had to write down three things you wanted to play. Drums were my top one and think I put like saxophone and trumpet. Well, I didn’t get chosen for the drums but it ended up working out. The first year it was more of both Snare (Drum) and then when you have a Bass Drum, the one that sits on a stand and put your arm on it and just hit it with a mallet.
I took over that role in eighth grade, and everybody knew that was MY spot. But growing up, I got into the heavy metal stuff in about seventh grade and it took me listening to stuff and shutting out the words. Yeah, you don’t know what they’re saying unless you pull up the lyrics and read along, but it’s easy for me to listen to the drums and be like, ‘Oh, it’s kind of cool how he’s doing footwork.’ Now I’ve got my own little kit just trying to get better, and it’s fun to do.
NBC Sports: Have you always been very outgoing and open to sharing things on social media?
Wallace: Yeah, but (Ryan Blaney) is not. That’s more of me pushing him, ‘Hey, this is going out Twitter.’ Like that video of Chase (Elliott) I posted after the Georgia – Tennessee football game I said, ‘Hey bud, just so you know this is going on Twitter.’ That stuff, I’ve always been post it and get it in trouble later instead of worry about the consequences right away. But I’ve always been like that and the crazy stuff we’ve done, I think all you guys have seen it.
NBC Sports: Is there anything in particular you like to shoot when doing photography? 
Wallace: Really anything; a lot of time-lapse stuff. It’s always fun looking at the clouds and see what they’re doing because every three to four seconds it changes shapes. I haven’t picked up my camera in a while but I’m always looking at buying new equipment, and I don’t even use it. It’s weird and not smart decisions but it’s still fun to look at how to be better and how to take better pictures. We did a photo shoot recently for the Coca-Cola racing team, and people will think, ‘Oh, you just like to look at yourself’ and I’m like, no it’s really cool how you get these kind of shots. So I can sit there at a photo shoot and be there for hours trying to figure out what in the hell they are doing. I got to do stuff with NASCAR at the racetrack, like shoot the All-Star Race a couple of years ago. Shot the Xfinity race (at Charlotte) a few years ago as well.
NBC Sports: How is Darrell Wallace afraid of the dark?
Wallace: When you grow up and watch scary movies non-stop. I’ve had a love for scary movies but they scare the hell out of me …
NBC Sports: So do you keep the lights on all the time?
Wallace: No, I have a process that I need to film to share with you guys. So in my house, the living room has big high ceilings and it has a ceiling fan, but it doesn’t have a light. You have to use two lamps and then my stairs are right beside me; so I’ll get up and turn on my stairway light then go turn off my lamps. Walk up the steps, turn on my hall light, turn off my stair light; walk to my bedroom, look behind me, turn off my hallway light, close my door and go to bed. It’s a process. I don’t trust looking in the dark because your eyes start fixing to the dark and you start seeing stuff.

FOUR TEAMS SET FOR GOODYEAR TIRE TEST AT MARTINSVILLE

Four NASCAR teams will converge Tuesday and Wednesday for a Goodyear tire test at Martinsville Speedway, the lone short track left on the Sprint Cup Series schedule.

The four teams invited will help confirm the tire compound for the Oct. 30 Goody's Fast Relief 500, the seventh event in the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs. Those participating at the .526-mile track are:

The Chip Ganassi Racing No. 1 Chevrolet with driver Jamie McMurray
The Roush Fenway Racing No. 16 Ford with driver Greg Biffle
The Richard Childress Racing No. 27 Chevrolet with driver Paul Menard
The Furniture Row Racing No. 78 Toyota with driver Martin Truex Jr.

Two tests remain on the Sprint Cup schedule for the rest of the year.

Another Goodyear tire test is scheduled at Kansas Speedway on Oct. 17, the day after the 1.5-mile track completes its second NASCAR weekend of the year. NASCAR is also scheduled to conduct an organizational test Oct. 18-19 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, site of the season finales for all three national series as part of Ford Championship Weekend.

Greg Biffle, Jamie McMurray prepare for 500th Sprint Cup starts

When the green flag drops on Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway, Greg Biffle and Jamie McMurray will mark an achievement together with their 500th starts in the Sprint Cup Series.

The last time two drivers made their 500th starts in the same race was Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Terry Labonte at Watkins Glen International in 1995.

“I’m really excited about making my 500th start,” said Biffle in a team release. “It’s been a great ride and it’s amazing how fast the time goes by. I’ve got a lot of memories, wins, close races and fun times. I’ve won a lot of great races and look forward to running for that third championship.”

Biffle and McMurray did not make their first starts together, but their careers are intertwined.

The oldest full-time driver on the Cup circuit at 46, Biffle broke into the series on April 28, 2002, in the NAPA Auto Parts 500 at Auto Club Speedway. After three seasons and one title (2000) in the Camping World Truck Series and one Xfinity season, Biffle started in the No. 16 for Roush Fenway Racing.

The native of Vancouver, Washington, qualified 29th and finished 13th in the first of six starts that season.

McMurray’s debut, 20 races later, is much memorable.

A native of Joplin, Missouri, McMurray had 21 truck starts and a season and a half of Xfinity starts with no wins when Chip Ganassi called. On Sept. 29, Sterling Marlin suffered a fractured vertebra in his neck in a crash at Kansas Speedway. The injury forced Marlin from Ganassi’s No. 40 for the rest of the season.

McMurray, then 26, stepped into the car the next week at Talladega Superspeedway, where he would start fifth and finish 26th, a lap down.

McMurray would start fifth again a week later at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the UAW-GM Quality 500. He would lead three times that night for 96 laps. He assumed the lead for the last time with 31 laps to go en route to his first Sprint Cup victory.

Both Biffle and McMurray would be full-time rookies in 2003, with Biffle driving the No. 16 for Roush and McMurray the No. 42 for Ganassi. Since that season, only Biffle has failed to make a start, when he did not qualify for the third race of the 2002 season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“If I wouldn’t have missed the Las Vegas race I would have won Rookie of the Year, except he did,” Biffle said last month at the unveiling of his car for the Southern 500.

Since 2002, Biffle has driven only for Roush, earning 19 victories (the first coming in the 2004 Pepsi 400) 92 top fives and 175 top 10s. Biffle will be the second driver to make his 500th Cup start at Roush. Mark Martin made his in March 2002.

Biffle hasn’t won since the spring Michigan race in 2013.

McMurray, now 40, is in his second stint with Chip Ganassi Racing after competing with Biffle at Roush from 2006 – 2009. The two remain good friends from their days as teammates, often vacationing together and sharing plane rides to races.

“More of a friendship of any other driver, a colleague at work that you respect their talent and ability,” Biffle said. “A lot of times friendships kind of stay intact … you can usually get over, ‘Hey I cut you off or you ran into you on accident.’ Typically you can put those behind you. We haven’t had too many of those.’’

While McMurray has only seven wins on his record – and none since 2013 – his victories tend to come on NASCAR’s biggest stages.

Nicknamed the “Big Game Hunter” by Ganassi, McMurray won the Daytona 500, Brickyard 400 and fall Charlotte race in 2010. His second Cup win was the 2007 Pepsi 400. He also has two wins at Talladega (2009, 2013). His last trip to victory lane was the 2014 All-Star Race.

Heading into Saturday’s race, McMurray holds the final provisional spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup and is 22 points ahead of Ryan Newman.

Biffle needs to win in order to qualify for the Chase.

BIFFLE HONORS KULWICKI WITH DARLINGTON SCHEME

CONCORD, N.C. – NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Greg Biffle and his No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing team will honor 1992 premier series champion Alan Kulwicki during next month's Bojangles' Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.

Biffle, along with U.S. Congressman Richard Hudson and Andrew Collier, unveiled a Hooters paint scheme similar to the orange and white scheme featured on Kulwicki's Ford Thunderbird entries from 1991 through the first five races of the '93 season.

"The sport was built on guys like that," Biffle said Tuesday. "He ran his own deal and wanted to do stuff his way. He had five career wins and a championship in 92 -- that's a really, really neat story. It's unfortunate that I never got the chance to meet him."

The popular restaurant chain began its' sponsorship of the No. 7 team at the fifth race of the '91 season at Darlington. Kulwicki was both owner and driver for the single-team organization.

The 1.366-mile track was also the site of Kulwicki's final start – he placed sixth in '93 TranSouth 500.

Kulwicki, the series' 1986 Rookie of the Year, was killed in a plane crash in Blountville, Tenn., on April 1, 1993.

To possibly win with Hooters on the No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing Ford? "How cool would that be?" Biffle asked. "Then to do an Alan Kulwicki victory lap … would be a storybook ending."

Biffle will be making his 16th career start at Darlington, where he has two victories (2005, '06) and a pair of poles. His average starting position at the track is 11.1, best for the 46-year-old among the 22 venues hosting Sprint Cup Series races, while his average finish of 13.6 there is fourth overall.

He has led more laps at Darlington (718) than any track other than Texas Motor Speedway, where he has led 733.

This is the second season the legendary track has hosted a throwback-themed race weekend, with teams sporting paint schemes similar to those seen in the past. The Bojangles' Southern 500 is scheduled 6 p.m. ET, Sunday, Sept. 4 (NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR).

Hooters isn't just on the car as part of the throwback scheme, the restaurant chain is also taking an active role with the team, helping to promote National First Responders Day.

Collier, a machinist in the Hendrick Motorsports engine shop, has been a driving force in trying to establish a national day of recognition for first responders. His brother, Sean, was a police officer with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2013 when he was killed by one of two Boston Marathon bombers.

"Sean was planning on going and hanging out with some friends that night," Andrew Collier said. "He had no idea … that happens to a lot of first responders every year. It's time we honor them; they are our front line here at home. You have an accident … a fire, anything, none of us ever want to see it but if it does happen to us, the first thing we do is count on them.

"It's time to honor them and make this day a reality."

For more information about the effort to establish a national day of recognition, visit www.firstrespondersday.org.

KEVIN HARVICK WINS RAIN-DELAYED BRISTOL RACE

Kevin Harvick won the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race on Sunday evening at Bristol Motor Speedway, one day after the race was postponed due to inclement weather.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., in the No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford, finished in second place, 1.9 seconds behind the 2014 Sprint Cup Series champion.

Denny Hamlin, Austin Dillon and Chris Buescher rounded out the top five.

Scheduled for a green-flag time of 1 p.m. ET, persistent rain delayed the start for nearly four hours.

Kyle Busch led 256 laps, but was involved in a four-car wreck on Lap 357. His car spun due to what the driver said was a broken part, and Justin Allgaier drilled his No. 18 Toyota.

Shortly thereafter, an 11-car wreck -- triggered when Kurt Busch got loose and collected Brad Keselowski -- thinned the field further.

The Sprint Cup Series returns to the track on Sunday, Aug. 28 for the Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). There are now just three races remaining in the regular season.

This story will be updated.

NASCAR America: Value of winning goes beyond the trophy

Team Penske has won 25.5 percent of the 90 Sprint Cup races run since 2014 and does not appear to be slowing any time soon after back-to-back wins by Brad Keselowski.

The NASCAR America crew discusses the value of wins even for teams all but set to make the Chase already, noting how Kyle Busch needed the bonus points from his four regular-season wins to advance to the second round of the Chase last year.

Since the start of the 2014 season (90 Sprint Cup races), here’s how many races have been won by each organization:

24 – Hendrick Motorsports

23 – Team Penske

23 – Joe Gibbs Racing

14 – Stewart-Haas Racing

2 – Furniture Row Racing

2 – Roush Fenway Racing

1 – JTG Daugherty

1 – Richard Petty Motorsports

Roush puts all three cars in top 10 for first time in 65 races

While it wasn’t a win, Trevor Bayne got the closest he’s been to victory lane in five years Saturday when he finished third in the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

But Bayne’s second top five of 2016 also got Roush Fenway Racing the closest it’s been to a win in more than a year.

The team that hasn’t won since Sonoma Raceway in June 2014 put all three of its entries – Bayne, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (fifth) and Greg Biffle (eighth) – in the top 10 for the first time in 65 races. That stretch started with the August night race at Bristol in 2014.

Daytona began with Biffle on the pole – Roush’s first since Carl Edwards had it at Texas in November 2013 – and ended with Bayne getting Roush its best result since Biffle finished second in the 2015 Coca-Cola-600.

“For our organization to be on the pole this weekend, to have three cars in the top eight, two in the top five, I think that’s kind of a landmark for us as an organization with the struggles we’ve had to get all three teams running strong on a weekend like this,” Bayne said. “It’s not a win that we need to get in the Chase, but it’s a great step in the right direction for making it in on points.”

Leaving Daytona, Bayne currently is the highest Roush driver in the points in 17th. He’s six points behind the cutoff of the 16 cars that will make the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Biffle, who had a pole for the first time since October 2012 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, earned his first top 10 since the September race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last year. That was after his No. 16 Ford received damage in the Lap 90 crash that involved 22 cars that required multiple pit stops to repair

“It was a rough night after we got in that wreck,” Biffle said in a news release. “We got pretty severe damage and were able to come back and finish eighth. We had a pretty fast car, and (Brad Keselowski) was unbelievably fast. We have some work to do still, but I am so proud of my guys.”

Stenhouse came home with his second top five of the year and the fifth of his career. His finished fifth at Auto Club Speedway in March.

Stenhouse had started fourth and was riding in the back when the “Big One” occurred, and he was able to brake his No. 17 Ford in time to avoid it. Stenhouse lined up eighth during the overtime restart before getting a push into the top five.

“Clint (Bowyer) was pushing me the whole last lap. I wasn’t sure that we would be able to be pushed all the way through the corners, but we were able to hold it in a straight line as best as we could,” Stenhouse said in a news release. “The Roush Fenway Racing guys worked really hard, and Jack (Roush) has put a lot of confidence in everyone to get our cars better each week.”

Next week, the series will head to the recently repaved and reconfigured Kentucky Speedway. A Roush car has not finished in the top 10 at the 1.5-mile track since Matt Kenseth finished seventh in 2012.

Video: Trevor Bayne earns best finish since 2011 Daytona 500 win

Trevor Bayne led Roush Fenway Racing’s effort in the Coke Zero 400 with a third-place finish. All three Roush cars finished in the top 10 after Greg Biffle started the night on the pole. Bayne earned his best result since he won the 2011 Daytona 500.

WITH XFINITY SERIES' MILITARY TRIBUTE, WALLACE, IWUJI SHARE BOND

When the idea first surfaced of honoring active military units on the windshields of NASCAR XFINITY Series cars at Friday's Firecracker 250 Powered by Coca-Cola (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), someone asked Jesse Iwuji which driver's car he'd like his last deployment station, USS Comstock, featured on.

Iwuji, the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West driver in his first full season who also is in active service in the U.S. Navy until 2017, didn't hesitate: Darrell Wallace Jr.

"I've followed him a lot and I really love what he's done in the series," said Iwuji, who will attend this weekend's races at Daytona.

Like Wallace, Iwuji is African-American and a lifelong race fan. Like Wallace, Iwuji is trying to make a name for himself in the sport.

Like Wallace, Iwuji has shown great promise, but still is searching for his first win this season.

With so many similarities, somehow when Wallace first heard that his No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford would honor Iwuji at Daytona International Speedway for Friday's race, his predominant thought settled on the major difference between the two drivers.

"I didn't know he was a Navy Lieutenant, so that's really cool," Wallace said.

Many XFINITY Series drivers will learn new facts about the units displayed on their race cars this weekend. Part of 'NASCAR: An American Salute,' the program honoring military units and installations is a counterpart to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series' tribute during the Coca-Cola 600 over Memorial Day weekend where cars featured names of service men and women who died while in active duty.

Several XFINITY Series teams have direct connections to the units, such as driver Elliott Sadler, whose windshield will be adorned with Fort Campbell's "3RD BCT 101ST ABN" to honor JR Motorsports employee Lee Langley, who served for six years at the Army base as an infantry team leader in the 101st Airborne Division.

And then there's Iwuji and Wallace. The two drivers met a couple times in the past year that Iwuji has been driving professionally, but rather than discuss Iwuji's six years of active duty in the Navy, each time the two settled on their shared passion: racing. Iwuji peppered Wallace with questions about how he prepares for races, and how he manages the full-time job of driving.

"I'm still brand new and still learning a lot," said Iwuji, who earned his first top 10 in his fifth start, "so I definitely have a long way to go."

Sometimes, Wallace has the same feeling. But after 14 XFINITY Series races this season, Wallace has five top 10s and two top fives. He's currently ninth in the driver's standings, with seemingly a fairly secure spot in the 12-driver XFINITY Chase.

But he's also winless. His second-place finish at Dover in May was a career best -- and it was just enough to leave Wallace yearning for more.

"We're knocking on the door for our first win," Wallace said. "We need to clean up some areas that we're lacking in right now. We're kind of treating this (Daytona) as a test session because we have the Chase format. We can go to the race track and bring a different package to try each and every weekend. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. ... Hopefully we can get a win to lock us into the Chase, and then win a Chase race each and every segment, and then put ourselves in a position to win the title, win the title and everybody's happy."

It seems a simple formula, though Wallace also knows there are significant strides to be made in the second half of the season.

It all starts with this weekend's race, when he'll have USS Comstock plastered atop his windshield.

"Hopefully it brings us some good luck, and hopefully it makes us 'military strong' so we can muscle some guys out of the way and get our first win," Wallace said.

Roush development driver Ty Majeski set for ARCA debut

NASCAR Next alumni Nicole Behar isn’t the only driver making their ARCA Racing Series debut this weekend.

Also in the field of the Montgomery Ward Father’s Day 200 at Madison International Speedway will be Roush Fenway Racing development driver and current NASCAR Next member, Ty Majeski.

Majeski, 21, was announced as the latest Roush development driver in May. He will drive the No. 17 Ford for Roulo Bros. Racing. They also fielded a car for Sprint Cup driverChris Buescher when he was a Roush development driver.

Majeski, a native of Wisconsin, is already a winner at Madison. He won the May 1 ARCA Midwest Tour Joe Shear Classic at the half-mile track.

“We were able to test last week and I felt very comfortable in the car,” Majeski said in a press release. “The goal is to always be competitive and upfront, but I also know there is going to be a learning curve. I am excited to be making my first start.”

When Buescher competed for the Roulo brothers, he won the 10 races and claimed the 2012 ARCA title.

“Madison is a great place for us to be making our first start together,” said Gary Roulo in a press release. “Ty has had a lot of success here in late models, and as a team we won here in 2012 and finished second here in 2011 with Chris Buescher.”

After a down 2015, Roush Fenway Racing drivers enjoying ‘new normal’

There’s a “new normal” at Roush Fenway Racing.

After a dismal 2015 there’s more structure, less finger-pointing and all three teams are competing toward the front.

To top it off, Trevor Bayne is getting some sleep.

“Last year I feel like I had to beat myself up a little bit,” Bayne recently told NBC Sports. “I’d be looking at data and having sleepless nights trying to figure how I could drive the car different, and now this year that we have faster cars, I feel like I can kinda do what I know how to do naturally.”

Bayne is 20th in the Sprint Cup standings after 14 races. At this point last year, his first full season with Roush, he was 30th. Heading to Michigan International Speedway, Bayne has one top five and two top-1o finishes.

The biggest sign of improved speed for Roush is in qualifying. Bayne has advanced to the second round of qualifying 10 times and the final round five times. Bayne has an average start of 16.8. His average last year was 27.9.

“Last season I feel like qualifying was one of the hardest parts of my weekend,” Bayne said. “We would be 30th, you know? Hardly making the second round at times, and this season we’ve made it to the final round almost every week, and I think (crew chief) Matt (Puccia) does a really good job.”

The improvements are even more significant for fourth-year driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Stenhouse has started in the top 10 seven times. Last year, Stenhouse started in the top 10 just three times. For the Coca-Cola 600, all three of Roush’s car qualified in the top 10 for the first time since 2013 at Chicagoland Speedway.

“The new normal at Roush Fenway is everybody is working together,” Stenhouse told NBC Sports. “It’s not blaming this department or this department … I feel like everyone has been hands on, in the ditch with each other, you know digging and trying to claw our way out of this and I think it’s been showing.”

Greg Biffle‘s best finish through 14 races is 11th in the Coke 600, which he started a season-best sixth in.

“We’re definitely on an upswing, especially the 16 team,” Biffle told NBC Sports. “The problem is we don’t have any results to show for it. Meaning we’re not able to close right now. So, we’re getting to the three-quarter point in the race, things are happening, we’re getting involved in stuff. Or particularly Dover, the big wreck. Probably had one of the best cars we did all season.”

Biffle isn’t sitting by as the team tries to return to the level of competition it enjoyed when he started racing full-time for Roush in 2003.

That’s included Biffle coordinating pit stop practices among the teams and driving the pit stop car. It’s one way Biffle has committed to show he’s in “100 percent” to build Roush back up.

“I took charge and went down to pit stop practice and told the guys, ‘Hey, I’m going to be here every week for the next month, or one day a week, and I’m going to drive the pit stop car and we’re going to practice other things,’ ” Biffle said. “I recognized that they were kind of stuck in the same old routine and it needed to be changed up. And it brought so much energy and life back into my team that at Dover we had the best pit stops we’ve had in six months. And so then I went to Trevor and Ricky and asked them to do the same thing with their team.”

The more cohesive operation at Roush has the team the closest it’s been to consistently competing since Carl Edwards won at Sonoma Raceway in 2014. It’s seen Bayne, who hasn’t won since his 2011 Daytona 500 upset, lead a career-high 22 laps at Talladega Superspeedway to make his season total 34, also a career best.

After struggling in the back of the pack in 2015, Roush is showing signs it can turn its “new normal” into the kind of success Mark Martin helped create for the team during the height of his Hall of Fame career in the 1990s.

“It takes time to catch up and it’s hard to catch up,” Bayne said. “The guys that you’re trying to beat are also getting better. So you have to make huge gains to do what we’re doing this season.”

Fastenal signs multi-year extension with Roush Fenway Racing

Roush Fenway Racing announced Wednesday morning that Fastenal has signed a multi-year extension as primary sponsor for Ricky Stenhouse Jr.‘s team. As part of the agreement, Fastenal will increase the number of races it will serve as primary sponsor in 2017.

“We’ve seen a lot of improvement across the board this year,” Ricky Stenhouse Jr. said in a team release. “We are very happy that Fastenal will continue to be a part of the momentum at Roush Fenway. There has been a lot of hard work and effort put into this team and our goal and expectation is to reward Fastenal with a trip to victory lane and the Chase in the near future.”

This is the fifth season Fastenal has served as a primary sponsor for a Roush Fenway Racing Sprint Cup team. This is Fastenal’s second season as the anchor partner on Stenhouse’s car. The announcement did not say how many races Fastenal will serve as the primary sponsor beginning next year. Fastenal has served as the primary sponsor in five of the first 12 points races this season, including the Daytona 500. It also was the primary sponsor for Stenhouse in the Sprint Unlimited.

Stenhouse is 20th in the points entering this weekend’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He has finished in the top 20 in five of the last six points races.

Trevor Bayne basks in the glory of being ‘in the game’ again at Talladega

TALLADEGA, Ala. – As NASCAR officials scurried between cars checking every wheel for five lug nuts, dozens of team members, reporters and driver’s family members waited on the pit wall at Talladega Superspeedway.

The delay took several moments after Sunday’s Geico 500, and it allowed for an unusual scene as the top finishers moved unencumbered between their cars to swap post-race tales of their good fortune over the course of a wild 500 miles on the 2.66-mile oval.

No one seemed to be having a better time than Trevor Bayne.

He debriefed at length about the closing laps with Ryan Blaney. He shared a laugh with Jamie McMurray and Austin Dillon. He entered a long conversation with past NASCAR champions Kurt Busch and Bobby Labonte, who offered an encouraging pat on the shoulder.

After finishing 10th and leading a career-best 22 laps – seven fewer than he led over 93 starts from 2011-15 – Bayne looked like he belonged Sunday.

More importantly, the 2011 Daytona 500 winner felt as if he did, too.

“We’re in the game,” Bayne said. “We’re not just out here taking up a spot. I feel like we’re in the race. We pushed Kurt to the lead there. It’s just fun to be in the game here.”

PODCAST: Hear Trevor Bayne candidly discussing his career and the 2016 season on the NASCAR on NBC podcast.

His No. 6 Ford was in the game at Talladega until the final restart with three laps to go. Bayne was third and on the inside line, delivering a massive push that briefly shot Kurt Busch into the lead past winner Brad Keselowski.

But as the action moved up the banking, Bayne was left on the bottom without any help. Blaney, his reliable drafting partner all day, had a badly damaged rear bumper that precluded him from riding shotgun.

“I NEED HELP!” Bayne screamed with two to go on the team radio as he nearly slipped from the lead draft. He recovered to salvage 10th with nary a drafting partner – a testament to the strength of his car.

“We probably had the fastest car here,” crew chief Matt Puccia said. “We knew we did on Friday in practice. We just played it safe and were just riding there. Got shuffled out at the end but great effort by this team, they’ve done a great job all year long.
“We came up short, but that’s Talladega. You have to be in the right lane at the right time. Really proud of these guys. They’re working hard week in and week out. We got one coming.”

It’s easy to shoulder the disappointment when everything seems to be trending in the correct direction.

Bayne’s second top 10 in 10 races of 2016 – tying his season-best total in Cup – moved him up two spots to 16th in points. The Roush Fenway Racing driver won’t need a miracle win to make the NASCAR playoffs for the first time at this rate.

But he will head to the July 2 race at Daytona International Speedway with the knowledge that he will bring a proven Ford that was among the only cars to emerge unscathed in a Talladega wreckfest.

“These races are gut wrenching from Lap 1 on, so I felt like that was the most calm race I’ve ever had,” he said. “I don’t have any damage on the Adovcare Ford. We’ll take it.”

Bayne took the lead for the last time on Lap 156 – six laps before the 21-car crash that wiped out much of his competition. He wisely had heeded the advice on his team radio to restrain himself – as difficult as it was for a 25-year-old who is 102 races removed from his last win (which came in only his second start).

“The car was really strong, but this place is all about patience,” Puccia said. “Even though you have a fast car, you can’t do it by yourself. You step out of line and get yourself in trouble real fast. He did a really good job staying patient, staying in line. It just didn’t work out for us

“But people have been talking about us all year long. We’ve had speed everywhere we’ve gone. That’s what we’ve got to carry on. We’ve got to keep progressing and moving the needle. That’s what we’re doing every week, and it’s starting to show. It’s a morale booster seeing how we ran today.”

And no one’s confidence seemed higher than Bayne, who seemed one of the guys inside and outside the car.

“It is so refreshing to come to the race track and have a chance,” he said. “I feel really good about the pieces they are giving me. It is all about the race cars. I’m surely proud of this team.”