Wallace faces bittersweet 11th place at Kentucky

Darrell Wallace Jr. saved his best for what could be his last Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race in the No. 43 Ford.

Wallace finished 11th in the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway, a career best for the 23-year-old in the four races he's run for Richard Petty Motorsports. In fact, Wallace improved in each of his starts, culminating with Saturday night's race, although it came at the expense of Matt Kenseth, whom he slid up the track into off Turn 4 during the overtime attempt.

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"That was cool. We kept improving. Each and every time on the racetrack, each and every race," Wallace said afterward. "We kept improving; I kept improving. I'm getting more and more comfortable with these cars. When we fired off there and ended the race I was like, 'Hell yeah, we are eighth or ninth!' I forgot we were a lap down and was like, 'damn.' I was pumped. It was a good run for our Smithfield Ford.

"We had a lot of fun tonight. We just fell off a lot, a lot more than the other guys. We are trying to balance that out. We took a two-tire strategy there that kind of hurt us. We fell back on that one restart. We were able to manage and maintain and work out some track position on that green-flag stop, and we were 14th and fired off right around there for the last restart and was able to hang on. It was a good day. I am having a great time in the Monster Energy Cup Series. Hopefully, there will be more."

Wallace isn't sure if there will be more, but he made it sound as if Kentucky was his last race with the team. Aric Almirola, who has been out of the car since the May 13 crash that caused a compression fracture of his T5 vertebra, will test at Charlotte Motor Speedway this Tuesday and will provide an update on his health Wednesday.

The earliest Almirola has been expected to return is New Hampshire, which is the next stop on the circuit. The next stop for Wallace, as least in the immediate future, is his girlfriend's family reunion tomorrow.

As for his racing future, Wallace is going to have to wait and see.

"I don't know what's next for next weekend," Wallace said. "I might get a call; I might not. If not, best of luck to Aric and the 43 team. I'll play a lot of golf and try to get better at that. I'll be on some phone calls trying to get something.

"I won't be gone too long, at least I hope not. It's a bittersweet moment."