Wendell Scott, the first black driver to win a race in NASCAR's top series, will be one of the inductees of the 2015 NASCAR Hall of Fame. In honor of this, two drivers showed up to Martinsville this weekend with special paint schemes paying tribute to the #34 Chevrolet that Scott drove to victory on December 1, 1963 in Jacksonville, Florida. Scott's victory was not immediately acknowledged by NASCAR due to the state of affairs at the time, but it has nevertheless proved to be historic.
Saturday's Camping World Truck Series Race featured fellow African-American driver Darrell Wallace Jr. driving one of Kyle Busch's Toyotas, whose number was changed from #54 to #34. Wallace was the defending champion of the race, and he also joined Scott in the history books with that win, which was his first in the series. He started from the pole and led 97 of 200 laps on his way to his second straight Martinsville fall win. making for a perfect tribute to Scott. The truck race had its share of spins and crashes, including one that saw John Wes Townley and Brandon Jones take hard hits, and prompted a red flag for cleanup. Defending series champion and Martinsville spring winner Matt Crafton continues to lead the point standings, followed by Ryan Blaney.
The number 34 in Sprint Cup now belongs to Front Row Motorsports. David Ragan, the current driver of the #34 car, will carry the same paint scheme as Wallace on his Ford in the Sprint Cup race. Ragan took the number 34 to its first Cup win since Scott's historic win in last year's spring race at Talladega. There was a bit more history involved in Ragan's upset win, since along with Scott's win, the number 34 has won one other time in the Cup series. That race was the very first ever held in the series, at the original Charlotte speedway in 1949, which was won by Jim Roper.
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