Roush Fenway Racing will have African-American driver Darrell Wallace Jr. work on marketing opportunities with Maverick Carter, the business manager for NBA superstar LeBron James.
Wallace, whose nickname is “Bubba,” will compete full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series this year if the team can put together enough sponsorship money to fund the car.
If not, he will run at least a partial schedule, Roush Fenway President Steve Newmark said Tuesday. Newmark said the plan is to market Wallace in venues beyond auto racing.
“We think there’s a lot of creative opportunities to do some really crossover promotions with Bubba,” said Newmark.
“LeBron is under the Fenway umbrella on the sports marketing side; LeBron and Johnny Manziel. John Henry has kind of created a big empire up there, obviously, with Liverpool, NESN and Roush, but there’s also a sports marketing arm that includes a lot of pretty dynamic personalities. And that gets us excited because we’re working with them to do things with our drivers, as well.”
