LONG POND - Darrell Wallace Jr. will be making his first start in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series this Sunday at Pocono Raceway, driving the famed No. 43 Ford for Richard Petty Motorsports.

But Wallace won't have to look far to find to familiar faces.The first African American to drive in NASCAR's top series since 2006, Wallace will share the grid with a driver who knows all about making history in the sport.When Carl Edwards retired prior to the start of the season, Joe Gibbs Racing tabbed Daniel Suarez to take over the No. 19, making him the first Mexican driver to compete full-time in NASCAR's top series.Suarez has already made history as the first Mexican driver to win a NASCAR national series race, and last year became the first foreign-born driver to win a NASCAR national series title when he won the XFINITY Series championship.Sharing the stage with Wallace, a fellow NASCAR Next and Driver for Diversity graduate, is a moment not lost on Suarez."A few days ago, I was looking on Twitter and a fan posted a picture - I don't even know what year, maybe 2012 or 2013 - when we were part of the NASCAR Next program," Suarez recalled. "It was Ryan Blaney there, Darrell Wallace (Jr.), myself and some other drivers and it's pretty cool to see most of the kids from that group in four years are now in the Cup level."All three will be in the field Sunday.Of the three, Suarez is the oldest of the bunch at 25 years of age. Blaney and Wallace are both 23.Suarez and Blaney, who is running full-time for Wood Brothers Racing, have both enjoyed success at the Cup level this season.Blaney is 13th in the Cup standings, logging two top-fives and four top-10s in 13 starts this season. Suarez is 19th in the standings, recording four top-10 finishes."That really talks well to what NASCAR is doing with the NASCAR Next program as well as the Drive for Diversity program," said Suarez. "I'm very proud to be a small part of it."We are having a lot of fun racing together. We race each other really well out on the racetrack and we are all looking forward to keep doing that for a long time to come."We're old guys now," Suarez laughed.Blaney qualified fourth with a lap of 50.591 seconds (177.897 mph) for Saunday's race. Suarez will start from the 14th position after posting a lap of 51.003 seconds (176.460 mph).Wallace will roll off 16th Sunday after turning a lap of 51.094 second (176.146) mph), a performance that even he was surprised with."I honestly shocked myself with the speed that I was able to deliver to the plate," Wallace said. "I may have shocked the team, I don't know if they'll tell me that. I may have shocked a couple people watching, too. That's fine. As long as I shocked myself, that's a good thing."I underestimated myself for sure. I didn't know how big of a jump this was gonna be, and I think that's one of the reasons I'm so pumped up today and smiling today is because we've been pretty damn good for my first start here. I'm pretty excited."Asked about his expectations for Sunday, Wallace noted he just wants to make it through Saturday first."I'd like to get through practice tomorrow and see how we can change our balance and get a little bit better for our Smithfield Ford," said Wallace, "but Sunday is all about running a clean race - don't make anybody mad, try to gain respect and earn respect and try to prove to everybody (that I belong here)."Wallace will also run the Pocono Green 250 Saturday in the XFINITY Series for Roush Fenway Racing. Wallace is currently fourth in the series standings, 84 points behind Elliott Sadler.An injury to Aric Almirola, the full-time driver of the No. 43 car, last month at Kansas Speedway opened the door for Wallace. Like Wallace, Almirola, who is the son of a Cuban immigrant, also came through a very early iteration of NASCAR's Drive for Diversity program.