How excited for Bubba Wallace was Richard Petty? ‘Sunglasses were off’

RELATED: Blaney, Elliott take thrilling Can-Am Duels DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Wearing a huge grin, Richard Petty strode over to Darrell Wallace Jr. on pit road following Wallace's third-place finish in Thursday night's Can-Am Duel qualifying race at Daytona International Speedway. He congratulated Wallace, then draped his arm around the young driver -- and walked with him the entire way to the media center for post-race interviews. Multiple crew members gave Wallace fist bumps after the race, but nothing quite compares to "a big bear hug" from the King. “I had a bodyguard walk me from the car to here; his name was Richard Petty,” Wallace said. “I have never seen him that excited before. That was the coolest thing. … Sunglasses were off. Got to see how much he was truly excited about that. That is probably the highlight of the night, better than finishing third. … “Felt like we just won the race, as proud as he was.” Wallace propelled the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet up to second after the final drop of the green flag in overtime. He gave leader and eventual winner Ryan Blaney a nudge and then raced door-to-door with Team Penske's Joey Logano for position. But Logano edged him at the start/finish line for the runner-up spot. “That last restart, I was pretty proud of Ryan for taking the bottom there, stop doing all that team stuff,” Wallace said. “Logano didn't like it. I gave Ryan a good shot there. I think I gave him too big of a shot. But it was a good race back to the line. I just moved up a little bit too late. Joey and I said we both would have wrecked if I went up any higher at the end.” In the end, it was a group of young drivers racing for the win – including best friends Blaney and Wallace, who congratulated his buddy Blaney in his No. 12 Ford as he drove to Victory Lane. “The two best friends there ever was were sitting next to each other,” Logano joked with a smile. “I apparently don't have any friends.” WATCH: Joey Logano pokes fun at "team work" At restrictor-plate tracks, it does pay to have friends; it did for Blaney tonight, as Wallace gave him the shove that led him to victory. “I thought he did a good job all night,” Blaney said of Wallace. “I was watching him the whole time; he did a good job of picking which lane to go with when not having much experience in these cars at this race track, at the speedways. … “That’s why I picked the bottom on the last restart because he was down there. … I think he proved himself tonight that he should be here and is supposed to be here, and I hope he can continue to do that.” Wallace’s third-place finish gives him a seventh-place starting position for Sunday’s Daytona 500 (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), which will mark his first appearance in the “Great American Race.” In his younger days, he’d be “bouncing off the walls” in excitement, he said. But tonight Wallace was different; he called himself an “open notebook,” trying to learn all he could for the sport’s biggest race. “We still got a race to get through now,” Wallace said. “ … It's a big reset button on Sunday. Still a lot of work left to be done before we climb in. Just so proud of my guys, what they brought to the race track, what they're bringing as far as attitude‑wise to the race track. “Sure as hell is fun to be around.”