NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace is doing quite well in his debut season with new team 23XI Racing. Wallace managed his best finish ever in the Cup Series just last weekend at Dover International Speedway 11th.
Thirteen races into the NASCAR Cup Series season Bubba feels his new team 23XI Racing is a little above average at the moment.
“I’ll give it a right at a, B a B plus at times B minus at times,” he said when asked to grade his season to date. “You know, I’m just trying to put everything together.
“It seems like we were on that trend this weekend, getting our best finish at Dover, which was really good for us. Finishing 11th there almost got 10th.”
“Can’t get held up on one race. You got to keep going and keep moving.”
Bubba said he hasn’t set any sort of targets for himself or the team for in his first season. However, he likes to keep things simple.
“We just race to race,” Wallace said. “Each and every race is different and new opportunity for us. So many unknowns with so much newness to a new team; trying to put everything together and make it all happen.
“It’s a tall task to start the season off. It was good to show up at Daytona with the speed that we had, qualified fourth for the 500 there, having a good showing there all of speed weeks. So that was good to show up right out of the gate like that.
Acquiring sponsorship in Nascar has been a major issue in the last few years. However, that’s not the case Bubba Wallace and his 23XI team.
Bubba Wallace is NASCAR only African American driver. The 27-y-o is a driver who always let his driving on the track do the talking. But last season when Nascar got to was in Atlanta just after George Floyd’s death, Bubba wore a “I Can’t Breathe” t-shirt, a tribute to Floyd.
Just a week after Atlanta he was interviewed on National television stating that it was time Nascar banned the Confederate flag from the sport. And NASCAR did just that.
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Bubba’s social activeness not only helped NASCAR move closer towards inclusiveness than it’s ever been with black and white both rooting for Bubba Wallace.
“I’ve been racing for 17, 18 years going on and it took 17 years to get a sponsor, basically,” Wallace said. “Now we’ve had sponsors along the way, don’t get me wrong, but to be in the financial situation that we’re in, you know, life is good.”
“You don’t have to worry about what’s going to be on the car or if we’re going to compete at the next race. You know, the funding is there and, and it’s awesome to have brands that want to partner with us and our team and everything that we have going here at 23XI Racing.”
Wallace new sponsors Ezra Kucharz, chief business officer at DraftKings said.
“We also greatly admire Bubba Wallace’s ongoing advocacy for social justice and inclusion, equity and belonging efforts because they align perfectly with our company values.”
Phone Lines Ringing Frequently For Bubba Wallace
“You know, it’s been good phone lines are, are definitely ringing,” he said. “They want to be a part of this journey. And we have to we have to do our part and give back.”
“It hasn’t been too bad,” he said. “I’ve obviously been busier than I ever have been in my career, but it’s been a good busy.”