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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – OCTOBER 16: Bubba Wallace, driver of the #45 McDonald’s Toyota, waves to fans as he walks onstage during driver intros prior to the NASCAR Cup Series South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 16, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – OCTOBER 16: Bubba Wallace, driver of the #45 McDonald’s Toyota, waves to fans as he walks onstage during driver intros prior to the NASCAR Cup Series South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 16, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
After Wendell Scott, Bubba Wallace is the most successful African-American NASCAR driver. However, in his early NASCAR days, the driver had to struggle a lot. This was especially obvious when he had to rope in sponsors for his team, something that all NASCAR drivers do. At the annual AfroTech conference, Wallace revealed that it was difficult to obtain sponsors in the early days.
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He said, “They said, ‘go and win a race, and the sponsors will come.’ I won six, and nothing happened”. Wallace continued, “We’re booked for the next three years. There is so much data and analytics that go into my craft, and it’s super important to have an understanding of it. Strategy is the most important thing when it comes to winning a race, and tech has a lot to do with it.”
What else did Bubba Wallace say about what has changed in NASCAR?
Wallace was proud to say that nowadays, more and more sponsors are flocking in. According to him, this is largely because of the sponsors wishing to bring about positive changes. The driver of the 23XI Racing, which is a team owned by Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin, acknowledged that such changes are really good, especially since the nation needs healing.
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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – OCTOBER 16: Bubba Wallace, driver of the #45 McDonald’s Toyota, walks onstage during driver intros prior to the NASCAR Cup Series South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 16, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
This kind of healing mostly pertains to America’s past atrocities against African-American people. According to Bubba Wallace, collecting data and hiring good engineers helps him win the bigger races. Considering that he already has two wins in his career, it is clearly paying off. The maiden Cup win came on home soil at the Talladega Superspeedway in the rainy conditions.
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Admittedly, there were some critics about that, since the race was called off. A year later, Bubba Wallace triumphed again, this time at the Kansas Speedway, and the evidence was undeniable. The critics did not have the excuse of adverse weather to fall back on, this was purely on Wallace’s skill.
