LeBron James Lauds Bubba Wallace as He Releases a Bold ‘Black Lives Matter’ Livery for the Martinsville Race

Since the George Floyd incident, Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. has been at the forefront of the fight against racism. Now, he is taking it one step further, as he is set to race in Martinsville in a brand new livery. To be precise, the Number 43 car is set to have a #BlackLivesMatter paint scheme. The Richard Petty Motorsports team announced the decision earlier today.

Wallace is competing in his third full-time season at NASCAR’s highest level, and he is the only African American driver. Suffice to say, he is on the front lines of NASCAR’s response to George Floyd’s death and its consequences.

For the coming race, the Richard Petty team and Wallace are set to roll out a mostly black livery. Aside from that, the #BlackLivesMatter slogan will be emblazoned on the quarter panel. Meanwhile, the bonnet will have an image of a handshake between a black person and a white person. Below it will be the following message, “Compassion, Love, Understanding.”

Bubba Wallace explained, “We knew the Martinsville race was open. We did not sell sponsorship for that, and it sparked and idea of: Why not run a blackout car? And I was like, ‘Absolutely, that would be incredible.'”

“Our team brought that idea to me, and I jumped all over it. And we had further conversations of, ‘Let’s make a statement behind it and run a foundation or a charity [on it] that’s helping push the narrative and the initiative of what’s going on in the world today, racial inequality. Let’s find somebody that aligns with that.’ And why not dive straight to the root and putting #BlackLivesMatter on the car? Most powerful hashtag going around, I feel like, especially these last couple days, last couple months really.”

This social issues hits Bubba Wallace deeply

Last Sunday, Wallace turned up at Atlanta Motor Speedway clad in a black t-shirt. On the t-shirt were the words, “I Can’t Breathe” and “Black Lives Matter” written on the front.

He even team up with several NASCAR drivers to deliver a poignant message. Drivers, included Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin. All of them, and a few others spoke out against racism and coaxed people to educate themselves.

Even NASCAR president Steve Phelps delivered a heartfelt speech before the race began. He said, “The time is now to listen, to understand and to stand against racism and racial injustice,” Phelps said.”We ask our drivers, our competitors and all our fans to join us in this mission to take a moment of reflection to acknowledge that we must do better as a sport.”

It is also worth noting that NBA star, LeBron James applauded Wallace for unveiling this special livery.