“We’ll Do As Much as We Can”: Bubba Wallace Hoping for a Good Finish at Darlington

This weekend, the NASCAR paddock hits the Southern 500 at the Darlington Raceway. Ahead of the race, Richard Petty Racing driver, Bubba Wallace, spoke to Michael Waltrip to preview the race. Truthfully, Wallace will be aiming for a top 5 finish at best, however he knows that he tends to struggle there.

On the bright side, the last couple races at Darlington were fairly kind to the African-American. However, he admitted that a caution can out at a less-than-ideal time. By the time it went, he was not in any position to progress further up the grid and Wallace ended up 16th.

Although it was his best finish, Bubba Wallace knew that he was capable of more. As per the Richard Petty Racing driver’s account, he was three-wide and trying to overtake, when the caution came out.

Why was Bubba Wallace disappointed?

According to the driver, if the caution had not come out at the wrong time, he had a good shot at a top 10 finish. He insisted that his work in the simulator helped him a lot in terms of preparation. Wallace concluded, “We had a good talk about Darlington yesterday. Just how to be better there, so we’ll do as much as we can.”

However, the 26-year old will have a mountain to climb, from 17th on the grid. Though he is a driver who is capable of scything his way up the order, so a potential Top 5 finish will not be too farfetched. Just recently, Bubba Wallace landed a new sponsorship deal with Kingsford Charcoal. This will likely be a massive boost for him, at least from a financial standpoint.

Aside from this, he also has endorsement deals with Beats by Dre headphones, DoorDash and Columbia Sportswear. Wallace is also out of a contract at the end of the season, but the Richard Petty team is eager to re-sign him. However, there have been other suitors who are keen to recruit Wallace to their own teams.