Life for rookies was different when Bubba Wallace made his Cup Series debut in 2017. It was an unforgiving environment where rookies were made to stand out and earn the respect and even the help of those with more experience. The 23XI Racing driver recently revealed how brutal superspeedway racing could be for a newcomer back then, and why other drivers never helped him on the track.

“That kind of goes back to — we talk about the rookies versus the vets. When you have the yellow — we don’t do the yellow stripe anymore, which s*cks — but when you had the rookie stripe on the back of your car, that was like a sign,” Wallace said on Bussin’ With the Boys podcast.

“Like, ‘He’s a rookie, we’re not gonna work with him. It doesn’t matter how fast your car is,” Wallace added.

Week after week, they all sat in meetings trying to figure out how Penske cars (which dominated superspeedways in the late 2010s) were controlling races at tracks like Daytona and Talladega, and Wallace watched on, learning from the likes of Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano operating in the draft. He watched the film. He watched how they timed their runs. More importantly, he saw how other drivers trusted them.

Back then, NASCAR rookies had a yellow stripe on the rear bumper. Inexperienced drivers were marked for all to see. Unofficially, Wallace felt it painted a target on them.

That may sound like just a competition issue, but there was more tied to it. On superspeedways, drivers often need a push. They need what’s commonly called a drafting partner. One car alone cannot build enough momentum to move through and ahead of the pack. According to Wallace, veterans knew exactly how to freeze rookies out.

“They’d all be following you in a line, and then you would go to pass the slower car, and they would go with the slower car,” Wallace recalled. “And it’s like, what the f*** are we doing?”

That frustration is understandable. Bubba Wallace had been fighting to prove himself long before reaching the Cup Series.

He grew up racing Bandoleros and Legends cars around Charlotte and, by the age of 12, had already won 35 races in a single season. NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program then helped move him into stock cars, where he quickly delivered results. In 2010, he won his first K&N Pro Series East race at Greenville-Pickens Speedway. Opportunities with Joe Gibbs Racing and later Kyle Busch Motorsports followed, where he became the first Black driver since Wendell Scott to win a NASCAR national series race.

His big break finally came in 2017 after Aric Almirola suffered a back injury at Kansas. Richard Petty Motorsports needed a substitute driver for the iconic No. 43 car, and Wallace got the call. He made four starts that season and improved almost every week. By the end of that stretch, the team signed him full-time for 2018.

However, he became one of the most scrutinized drivers in the garage. RPM was not in a good place financially, and Wallace, most weekends, was punching above his weight. Still, his mistakes drew a lot more attention than they should have. He was NASCAR’s first full-time Black driver at the top level since 1971, and the spotlight followed him everywhere.

Walalce had to work hard to show that he belonged in the Cup Series. And when he did, the rest of the garage warmed up to him.

“And so it took a lot of time to get help on the speedways,” Wallace admitted. “When you continue to show consistent speed and maneuverability and make the right choices, your resume gets better,” he said. “Your respect level kind of goes higher.”

Bubba Wallace’s Career has Changed Completely Since Those Rookie Days

Today, Bubba Wallace is no longer the outsider drivers avoid drafting with. He is now one of the most popular names in the garage and drives the No. 23 Toyota for 23XI Racing, the team owned by Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin.

Ironically, Hamlin is the same driver Wallace publicly feuded with after the 2018 Daytona 500, where Wallace felt Hamlin raced him too aggressively while battling for position in the closing laps. The tension carried over after the race, with both drivers exchanging comments publicly. Wallace even called Hamlin an “idiot” on the radio.

The relationship got so bad that Wallace was reportedly removed from Denny Hamlin’s golf circle and basketball group. Thankfully, both men knew how to move past that.

Since joining Hamlin’s team in 2021, Wallace has won at Talladega, Kansas, and Indianapolis. The Brickyard 400 win last season was especially important because it finally gave him a crown-jewel win and a playoff berth. The tracks where Wallace does his best also show why his comments about drafting matter.

Talladega is one of his best tracks because he understands airflow and pack movement better than most drivers. In 2026, he has also put together one of the more consistent starts in the field. Through 13 races, Wallace is 13th in points with six top-10 finishes.

The wins have not come yet, but the speed is there. He opened the season with five straight finishes between sixth and 11th before crashes at Martinsville and Talladega slowed him down a bit. Now the schedule shifts toward tracks where he usually runs well. Michigan, Pocono, and Indianapolis are all coming soon.