I’ve been up close and personal with NASCAR almost daily for the past 56 years. I think that gives me enough insight to say this: I know why Bubba Wallace is the most reviled driver in Cup Series racing. Trouble is, I just don’t understand why.
My creds: I’m an old, ailing, white male in his ninth decade, born, reared and educated in the South. I’ve lived south of Richmond my entire life and don’t expect that to change. Even so, I can’t recall a moment during my lifetime when I’ve let race affect how I’ve lived or treated others. I hope it never does.
That said …
It bothers me that so many NASCAR fans constantly disrespect Bubba Wallace. Since 2012, he’s run 380 races in the organization’s top three series, winning eight times. In 2018, he became the Cup Series’ first Black driver since Bill Lester 12 years earlier. He’s only the second Black driver to win in Cup, 58 years after Wendell Scott.
Despite his success, fans denigrate almost everything Wallace does. They say he’s a terrible driver, a no-talent hack. They don’t like his attitude or how he carries himself. They shudder that he has a pregnant white wife. They call him a whiner, a malcontent. Some have called him an embarrassment who should be run off.
That’s odd since he hasn’t done anything, or said anything, that almost every other driver hasn’t done or said at some point. He’s booed and jeered at pre-race introductions, clearly replacing Kyle Busch as the Cup’s most unpopular driver. Surprisingly, it hasn’t helped much that he’s driven for much-beloved icons Richard Petty and Michael Jordan.
Wallace has been accepted by most in the racing community, but it’s unlikely some fans will ever view him as just another racer. After seven years and those 380 starts, he’s still fighting to feel comfortable. Unfortunately, small-minded people with hatred and bigotry still command the loudest bullhorns in these politically- and culturally-divisive times. They never miss a chance for cheap shots.
Message boards carped that Wallace won the rain-shortened fall 2021 Talladega Superspeedway race only because officials stopped it while he was leading. In fact, the rain that interrupted the Monday afternoon show lasted all night, making the call perfectly appropriate. He briefly silenced the naysayers the next year by convincingly winning a full-distance race at Kansas Speedway.
Still, critics say he’s prone to emotional meltdowns that endanger others. They cite last month’s post-race contact with Alex Bowman at Chicago as proof he can’t control himself. And they point out he intentionally wrecked Kyle Larson at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2022, incurring a one-race suspension. Have those critics forgotten that championship drivers Chase Elliott and Matt Kenseth have also been suspended for rough driving?
It’s worrisome that people aren’t overwrought when white drivers lose their temper, wreck each other and fight. (Wink, wink: boys will be boys). But those same fans pound their keyboards with invective and personal attacks when Wallace shows his competitive emotions. With him, this seems like an obvious double-standard of the oft-quoted “goose and gander” adage.
In truth, almost every driver has gone over the edge. A partial list: former champions Elliott, Larson, Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt and the Busch brothers. You get a virtual all-star lineup if you include Denny Hamlin, Jeff Burton, Ricky Rudd, A.J. Allmendinger, Clint Bowyer, Ty Gibbs and Ricky Stenhouse. And, of course, that Hall of Fame trio of Bobby Allison, Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough in Turn 3 after the 1979 Daytona 500.
In fairness, it might be that some of the hatred aimed at Wallace is because he drives a Toyota. The Japanese manufacturer upended NASCAR when it arrived in 2007 with massive financial and technological resources that destroyed the sport’s fragile competitive balance. Fans comfortable watching Ford, General Motors and Chrysler Corp. products didn’t exactly welcome the “dark side” (Jack Roush’s term) with open arms.
Another recurring rap is that Wallace showed up with a chip on his shoulder. Critics called him cocky and arrogant, full of himself. They said his swagger didn’t match his record, that he was all hat and no cattle. They unfairly accused him of orchestrating that 2020 Talladega garage pull-down controversy that was not of his doing.
Arrogant and cocky as a newcomer? Really … sort of like when 20-something Darrell Waltrip showed up in 1972 to start a three-championship, Hall of Fame career? Or the championship-winning Kevin Harvick and the Busch brothers? Or the ill-fated Tim Richmond? Or not immediately, but fairly quickly, the late, sainted Mr. Earnhardt?
Again: I know why Bubba Wallace is the most reviled driver in Cup Series racing. Trouble is, I just don’t understand why.
