DAYTONA, Fla. (WGHP) — Bubba Wallace has come a long way since he got his NASCAR Cup Series start in 2017.
WGHP's Kevin Connolly and Danny Harnden, and WFLA's JB Biunno, spent Wednesday afternoon catching up with drivers as they get ready to hit the speedway this Sunday for the Daytona 500.
Wallace, of Mobile, Alabama, drives the No. 23 Toyota for 23XI Racing. He has six full seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series behind him. In the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series, he came in 10th.
This will be his seventh Daytona 500. While he has yet to claim a Daytona 500 win, he came in second in both 2018, with Richard Petty Motorsports, and 2022, with 23XI Racing. He hasn't forgotten either of those races.
Wallace, recalling his run in 2022, said, "That was when [Austin] Cindric won. Came off turn 4, and you kinda accepted your defeat because I was third at the time and it's like, 'Alright, well, I'll probably just push [Ryan] Blaney here, and I'm stuck to his bumper, so wherever he goes, I'm gonna follow.' Well, then they get together, and so I just go to miss the wreck, and then you find out how close you were at the end, and you're like, 'Damn. Almost.'"
In 2018, Wallace had a chaotic run that ended with him in the media room, alongside his family, in his words, "bawling."
"That one, I don't know what the hell I was doing, and I winded up second," he said. "I just survived. There were three wrecks where I was in, and somehow I made it out the other side, so that one was just obviously had a lot riding on my shoulders with family there. So yeah, I think you know, that's Daytona, that's the 500. It produces great stories no matter who you are or where you finish, so it's cool to be going for my 7th Daytona 500."
Wallace says he's learned a lot since then, and some of the best advice he ever got was from 2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick. Harvick retired in 2023 after 23 full seasons in the Cup Series.
"Harvick was very instrumental in my career," Wallace said. "I'll never forget, you know. ‘Stop crashing [expletive],’ that's what he told me. And it's like, yeah, you know, he's mad because I'm sure he's involved in the crash that I caused, so you're mad at him saying that. But then, at the end of the day, it's like, 'Hm, the more races I stop crashing, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I have a better chance of winning,' so there's some proof in the pudding there. You just got to put it all together."
DraftKings puts Wallace's odds of winning the 2024 championship at 30-1.
