Bubba Wallace opens up about his mental health shift after Becks’ birth: ”Amanda is more upset than I am”

23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace was recently featured in an interview with ESPN ahead of the YellaWood 500 scheduled at Talladega Superspeedway this weekend. During the interaction, the Cup Series driver opened up about how his mental health has shifted since the birth of his son, Becks Hayden, in 2024.

The media house also interviewed Wallace's spotter, Freddie Kraft, and he pointed out that the 23XI Racing driver is "very emotional." He further highlighted that Wallace would have "very high highs and very low lows." Moreover, Kraft noted that fatherhood changed the #23 Toyota driver, and his highs are even higher, and his lows are not as low as they used to be.

Following the change in his dealings with race results, Bubba Wallace cited the example of the Kansas Speedway incident with Denny Hamlin. He handled the situation professionally and had no hard feelings. Further, he claimed that now his wife is more upset after these incidents than he is. Wallace told the media house:

"I get back to the bus now, and Amanda is more upset than I am. It's difficult to navigate that because over the years she's known this is what we have, and I have to make this work. ... Now I walk back, like after Kansas, and I was fine, and she's beside herself. It's kind of funny."

"You don't think about that stuff in that moment. You latch onto when you're with him or Amanda, and nothing else matters. I could be sitting here talking to you but thinking about practice and qualifying. You're consumed by it. You can't be changing a diaper and thinking about qualifying. It doesn't work. It's nice to have that now," he concluded, describing how Becks has helped him.

During the Hollywood Casino 400 held at Kansas Speedway, Bubba Wallace was leading the pack in the closing laps. However, Denny Hamlin attacked him with everything he had, and a last-minute run-in gave Chase Elliott the chance to advance to the next round of the playoffs.

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Bubba Wallace had a "heart-to-heart" conversation with Denny Hamlin post the Kansas Speedway race

NASCAR Cup Series drivers Bubba Wallace and Denny Hamlin finally addressed the elephant in the room six days after the race. The incident happened during the second race of the Round of 12 playoffs and heavily affected Wallace's chance to secure his spot in the Championship Four race.

After their "heart-to-heart" conversation, the #23 Toyota Camry XSE driver claimed the duo should have talked sooner. Ahead of the Charlotte ROVAL race, Wallace stated:

“I hate that it got to this point and the lingering effect. Denny and I just talked until about 30 minutes ago. It was a good heart-to-heart conversation and came from a place of peace.”

As both drivers were competing for the championship, Bubba Wallace claimed that he was not angry with Hamlin's action. He further stated:

“It went better than I thought it would. He shared his side of things, and I shared mine, and we had a common ground.”

Bubba Wallace missed his chance to compete in the Championship Four race in the 2025 season. He got eliminated ahead of the Round of Eight playoffs and currently ranks 10th in the Cup Series points table.