Full Name | William Darrell Wallace Jr. |
Date of Birth | October 8, 1992 |
Nationality | American |
Height | 5'7" |
Role | Driver |
Bubba Wallace will be entering his fourth full-time season in the NASCAR Cup Series and will be joining a new startup team, 23XI Racing. NBA superstar and Hall of Famer Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin founded the team making its debut in 2021. Wallace will be behind the wheel of the No. 23; the number Jordan wore most of his career.
Wallace was the first driver of color to be victorious in a NASCAR national series since Wendell Oliver Scott did it in 1963. Scott is a member of the International Motorsports and NASCAR Halls of Fame. Wallace had five other wins before moving up to Xfinity.
Wallace was the first driver of color to be victorious in a NASCAR national series since Wendell Oliver Scott did it in 1963. Scott is a member of the International Motorsports and NASCAR Halls of Fame. Wallace had five other wins before moving up to Xfinity.
In 2017, Wallace won his only start in CARS Super Late Model Tour, and over four seasons in K&N Pro Series East, he added six more to go along with 16 top-fives and 26 top-tens in 37 starts. He won the ARCA Menards Series East Rookie of the Year in 2010as a member of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity Program. Wallace got a taste of the Premier Series in 2007 with four starts before being named the regular driver of the famed No. 43 for Richard Petty Motorsports. In 112 races at the top level and 85 more in the Xfinity Series, he has failed to find the winner’s circle, but in his rookie campaign in the Camping World Series at the age of 19, he made history in his 19th event.
At the end of the 2020 campaign, Wallace announced he was leaving RPM after a tumultuous year. In an ever-changing sport and world, he went to NASCAR officials to ban the confederate flag at tracks. The racing body went one step further and prohibited it at all their facilities as well. That wasn’t the end of it.
When Petty’s team rolled into Talladega Superspeedway, a rope that looked like a noose was gound in his garage stall. The firestorm led to the entire NASCAR family rallied around him in support, even pushing his car to the grid in one of the most iconic scenes in the sport’s history. After two investigations, one each by the FBI and NASCAR, it was determined there was no intent, that it was done the year before as a means of opening the garage door.
The two incidents only broadened Bubba’s appeal around the sport because he handled it so well, and sponsors were more than willing to put their name on the 43. Many of them will carry over to his tenure at 23XI.
Highest finishing African-American in the Daytona 500 (2nd, 2018)
Highest finishing African-American in the Brickyard 400 (3rd, 2019)
2017 U.S. Short Track Nationals Super Late Model 100 Winner (inaugural race)
First African-American to win in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series (Martinsville, 2014)
Youngest driver to ever win at Franklin County Speedway (15 in 2008)
2010 K&N Pro Series East Rookie of the Year
2008 UARA-Stars Rookie of the Year
William Darrell "Bubba" Wallace Jr. was born on October 8, 1993 (now 27), in Mobile, Alabama, and currently resides in Huntersville, NC. He is not married but has been in a long-term relationship with his girlfriend, Amanda Carter. His hobbies are photography, video games, paintball, basketball, and of course, racing.