Bubba Wallace Captures Historic Win at Talladega
Bubba Wallace made history at Talladega Superspeedway on Monday afternoon becoming the second African-American to win a NASCAR Cup Series race, joining Hall of Famer Wendell Scott. It’s already been a career year for Wallace as he became the first African-American to lead a lap at the Daytona 500 in February and then set a personal mark in the spring when he won Stage 2 at the first Talladega race of the year.
It was certainly an unconventional win for the Mobile native with the race cancelled Sunday due to rain and then having Monday’s race officially called after a caution flew on lap 117. NASCAR officials made the decision to end the race at the time of caution due to thunderstorms in the area, giving Wallace his first career Cup Series win.
“It’s tough to get out of the mindset of telling yourself you still haven’t won a race. Well now I have, and now it’s going to be ‘well he won because of rain’ and that’s just something you got to overcome,” Wallace told the media after the race result was announced.
Wallace even shared a nice celebration with long-time friend and fellow driver Ryan Blaney after the race.
In the winter of 2020, it was announced that Wallace would join the all-new 23IX Racing team, owned by NBA legend Michael Jordan and fellow Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin. Monday not only marked the first career win for Wallace, but the first win for 23IX Racing as well. It also marked the first career win for Wallace’s crew-chief Bootie Barker who was previously 0-483 in his career on top of the pit-box.
Wallace will look to carry his momentum into the 2022 season where he will search for his first career playoff berth. The Cup Series is currently in the midst of the playoffs with Denny Hamlin atop the standings heading to the Charlotte Roval next week.