Alabama native Bubba Wallace finished 17th in the Daytona 500, but set a NASCAR milestone in the process. The fourth-year Cup Series driver out of Mobile, Alabama became the first African American driver to lead a lap of the Daytona 500 on Sunday. 

Wallace, along with his Toyota teammates, were able to hang amongst the front of the pack for just about all 500 miles. At lap 173, Wallace came down to pit and top-off on fuel along with Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, and Christopher Bell. About four laps later, Wallace alerted his crew chief that there was a vibration on the right side of his car. On lap 179, Wallace came down pit-road to replace his loose right-front tire. Bubba would eventually fall a lap down after losing the draft of the other cars and would never recover after that.

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The front of the field would get into a big-wreck going into turn three on the backstretch and Wallace would get caught up in it. He finished 17th.

Over the summer, Wallace was named the driver of the new 23XI Racing team, which is owned by Michael Jordan and fellow driver, Denny Hamlin. The team made their debut on Sunday at Daytona and are very optimistic about their chances in the Cup Series this year.

After a strong showing at the Daytona oval, Wallace shifts his focus to the Daytona Road Course where he will seek to win his first career Cup Series race.

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