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Bubba Wallace wins at Talladega, becomes second Black driver to win NASCAR Cup race
TALLADEGA, Ala. — Bubba Wallace became just the second Black driver to win at NASCAR’s top Cup Series level when rain stopped Monday’s playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway.
Wallace had driven through a crash and to the front of the field five laps before the second rain stoppage of the race. NASCAR tried to dry the track for nearly 45 minutes, but called things off as sunset approached and the rain showing no sign of ceasing.
Wallace had been waiting atop his pit stand and celebrated wildly with his crew when the race was called. Wallace is in his first season driving for 23X1 Racing, a team owned by both Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan.
Wallace broke down in tears after he returned to his parked No. 23 Toyota. The car number was picked for co-owner Jordan, who wore 23 in the NBA.
“This is for all the kids out there that want to have an opportunity and whatever they want to achieve, and be the best at what they want to do,” Wallace said as he choked back tears. “You’re going to go through a lot of bulls—. But you always got to stick true to your path and not let the nonsense get to you.
“Stay strong. Stay humble. Stay hungry. Been plenty of times when I wanted to give up.”
Wallace is the first Black driver to win at NASCAR’s elite Cup level since Wendell Scott in 1963 — a race where he wasn’t declared the victor for several months. NASCAR at last presented Scott’s family with his trophy from that race two months ago.
Bill Lester, a Black driver who raced intermittently in NASCAR from 1999 through one Xfinity Series start this season, tweeted his congratulations to Wallace.
“Finally, it’s official, you’ve done it!” he posted. “So proud of you and what you’ve accomplished. Your win moves the @NASCAR needle forward on so many fronts. Glad I was a witness.”
In June 2020 at Talladega, NASCAR discovered a noose in the garage stall assigned to Wallace. The finding came just a week after NASCAR had banned the Confederate flag at its events at Wallace’s urging.
The FBI investigated and found that the noose was tied at the end of the garage door pull and had been there for months, meaning Wallace was not a victim of a hate crime. The entire industry rallied around him, though, and stood in solidarity with Wallace at his car at the front of the grid before the race.
The flag ban has been an issue at Talladega, where a convoy of vehicles has paraded up and down Speedway Boulevard outside the main entrance of the speedway in all four races since NASCAR said it would not permit the symbol inside its tracks. The convoy was back this weekend and included one car pulling a trailer that contained a Civil War-era cannon.
Wallace has called the noose incident a low point in his life. He’s been subjected to nonstop online harassment that last year even included a tweet from then-President Donald Trump that falsely accused Wallace of making up the noose.
Wallace never saw the noose and was only told about it by NASCAR president Steve Phelps after the FBI had already been summoned to investigate. He said he never thought about the significance of earning his first career Cup race at the same track in his native Alabama; he was born in Mobile.
“When you say it like that, it obviously brings a lot of emotion, a lot of joy to my family, fans, my friends. It’s pretty cool,” he said.
Wallace went to a makeshift victory lane inside an empty garage stall to celebrate with his 23XI Racing team. The organization was formed a year ago and Wallace was the centerpiece based on all the corporations that entered NASCAR in support of Wallace and his social justice efforts.
23XI will expand to two cars next season with former series champion Kurt Busch joining the team.
Wallace’s win was his first in 142 career Cup starts, though he had six victories in the Truck Series from 2013 through 2015.
No playoff drivers won a race at Talladega this weekend and only Hamlin is already locked into the third round of the playoffs headed into next week’s elimination race at Charlotte, North Carolina.
Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 winner, celebrated with Wallace following his seventh-place finish.
“It’s just way more emotional because I know how difficult it is. These guys have worked so hard over the last 10 months to put this team together,” Hamlin said. “We’re still in the beginning stages of our team. We’re still growing. We’ve got some great things on the horizon. It’s just a great morale booster for everyone.”
Brad Keselowski finished second and was followed by Team Penske teammate Joey Logano in a pair of Fords. Busch was fourth in a Chevrolet.
Kevin Harvick, Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman and William Byron head to Charlotte in danger of elimination.
UP NEXT
The final race in the second round of the playoffs is at The Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The hybrid road course/oval is where the field of 12 will be trimmed to eight. Chase Elliott is the two-time defending race winner at The Roval. His victory last October was his first of three wins in the final five races that lofted Elliott to his first Cup championship.
Chants of ‘F— Joe Biden’ rain down from NASCAR stands during interview with Talladega winner
Hits and Misses
The week’s best and worst from Kim Strassel, Mene Ukueberuwa, Kyle Peterson and Dan Henninger
Chants of “F*** Joe Biden” rained down from the crowd at Alabama’s Talladega Superspeedway after Brandon Brown captured his first NASCAR Xfinity Series race victory.
The anti-Biden chants came during Brown’s post-race interview. After Brown told a reporter his victory was a “dream come true,” the crowd began to loudly shout in unison their displeasure with the president.
BIDEN SAYS ‘EVERYBODY IS FRUSTRATED’ AS AGENDA STALLS IN CONGRESS AMID DEM DIVISION
The reporter acknowledged the chants and claimed the fans were shouting “Let’s go Brandon!”
NASCAR initially posted video of the interview with the chant but later deleted the tweet.
Fox News reached out to NASCAR to ask why the post was taken down but did not immediately receive a response.
NASCAR officials called the race with five laps remaining in the scheduled 113-lap race at the 2.66-mile speedway due to poor visibility. Brown was declared the race leader as a final caution flag flew with 11 laps remaining. Brown defeated playoff driver Brandon Jones in the last scoring loop.
“Dad, we did it, let’s go!” Brown yelled to the camera during the interview.
HANNITY: BIDEN’S PLEAS FOR ‘SOCIALIST’ TAKEOVER IS PROOF HE ‘DOESN’T CARE ABOUT YOUR KIDS, GROCERY BILL, JOB’
The “F— Joe Biden” chant has surfaced at sporting events across the United States — mainly in southern states — and has been especially popular at college football games where tens of thousands of fans have been packing stadiums in defiance of the Biden administration’s strict coronavirus guidelines.
NASCAR to hold 2022 exhibition race at L.A. Memorial Coliseum
By Bob Pockrass
FOX Sports NASCAR Writer
NASCAR has been wanting to shake up its schedule by racing in different markets and venues.
It will start 2022 with an exhibition at a venue that many wouldn’t have even thought possible.
NASCAR will move its Clash exhibition race from Daytona International Speedway to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. This won’t be a race outside on streets, with the stadium as the focal point. It will be a race inside the stadium itself.
NASCAR will construct a temporary, quarter-mile, asphalt track for the event, scheduled for Feb. 6, one week prior to the Super Bowl and two weeks prior to the Daytona 500. The L.A. Coliseum, home of the University of Southern California football team and one of the most historic sports venues, seats 77,500.
The announcement Tuesday precedes the release of the full 2022 NASCAR Cup Series, which is expected in the coming days. After it was rumored for months that NASCAR was looking at the L.A. Coliseum for a potential event, this announcement wasn’t too much of a surprise, but it’s still confirmation that NASCAR is looking at unorthodox ways to generate interest in its product.
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“As we continue to think differently about the future iteration of the schedule, we wanted to introduce a new venue to it that will really shake things up, bring some innovation, and then on top of that, the Los Angeles market is the No. 1 market for [the number of] NASCAR fans,” NASCAR Vice President Ben Kennedy said.
Kennedy, son of NASCAR co-owner Lesa France Kennedy, has been given the directive to make bold moves with the schedule in his role as vice president for strategic initiatives, and a stadium race was one of those on his list.
“We felt like it was important for us to get there and also have a stadium-style event, which we have never done — at least, to this extent — before,” Kennedy said.
“It gives you the ability and opportunity to also come to downtown Los Angeles, too. We’ll be right in the heart of Los Angeles. I think it’s a very important move for us. I think it will be great to see the energy around that event.”
Racing inside a stadium is not unprecedented. NASCAR has run regional events at Bowman Gray Stadium, which is used by Winston-Salem State as its football stadium. NASCAR also ran a Cup race at Soldier Field back in 1956.
But this Coliseum event will be different, as NASCAR will have to construct a track. It will put a protective barrier over the surface, then layers of dirt on top of the barrier and then paving on top of the dirt. The track will have an inside and outside wall. There will be a handful of pit stalls (probably eight to 10) in case drivers have problems, but there won’t be competitive pit stops.
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The specifics of eligibility, how many cars (likely no more than 25) and the length of the race are still to be determined. NASCAR is using iRacing, its virtual racing partner, to create different quarter-mile tracks to help determine what would work best as far as banking. It has had Cup drivers and iRacing drivers test a variety of banking configurations.
The race will use the new NASCAR Next Gen cars, which teams are currently testing in preparation for use next year.
NASCAR considered using its current car rather than the Next Gen, as a short track such as this one could lead to some considerable car damage, and there is concern about limited supplies of parts and pieces for the new car.
“We went back and forth on it for a while and talked to some of our teams to get their perspective on it,” Kennedy said.
“Part of the reason is really going into a brand-new year, a brand-new season and a fresh track like the Los Angeles Coliseum, we felt it was important that if we’re showing off the Next Gen NASCAR in many different ways to also introduce the Next Gen car as a part of that weekend, too.”
NASCAR had been selling tickets for the Clash as a Tuesday night event to open a six-day stretch of racing at Daytona International Speedway culminating with the Daytona 500. Kennedy said they are still working on the final Speedweek schedule, with an announcement expected in the next few weeks.
Going to the L.A. Coliseum will put two events in the Southern California market, as NASCAR expects to return to Auto Club Speedway in Ontario, California, for a regular-season event in late February. The Cup Series did not race at that track in 2021, as its race scheduled for February was moved to the Daytona road course because of the pandemic.
Bob Pockrass has spent decades covering motorsports, including the past 30 Daytona 500s. He joined FOX Sports in 2019 following stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @bobpockrass. Looking for more NASCAR content? Sign up for the FOX Sports NASCAR Newsletter with Bob Pockrass!
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NASCAR drivers struggling with switch to Indy road course: ‘We lost a crown jewel’
There is no denying that Indianapolis Motor Speedway will forever be hallowed ground. It is a famed facility and full of glory. But this week, as stock cars come off the oval and onto its road course, the question is whether it is still a NASCAR crown jewel event.
“For my opinion and my perception, I don’t view it as Indy, no,” Kyle Busch said. “Indy is the oval. That’s what makes the allure of Indy, and that’s the prestige of the place and being around since 1900. It’s been there forever; it has a lot of history there. Spin and win with [Danny] Sullivan and [Rick] Mears and A.J. Foyt and the Unser story and all that stuff for years.
“The Andretti story — all of that is IndyCar obviously, but then it all started [for stock cars] in 1994 with NASCAR going there and Jeff Gordon winning five times and Earnhardt winning and Dale Jarrett winning, Bobby Labonte winning. It’s like the ‘who’s who’ has won the Brickyard 400. I don’t foresee that being the same allure, being on the road course.”
Busch won the Brickyard 400 in back-to-back years, 2015 and ’16. The tradition of kissing the bricks started in 1996 with Dale Jarrett’s winning team from Robert Yates Racing. Now, winners from the Xfinity Series — which started running at Indy in 2012 and switched to the road course last year — and the Cup Series all partake in the activity.
Sunday’s inaugural Cup Series race on the road course (1 p.m. ET, NBC) will not carry the Brickyard 400 name. Entitlement sponsorship from Verizon creates a new moniker: the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard.
The four races considered NASCAR’s crown jewel events are the Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte, Southern 500 at Darlington, and Indianapolis.
“If I’m being honest, I’m sad about it,” Aric Almirola said. “I think racing on the oval was so cool, just because I was a kid and went and watched an Indy 500 back in the late ’90s. It was a special place and to race on the oval was just special. I mean, you think about the history of that racetrack and the people that have run around that rectangular racetrack and crossed that yard of bricks and all those things, and all the races that went on before you dating back to the early 1900s, it’s just a very special place.
“To not race on the oval is weird. I’ll certainly miss it, but I have no doubt that we will put on an exciting race on the road course, and it will be a lot of fun to try and figure that place out. These new road courses have been favorable with the fans, so I hope we put on a good show for them.”
Austin Dillon and Denny Hamlin were as straightforward as Busch in their answers. Both said NASCAR has lost a crown jewel race by moving the Cup Series event off the oval and onto the road course.
Matthew Thacker/Motorsport Images
“I think we lose a crown jewel when we don’t go to the oval there; this history of it,” said Dillon. “I don’t think the road course will ever be what the oval history has. So, I’m kind of disappointed that we don’t get to race on the oval. Now, in saying that, I’ve had a lot of fun on the simulator running the road course at Indy. It seems like a cool track, and I wouldn’t mind going twice and doing it two different ways.
“If we have to run the road course, we still want to be able to run the oval because of the history and legacy there. Everybody wants a real Brickyard trophy. I feel like this weekend when you win there, it’s not going to be like winning on the oval.”
Said Hamlin, “We lost a crown jewel. People hated the racing (on the oval). Are they really going to get more people out to the road course than what they did for the Brickyard 400? I’m not sure. I don’t love it; I don’t love the move.
“I don’t think anyone will consider the Indy road course any sort of crown jewel race. Indy, because of the oval track, that’s what makes Indy so special. I don’t think it’s the last time we’ll be back on the Brickyard on the oval. We can’t just keep adding road courses. Everything is cool the first time. The second time — although we might have a good crowd for the road course, year two, I think it’s going to be back to, ‘Where’s all the people?’ Maybe alternate or something, but certainly I think the Brickyard is special and Indy is special because of the oval, not because of the road course.”
Track president Doug Boles told an Indianapolis radio station that he expects 50,000-60,000 fans for the Cup Series road race.
“For me, driving through that tunnel and understanding the history and everything that comes with racing on the oval at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is something that I always look forward to,” said three-time Brickyard 400 winner Kevin Harvick. “I can’t imagine driving backward on the frontstretch and driving the road course in the infield. It’s an oval thing for me. When you look at the oval, and you look at the history of the racetrack and everything that comes with that — some guys may not have grown up like that, so some people will have a much different opinion, but for me, the oval just holds a huge place in racing, and it holds a huge place in the things that I look forward to every year.
“I remember the first time I pulled in there for a test in 2001 — you roll into the racetrack and you think, ‘Man, I just accomplished everything in my childhood dreams, rolling into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.’ Getting to go out on that racetrack and hearing the echoes of the cars through the grandstand is something that I’ll never forget, standing there on the front straightaway. I’m sure I’ll get over it as we start to get into practice and realize it’s just another race, but, for me, it’s going to be a difficult hurdle to overcome.”
Rocket League Season 3 brings F1 and NASCAR to the stadium
Rocket League’s next season, Season 3 (actually the 17th season, but it’s the third since the game went free-to-play) kicks off on April 7. In May, Psyonix will bring in Formula One and NASCAR as licensing partners, with cars to match the redesigned stadium players get a week from Wednesday.
Off the bat, the Season 3 Rocket Pass will offer a new vehicle, Tyranno, a muscle car chassis that uses the Dominus hitbox (as many vehicles in Rocket League do). A full reveal of the Season 3 pass is coming next week, Psyonix said.
The new arena is a redesigned DFH Stadium, called DFH Stadium (Circuit), which now includes a track “and all the pageantry found trackside during a championship Sunday.” Players will find DFH Stadium (Circuit) in the casual and competitive playlists, and is available for private matches and in freeplay once Season 3 gets going.
A game update on Tuesday, April 6 at 4 p.m. PDT will get Rocket League ready for Season 3; Season 2’s competitive rewards will be granted shortly after Season 3 goes live, and the new Competitive Season and its rewards begin then, too.
Bubba Wallace becomes first Black driver to lead lap at Daytona 500
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Bubba Wallace ran into trouble early and late in his first Daytona 500 driving for Michael Jordan.
He still came out of NASCAR’s marquee race on Sunday with another milestone, becoming the first Black driver to lead a lap in the Daytona 500.
Wallace dipped to the low line late in the second stage to grab the lead on Lap 129 in the No. 23 Toyota. He lost the lead back to two-time defending champion Denny Hamlin — who co-owns 23XI Racing with Jordan — and ran third at the end of the stage.
Wallace got caught up in a fiery, chaotic last lap and finished 17th in a race won by Michael McDowell.
“Bum end. I bailed out down the back saw the wreck happening and got run over from behind. Should’ve bailed sooner,” Wallace tweeted. “Fast car, can’t have loose wheels. Onto the right turns.”
Wallace was forced to pit with 22 laps left in the race because he felt a vibration because of the loose wheel in the Toyota. He fell a lap down and pushed Hamlin to give his boss and Toyota teammate a nudge toward his run at a record third straight Daytona 500 championship.
Hamlin finished fifth.
“We worked together quite a few times,” Hamlin said. “I actually thought he was going to win the second stage.”
Wallace finished second in the 2018 Daytona 500 for the highest finish in the race by a Black driver.
Wallace had a solid first two-thirds of the rain-delayed race at Daytona International Speedway after a tumultuous start in Jordan’s debut race.
“He was running up front and battling for stage wins. That’s what we want to see,” Hamlin said.
Jordan’s No. 23 Toyota failed inspection twice before the race, prompting NASCAR to kick the team’s car chief out off the grounds. The car passed on the third attempt, but had to start from the back of the field. Jordan watched the beginning of the race from a luxury suite.
The six-time NBA champion had his first conversation with the 23XI crew chief when he called Mike Wheeler to find out why the team failed inspection.
Jordan entered NASCAR as the first Black principal owner of a full-time Cup Series team in nearly 50 years. He’s tight with Hamlin and has rooted on the Joe Gibbs Racing driver from the pits in the past.
This venture is no lark for Jordan. Jordan was a kid when his late father packed up the car and took the family to NASCAR races at Southern tracks like Daytona, Darlington Raceway and defunct Rockingham Speedway.
Jordan once said he sets his clock to watch NASCAR every week.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, Jordan and Wallace never met until this week. Jordan hit town in the days before the race and played some golf — naturally — and had a made-for-TV team meeting with Wallace and Hamlin.
“I feel like he’s going to learn how to win. He’s got the talent,” Jordan told Fox Sports. “We would not have invested in him and picked him if he didn’t have the talent to win. By the end of the year, I think he’s going to have an opportunity and probably will win at least a couple of races. If it’s more, I’d be elated.”
Wallace was winless in his first 112 career Cup starts, all driving the No. 43 for Richard Petty Motorsports. Wallace is the only Black full-time driver at NASCAR’s top level and raised his profile last summer when he successfully called for the series to ban the display of Confederate flags at racetracks. His activism caught the attention of corporate America, which raised enough funding through five companies to sponsor the entire Cup season.
The 27-year-old Wallace flashed speed in the No. 23 Toyota — yes, Jordan’s old Bulls number — at Speedweeks and topped the only practice session this week. He qualified sixth before he fell to the back of the pack because of issues that emerged out of pit stop practice.
Aric Almirola and Austin Dillon win qualifying races for Daytona 500
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — What should have been a tuneup for the Daytona 500 might have cost Hendrick Motorsports the front row for NASCAR’s version of the Super Bowl.
Alex Bowman and William Byron were slated to lead the Daytona 500 field to green, but that’s in danger following Thursday night’s qualifying races. Bowman had an engine problem in the first 150-mile race and, if his motor needs to be changed, he’ll forfeit Sunday’s pole.
Byron was collected in a crash in the second Duel, and it ruined his Chevrolet. He needs to move to a backup car for the 500, and the swap sends him to the back of the field.
“Bummer,” Byron said. “Man the thing was fast.”
Aric Almirola won the first race. After a rain delay pushed the second Duel into a Friday morning finish, Austin Dillon used a crossover move on Bubba Wallace to beat Wallace to the checkered flag.
Almirola in a Ford is slated to start behind Byron but will slide up to the front row when Byron falls to the back. Dillon in a Chevrolet will wait to see if Hendrick changes Bowman’s engine this weekend.
Austin Cindric and Kaz Grala both earned their first berths into the Daytona 500 by claiming the two available transfer positions in the Duels. Ty Dillon, Timmy Hill, Garrett Smithley and Noah Gragson all failed to advance.
Smithley and Gragson were racing each other for the transfer spot in the second race when Smithley tried to duck around Gragson. Brad Keselowski on his outside wasn’t expecting Smithley to fill the gap and the two collided, starting a wreck that eliminated both Smithley and Gragson.
Byron also was caught in that crash.
Bowman sensed a problem with his engine and rather than push it too far, he drove to pit road during the first race to give his No. 48 crew a chance to save his pole-winning run.
“I don’t want to keep running it,” Bowman radioed.
The team got his car back on track but must decide if it needs to make a preemptive engine change or gamble the one in the car now can go the distance Sunday. Winning the 500 pole is prestigious, but actual starting position matters very little in a 500-mile race at Daytona.
“I feel like we did a good job understanding it, and hopefully we are able to diagnose it and make sure everything is good,” crew chief Greg Ives said of the work ahead.
Meanwhile, Wallace, in his debut for the new 23XI Racing team owned by Michael Jordan, flirted with his first win in a Cup car. He was the leader on the final lap of the second Duel until Dillon crossed to Wallace’s inside and inched ahead.
Wallace tried to hold it steady but wobbled after banging doors with Dillon.
“Good debut but nothing to be really happy about myself,” Wallace said. “It’s OK for drivers to be hard on themselves — that’s how we motivate ourselves. I know I’ve got a lot to learn here.”
Cindric and Grala both got into their first Daytona 500 through NASCAR’s quirky qualifying for its biggest race of the year. The race had 48 entrants for 40 slots, but all but four are claimed by teams with guaranteed entry.
It pitted eight drivers for four spots, with two awarded to David Ragan and Ryan Preece in Wednesday’s time trials. The other two spots were open to the highest-finishing “open” cars in each Duel — unless the highest finisher was Ragan or Preece.
Preece passed Ty Dillon in the final stretch of the first race, and even though Dillon finished sixth out of 22 cars, the transfer spot dropped to Cindric based on his qualifying speed from a day earlier.
“Some days it’s your day, I guess,” said Cindric, who found Dillon on pit road and shook his hand after the finish.
Grala’s transfer was similar as Ragan was the highest-finishing open car in the second Duel, and Smithley and Gragson were part of the wreck that collected Byron.
Almirola won his first career race at Speedweeks, and the Tampa Bay native noted it has been a good week; The Buccaneers won the Super Bowl and Almirola thinks he has a shot at winning NASCAR’s version of the Super Bowl.
“This thing was a hot rod. Our race car is so fast,” Almirola said. “We’ve got an incredible race car, and I can’t wait for the Daytona 500.”