Bubba Wallace Once Bowed Down to “Role Model” Lewis Hamilton for Inadvertently Helping Him to Achieve Motorsport History

It is hard to gauge the impact Lewis Hamilton has made on several drivers across the world. One such driver is Bubba Wallace. The NASCAR driver has been grateful to Hamilton for being a huge “role model” for him. When he was looking for inspiration, it was Lewis who broke the barriers in motorsport by becoming the F1 champion. After setting some milestones himself, Bubba expressed how Lewis Hamilton inadvertently helped him.

As per St Louis American, Wallace spoke to Don Riddell of CNN Sport in 2018 about how Lewis inspired him. He said, “There was nobody to identify with. I remember always playing the F1 2010-11 game on Xbox and I’d pick Lewis Hamilton every time.”

“I became a huge fan of his and see what he’s going through. He’s a huge role model of mine.” Bubba since has gone on to set some crucial milestones in his racing career. He became the highest-finishing African-American driver at the Daytona 500 when he finished 2nd in 2018. Wallace repeated this feat in 2022 as well.

Bubba also has spoken about how his ethnic background doesn’t matter much. He believed that once they all wear helmets and get in the car; they are all racers. Though, as Hamilton has developed his voice on the topic of representation in motorsport; Wallace, developed his opinions over the years.

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Today, Wallace proudly tags himself as the “only driver from an African-American background at the top level” in his sport on his Twitter profile. Like Lewis, he too has started to understand how important it is to get diversity in motorsport. Regardless, they both have always congratulated each other on several of their achievements in F1 and NASCAR.

When Bubba Wallace invited Lewis Hamilton to a NASCAR race

Back in 2020, Lewis Hamilton was smashing it in F1 toward his record-equaling 7th world title. While the pandemic had plagued several sporting activities across the world, including NASCAR and F1, Hamilton was delighted to see some NASCAR developments for 2021.

Lewis congratulated Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan for forming a new Cup series team for the 2021 season. As per NBC Sports, this team was going to field a car for Bubba Wallace. As the NASCAR driver saw Lewis’s tweet, he subtly put an invitation for the F1 titan to attend the season opener at Daytona.

Hamilton has attended NASCAR races in the past, most notably the 2015 Homestead race in Miami for Jeff Gordon. Although, the Mercedes man also once expressed a desire to race at Daytona in a stock car. While he wished to do this after his F1 retirement, this is a possibility in the near future, given Hamilton’s love for America.

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For the time being, Lewis would want to only be a NASCAR fan and attending guest. Still, no one knows he may be up for a guest drive with Bubba Wallace or someone like Jeff Gordon one day. Would you like to see Lewis Hamilton drive a NASCAR?