Bubba Wallace Came Clean On Public Meltdown in Kansas After Period of Depression in Poignant Tell-All Interview in 2020

This month marks the start of Men’s Mental Health and Awareness month. In light of this, there have been a few NASCAR drivers who spoke about the importance of mental health in their sport. The most recent one was Rick Ware Racing’s Cody Ware, who shared an impassioned plea about the issue. Last year though, Bubba Wallace spoke about the matter and how he was personally affected.

He said, “If you ask me what’s going on, I’ll tell you, give you a full rundown of my day. That’s just kind of how it all went about. I was in the media availability at Kansas Speedway last year, and I had a lot going on behind the scenes, personally. Lot of on-track stuff, the success wasn’t there, performance wasn’t there. Just kind of put you in a dark place.”

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What else did Bubba Wallace say about his struggles with depression?

Wallace’s comments come at a time when he was going through a rough patch. In the build up to the Kansas race that year, he had failed to breach the Top 10, with a best finish of three 16th place finishes. During the Kansas race itself, he could only finish in a lowly 26th place. Naturally, his morale would have been at an all-time low.

Wallace continued, “A reporter asked me, ‘How’s Bubba Wallace doing’. Just… that was it, just broke. It’s okay, I’ve been depressed for a really long time, doesn’t matter what you do for a profession. How much money you make, what you look like, smell like. It doesn’t matter, depression is real and latches on in so many ways. I still battle it to an extent, I’m a lot better than I was, I won’t say that probably. But I have days that nothing is exciting. The most exciting thing to do, is sleep.”

In the following races, his rough patch continued until the second race at Pocono. Over there, he managed to finish in a fine 5th place, his best finish for 23XI Racing at the time. Later on, he finished second at Daytona, before snatching a maiden Cup Series win at a rain-shortened Talladega. Fortunately, 2022 has been a bit kinder and he has been in better form.

WATCH THIS STORY: From Rookie Of The Year To Cup Series Icon : Bubba Wallaces Racing Journey Through The Years