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RICHMOND, VIRGINIA – APRIL 03: Bubba Wallace, driver of the #23 Dr Pepper Toyota, waves to fans onstage during driver intros prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway on April 03, 2022 in Richmond, Virginia. (Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images)
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RICHMOND, VIRGINIA – APRIL 03: Bubba Wallace, driver of the #23 Dr Pepper Toyota, waves to fans onstage during driver intros prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway on April 03, 2022 in Richmond, Virginia. (Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images)
NASCAR returns to Talladega Superspeedway this weekend as the Cup Series gets ready to host the GEICO 500 race. As Bubba Wallace returns to the track as the defending champion, he opens up on the car and its heating problem in a pre-race interview.
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As NASCAR is in Talladega, Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron reported a heating issue with his car. When the reporter asked Wallace Jr the same, he conveyed, “I haven’t experienced much heat problems, and I sweat like no other. I’m sweating right now and I haven’t had any heat problems.”
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Mar 5, 2022; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Bubba Wallace (23) during qualifying for the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
“But I know it was a lot in the off season testing. I was you know rehabbing it up on my shoulder. So I didn’t get to experience that. So I didn’t get to see the bad go to good. So it’s been fine for me. I run a cool shirt, it’s nice the way we have our ac flowing in the car. So it’s been good. So I haven’t seen any issues.”, the Cup Series driver further asserted.
Bubba Wallace at Talladega, what does this mean?
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Bubba won the October 2021 race at the Talladega Superspeedway. A rain-soaked day saw the 23XI Racing driver come ahead of Brad Keselowski to take home the first win of his career. The rain-shortened drive saw just 117 laps on the board before Darrell could see himself on the screen as the race winner.
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TALLADEGA, ALABAMA – OCTOBER 04: Bubba Wallace, driver of the #23 McDonald’s Toyota, (R) and Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Express Toyota, talk on the grid during a rain delay in the NASCAR Cup Series YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on October 04, 2021 in Talladega, Alabama. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
With the win, Bubba became the first-ever black driver to win the race in 57 years. Moreover, the YellaWood 500 Cup Series race made him the second black racer to win a race in NASCAR after Wendell Scott in 1963.
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As the tenth round of the Cup Series takes place in a matter of a few hours, Wallace Jr qualified in 9th place behind William Byron. The 28-year-old driver clocked an impressive 53.336 to complete his qualifying lap. Bubba was just 0.409 second behind the pole sitter Christopher Bell.
