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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 06: Bubba Wallace, driver of the #23 DoorDash Toyota, races during the qualifying heat for the NASCAR Cup Series Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on February 06, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 06: Bubba Wallace, driver of the #23 DoorDash Toyota, races during the qualifying heat for the NASCAR Cup Series Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on February 06, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
Apart from being one of the NASCAR drivers with the most spotlight on them, Bubba Wallace is also an avid drummer and does it in his free time. The Race: Bubba Wallace documentary series offered a brief look at his passion for music and drumming. The 23XI Racing driver compared it to driving a NASCAR race, particularly the Daytona 500.
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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 06: Bubba Wallace, driver of the #23 DoorDash Toyota, races during the qualifying heat for the NASCAR Cup Series Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on February 06, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)
He said, “Much respect to all the drummer and musicians out there. It is very nerve-wracking. Way more nerve-wracking than my first Daytona 500, if that tells you anything. No doubt. When you’re in front of a crowd, you’re the tempo of the deal. Like, everybody’s watching you, and you mess up, it’s like ‘Oh no!’. It’s embarrassing. Now, the guitars are off, everything. We’re going so fast, no one can see it. You get loose, ‘Ahh, I messed up. But you can’t see it’. Little bobble, then you can make it back up. You can’t restart the song. That’s why we get 400 laps, cause we mess up 399 of them.”
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What lies ahead for Bubba Wallace?
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Speaking of the Daytona 500, he came ever so close to winning the iconic race. Sadly for him, the win eventually went to rookie driver Austin Cindric in the Team Penske Ford. The good news for him is that it confirms that the 23XI Racing team has the pace to win a Cup race. Admittedly, the near-miss would have been a little painful as he lost a chance to shut up his critics.
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DAYTONA, FL – FEBRUARY 16: Bubba Wallace, driver of the #23 McDonald’s 23XI Racing Toyota Camry, fields questions from the media during Daytona 500 Media Day on February 16, 2022 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fl. (Photo by David Rosenblum/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Since 2020, Bubba Wallace has had a love-hate relationship with social media. While there were countless people who were thrilled that he won his first Cup race last year, some felt that he got lucky. It is hard to argue with that because he was leading the race when the rain brought the Talladega race to an early conclusion.
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In the end, what’s done is done, and there is no changing the result. This time though, he will want to win a race on the track and silence his critics.
