Bubba Wallace | Ep 158 | ALL THE SMOKE Full Episode | SHOWTIME Basketball x MoneyLion

We're good, We're good. How's life You told you got into town wednesday, you got a chance to play some golf, you got a big race this weekend. What's what's going on in your personal life right now? Uh? Life is actually really good. My fiance we flew out here with another couple that we're really good friends with, and um, just come out here to relax a little bit. Kind of hard to do in Vegas, right, So up beat here, but um just getting away from the maddis for a

little bit. I've played seventy two holes in the last four days. Yeah, I'm trying to uh this the end of the season's creeping up, so we're kind of getting a little antsy ready for it to end um. But man, we've been really solid second half the year and it's been fun talks. As we learned today when we did a little pace car I didn't know your guys a seasons from January Thumost November mid November. So we are the first week of February to the first week of November.

That's a long with one week. Yeah, this is a one office so every week and you guys are racing somewhere. That's right, always on the road. What a mental ground. You also mentioned your fiance. Congratulations, you got a wedding date set. Yeah, yeah, I just got married last year. Yeah, congratulations. Brother is right, Yeah, trying to be there, you go. Yeah, our date is New Year's Eve, So I mean we have a small window where we can pick from unless we do a midweek wedding, but not everybody on a

guest lists can make that happen. So we're doing New Year's Eve and we're excited about that. No, we're doing it, Charlotte. Our guest list is yeah, so it's it's gonna be good to have everybody there and then making the most of it. Going to raise in Mobile, Alabama. Talk about your upbringing what was like, Yeah, so I was born in in l A, Lower Alabama. Um, but I'm moving like, Um, but I moved from there where I was two, so

I really don't remember a damn thing about Mobile. Um, but I moved to Concord, where I currently lived now. So the last twenty seven years, Um, mobile is just kind of on the birth certificate. I still uncle that lived down there, and um, you know, ever since living in Concord, it was just you know, all about having fun, no responsibilities and the next thing, you know, you get into racing and you climb the ladder. And for me it was different. Um. They were like you know, do

you see did you see yourself? You know, twenty I've been doing it twenty years now, twenty years ago, like starting out like this is where you wanted to be? Hell no, really I didn't didn't watch it, didn't you know, not a negative way. I didn't care for it. Like we lived fifteen minutes from race track, could hear him racing,

but never was like hey what's that? And next thing, you know, it was like we would race in one series, get really good at it, moved to the next one, get really good at keep moving, moving, moving, the next thing. You know, it's like, hey, NASCAR's next. It's like, okay, cool, let's keep going. That's that you mentioned. Uh so you're in Concord, That is that where you went to high school?

At everything? So what is that like? Because I know now I go back, I do some work in Sacramento with the Kings, and I go back and it's kind of mixed. I feel like you can't get the love without the hate. How was the reception of you? Could you kind of pretty much been in your hometown as a star now as well? Yeah, so it's crazy. Uh, Concord my high school. Um, we had Corela Joy, he was two years older me. He raced in the Cup Series.

Now myself that Corey Seeger, you know, his place for the Rangers now Bradley opinion, but I think is the kicker for the Bucks maybe. Um and then um justin c the Seeer boys, all three of them, we all went to all school together. So it's kind of crazy. Yeah, in different all different spaces. Yeah, exactly. So, Um, but Concorde, you know, you it's all industry people that you see. So if they love you hate you, you see them

every Sunday. Um. But the notoriety and then recognition has definitely gone up, but it's still kind of more in like race markets and stuff. So, uh, it's it's it's been cool. It's been a tough kind of um alright, not tough, but a fun journey to to navigate. You used to hoop what happened. I used to just hold the picture in my little wreck ball, you know, just to make your mom happy. Exactly. Yeah. I wasn't looking back. I wasn't very good, yea, but yeah, I followed my

sister split steps in that. So my sister was a baller. As you get into a race of cars. Uh, I was nine, and uh we had just moved into a new house, moved away from grew up in the neighborhood and all the friends, all the kids all went school together, and we moved away from that. So I hated. Yeah, we moved fifteen minutes down the road, still in Concord, but all new school. And my dad actually end up buying Harley Davidson and he wanted to get it fixed up,

make it look good, customize it out. And a family friend, Chris Rogers, who owned that bike shop he raised go carts out of the back and we were formed a great relationship with him, and he invited to come out one day and we were sitting in the stands watching kids go around and my dad was like, what do you think? My dad had a go cart and he attempted to raise three times and he flipped all three times,

which was easy to do. Unfortunately, I've never flipped yet and I've come close, but um, but yeah, it was umpthing that even my dad. When my dad did it, I was like, I want to do this. I didn't want to do that. I didn't have a dream to do that. Um, but when he asked if I wanted to, you know, attempt it, finally I was like, yeah, sure, why not. You know, there was kids my age that are doing it and seemed like they were having fun.

And we went race and I had just made the second year a U basketball team the week before and UH called him up. They I won't be in this season and never look back. I'm hanging up my shoes. Okay, I was better defense and offense. There you go. So I made fifteen years that would be in better the defense and offense? What was I mean? Everyone thinks, you know you jump in the car. We go fast on

the freeway and I can race. What are some things about NASCAR that people have maybe have a misconception about it, just how tough it really is. Yeah, it's it's you know, people think, you know, three and a half four hours you're in a race car. That's a long time. So stamming aside has gotta be in check. But what's got to be a top priority is the mental state. Like as soon as you have a lapse of of of mindset,

that's when the mistakes happen. Right you start thinking, man, I'm I'm getting a little tired byam hit defense and it's like, damn, you just lost two tents, you know, And so like when I was leading the last sixty laps at Kansas earlier this year, you know, it was those moments of oh, man, you know we're gonna win. You know, I'm feeling I hate and I would be like, hey, you know, fucking stop. You know, think about hitting your marks and making sure that you don't you don't set

yourself up for failure. And so it's it's super tough to do because you can start to wander in those times, especially when you get sprung out and you're running kind of just by yourself. Uh, it's it's tough to do. So the mental state has to be very tough. And and me, I'm always calculating, whether it's in the race car or on the regular roads, of how to get to the destination the fastest. Not speeding, but you know, it's like six cars are in one lane, one car

and the other one. This lane is gonna move, Okay, there's a semi trucks and at the first car in line of semi truck and I gotta get over and I'm gonna beat him. And so my fiance is starting to pick up on that because usually she would sit behind the same mind it's like, oh, killing me. But my I noticed now like my mind is always thinking like like, oh, let's see, let's subtract that car. Let's see if I can fit in that hole. And it's always like that. I love to know now that my

mind is like a NASCAR driver on the street. I'm doing the same. You can ask Lonnie the way I drive. I'm always navigating. There's COO cars over here. There's one I think I can get that little yeah, yeah, And it's not really like cutting them off. It's not like shoving your nose in there. It's like, oh, we call it sleeping on restart. When a car doesn't take off or creates a hole at a stoplight, you can take advantage of sleeping on the restart. It's on the phone.

On the ref start to be on their phone and Zach, I'm gonna take that. Yes. I was surprised to hear today when we were at the track that you guys can't just get out and race around the track whenever you want. And that was crazy to me. So how do you outside of your car stay fit? Obviously said the big part is mental, But what kind of stuff do you do for training? So we have our biggest thing is all three manufacturers in the sport have a

multimillion dollar simulation rig. It's full motion. It's it's basically the center section of our race car on actuators that move it and just like just like, just like just like real life, although it's the virtual side. And for me, some drivers can get in and and make it happen and be with it, but I have a hard time like disconnecting, like hey, reality versus virtual. So I get so mad, I'm like, this isn't real they're like, no, ship, it's virtual, but you can develop bad habits doing that.

So you go to these places. Um, the biggest advantage for me is is when we go to like road courses. So we went to the Rovo in Charlotte last weekend and on Wednesday before we were in there for a couple of hours and it's like, Okay, I remember this bump, I remember this corner. Now it flows after this one,

like okay, it feels good. But then you start running more laps and laps and laps and the thing's not really vibing with you, and it's like, oh, ship, Well when I get there in real life, is this gonna happen? So you can can you go into it hesitant, and when you're hesitant in a race car, you're slower, and so it's you gotta take some of the stuff with a grain of salt. But that's probably the biggest tool

for everybody in the field is simulation time. And it's not just a video game that you turn on and press play and you know, we can take our set up. Are set up is all build up by numbers that you plug into the computer and so you feel everything and so they're like, hey, we want to make a change. They type in something different, send it out and it's like, oh okay, yeah I felt that. I felt that in the right rear on entry into one, and it's like, okay,

we're gonna put that in the car. Serious. So it's it's pretty advanced. So that's that's the cool thing about it. Though. You spoke to the mental side um of it. I mean for mentally for us, it's you know, it's watching film, watching our opponent who regarding how we play it is this similar to you guys watch film, what kind of stuff do you do mentally to stay sharp? Yep, So we have, um, we have now you know, being a part of this team. You know Denny who is a

co owner with MJ. We race against him. He is big in the data analytics stuff, so we're looking at film and all this stuff. I've never really been big on that. Uh. There's a there's a software that had come out called S and T and it's basically like a video game to where you can plug in and take your car versus my car, and you can match him up head to head and you can see what

you're doing. You can see your throttle application your brake application, your steering traces, so you can see like, oh, this is how you get around this track. So it kind of took the art away because before or it was like, man, how's how's Bubba driving in that? Like what's he doing? What's like I'm doing something with wheel have to break at the same time. So now all your data pops up on the screen and so you can use that.

Is that advantage or disadvantage? Like I mean, I probably an advantage to learn, but it's an advantage to learn. But it's like, well, ship, you know, everybody is gonna copy what I'm doing when we're when we're good there, So it's part of it. We've accepted it, we've adapted to it. Um. But you go back and rewatch races. We have a bunch of engineers that will put in a one note a debrief sheet of things to look at and makes it makes it pretty easy head into racist.

So two thousand and ten Rookie of the Year honors first ever African American to receive the award. Um okay, okay, okay, congratulations, although you know years later, but that's dope. Original thoughts when that happened. Yeah, I think, Um I was. I had to think, like, where was that was? Um? I was insto the ball kids Damn m hm, that's right in the streets doing some other things too, But that's not that's the playoffs for the first time. Yea. Um,

but it was. It was one of those deals that we were we were just racing too race and back then that series was so stout, like everybody in two thou ten iss who I'm racing. It's now in a couple level. Yeah, majority of all the young kids, there's like seven or eight of us, and so it's the same thing today. You had to bring it and um, I mean that was a really cool feature for us to to win, and the way it happened was dramatic fashion.

Um Our last race of that season was Dover, Delaware, and I don't know if I've ever been in that casino up there and over it was a casino as it's a horse track, but it has a mild concrete track around it. It's one of the baddest race tracks to go too. It's good in a good way. It's uh, it's a roll a coaster. And so going into there, the guy that was helping run our program at that

time Andy sent there. He said, Hey, I've raised here a lot of times in this series, and turn one is tricky, like you're gonna have to drive over the hump and to turn one and let the car settle, and so you fire off and practice and and then you know, you go to these places for the first time, these are cup tracks for the first time, and you're like, oh,

this place is massive. You know, it's like coming to Vegas for the first time when you live in a small pro dunct city and it's like, wow, this is incredible. And so you figured all out as you're going. So I go out, get up through the gears, and I go through three and four and it's a little rough. You're kind of bouncing around and come by to take the green and and you go over the hump like you said, but it's like a ski jump and you come down and slam the ground in. You don't, but

it feels like, yeah. The sensation is like oh and you get slammed down. And I said that absolutely not like and uh, I'll take this to my grave. The whole weekend we had motor problems. The motor was stumbling. I could never get it figured out, so I was slow to big and went so I was like, thank god, um, and the guy that we were battling lap twenty seven, he blew it right front tire and so I was like, oh sweet, that sealed the fate for winning the Rookie

of the Year. And then lap thirty seven I blew a tired so it was like wow, yeah, yes. So fast forward to the next year, I went in to that same place and I was like, all right, I'm gonna bring it. I'm forget that said on the pole, won the race, you know, did the whole deal. So we kind of feel like in the n b A, um, you know, you don't really know that you could. Everyone could play basketball obviously, and you see some tremendous rookies and stuff, but we feel like you don't really learn

the game until like your third or fourth year. Absolutely similar in your sport, you know, learn the nuances once you kind of get your feet under you for sure. So my deal was was a little different. And the way to to to get into the cup level is the way it used to be used to be. Whoever was the best driver is like, hey, we want you to come drive. Well, the sport has gotten really really expensive.

I mean it's it's multimillions of dollars to run a competitive Cup team, and now it's like, Okay, you're pretty good, but how much money are you bringing? You know, It's like some kids, there's I'm sure we always say that there's probably the best race car driver that was somewhere

out there that never got an opportunity. We didn't have the mone because they have the money to do it, and so I was kind of one of the last ones to be able to come through without money, and you know, I had enough talent to compete, but obviously, yeah, the the skin color, you know, people were like, oh, he happens to be good too, We're gonna give him a shot, and so that helped out and we attracted some sponsors, but some like for the longest time, we

could never get sponsors. I remember you talking about that publicly too. Yeah, and it was like super frustrating because no offense to some of my friends, but they're all kind of boring and cookie cutter, right, and I show up and I'm I'm ready to you know, change up the scene. And so it's like, hey, sponsors, we want that, right. Anyways, we're here now we're in a great spot with sponsorship money Line's partners. That's yeah, that's right, that's your plug.

But um coming up, you know. And when I got to the Cup level, I was driving for the forty three Richard Petty the King and the King the King, and historically they were a mid pack team, you know, not downplanet, they were midpack. They would have four chances to win races. That was Dayton on Talladega and you know, a couple throwing a couple of surprise races here and there. And so for me at that time, it was it was trying to figure out like, Okay, I'm trying to

be really competitive. I want to go win, but the car is sometimes not capable enough to do that, and so you start to build up a lot of self doubt and you go into these situations like you know, this is all I got, and then sometimes it's opposite car is really good and I don't have I failed

to deliver. And so you know, I did four three years with them, and we kept improving each and every year, but it was still like a big step to get to the top ten tier, right, And so I looked at this opportunity of eleven when m J and Denny came together and decided to make it all happen. It was like, Okay, you know, this is a team that's gonna take let's say a year to get our feet wet and get everything underneath us to go out and

be competitive and go in races. And still our cars are really fast, and we had some races where you know, we have a partnership with another race team that's kind of like our mothership, j g R Joe Gibbs Racing, and you know, their cars are running one, two, three, four, and then I'm fifth, running twenty and it's like, dude, you still don't have it. Cars are the same now, like you can't use that excuse. And things started to finally click. At the end of last year, ten Races

left crew chief. We brought in Booty, who's my crew chief now, and things started to click and it was like, okay, now we're climbing a little bit. And we won Talladega, which was big, big, and it was like, okay, it's still a plate race, which is totally different. But then this year it was like, hey, brand new Carla race. Plate race is a restrictor plate race, so basically we're wide open whole time, and so it's it's way different than what we'll do with Vegas. Vegas, we're lifting, modulating

in the car throughout all this stuff. Like we're fighting it Daytona Talladega basically sit back, one hand on the wheel cruise although you're two and a mile an hour this far apart from each other, you know. So it's it's totally a type of racing. And when one rex rex, Yeah, so the chance your chances of winning are really really high if you can miss the rex. But you still gotta be good though, So if if we go to if we say Vegas is uh luck versus skill uh

Daytona and Talladega is sevent luck. So it's a big jump. Um. But when I was getting at is we we come into the season and I kind of noticed, like about five races in, I'm like, we're pretty solid here. If we can put it together, like we're gonna start clicking here. And we had some issues of our own doing my own doing wreck in the car, bad pit stops, whatever you name it. The whole team was not the stars

were not aligned for our team. But two months ago, three months ago now, we've been a top five car every week and it's like, okay, this is what it takes. It takes that. But then for me, the mindset and the skill set there Chief tells me and he's like, hey, you drive it so far on the entry and make the car working and worry about the rest later. And it's like basically like, hey, drive the damn thing and then we'll figure it out. And it's like big difference

the game. But it took me, you know, five years to figure that out. And now it's like, okay, we're getting the respect from the other guys and it's like, hey, it's love this cars. Wanted to watch out for it in our game. I think it's kind of lost now. But back in the day, like the younger guys used to have the o G s the mentors. Is it's sim because obviously this is such an kind of an individual sport. But are there older guys that you can kind of lean on the soak up game or it's

not really like that in your sport. No, it is. We have a couple of of veterans we call them, um, you know Denny's he's obviously uh he I think he's on the end of his career. Obviously, he's purchased the race team and he's been a big help. You've got Kevin Harvick who has been doing it for a while, our teammate Kurt Bush who's out with concussion protocol stuff. But they've all been big helps. And they're like, hey, this is what I did in your situation twenty years ago.

You need to do this, this and this, and it's like man, this you know, but yeah, this is the new age stuff, but it still carries a lot of weight and a lot of power behind what they say. So it's cool thing. Yeah, you joined M M J and N by also Danny Ham. How did they reach out? So Danny, Danny and I share the same agent, and so Danny and I we've we've been around each other.

We've had some run ins throughout the years. And it all started kind of, you know, the race team that I was with the forty three, they were looking to do something new and kind of changed the game and and and rebrand basically, and they wanted Denny to be a part of it in some capacity. And the way it all kind of worked out, like rumor mills start, you can't control the rumor mill bullshit right. Well, then it was like Dinny Haml and MJ starting a team,

which was it wasn't even true. It to no, no, it's nothing. And so Denny fired a text to MJ. It was like, look at this, look at this crazy tweet, you know, and m J spotted back, well, let me know when you want to make appen, probably off the tequila, like let's make it. Yeah, and it was like okay, and so in at the meantime, I'm still trying to figure out I had a couple options on the table

um and it was like okay. And then Denny starting to text me like hey man, you know we're this this may happen, and I'll never forget what I sent him is. He was like, dude, this has happened, is it? This is It's gonna be great. And I sent him the Kobe Bryant video one where he's in the press conference and he's not smiling. The reporter asked, He's like, hey,

managed up to one, like job's not finished. I've had a lot of a lot of moments like hey man, this is gonna happen, like you're about to be a star. And then call them on Monday, Hey what happened? They're like, I don't know, I talk to you later. So I've been let down so many times and so I was like, hey, man, no disrespect, but sending that video, I said, when it's

finished and I'm signed, we can go celebrate. Question like, so when do you guys you said you have to do you Is it like free agency somewhat or how does that changing teams kind of stuff work? Yes, somewhat. Um, you know, we lock in. You know, drivers sometimes lock in five years, one year, two years and the silly season this was what we call it there at the end and drivers will you know, exercise the options, see

what's see what's available from them. So I think the biggest one this year so far as is Kyle Busch, who's been a Toyota teammate of mine for the last two years but been driving the eighteen Eminem's car for the last I don't even know, eighteen years, maybe longer than that, And it came to track the year and it was like, wow, Ile is not gonna be back in the eight team and so he just signed a deal with a new team. So it's kind of it's

a big, big change yeah, a guy of that stature. Yeah, you can have you can drive cars for a long time. What is is there an average? I mean, I know, with the average, I mean if you're good, yeah, I don't know, like the our oldest in the field is forty four and still like still getting it done. I mean we've had guys racist when they're seventy and eighty, not nineties, but set in their seventies really, but they're just kind of yeah they can just because they can.

They'd love it, right, I mean, hell, you love it? Keep doing it up though, Yeah, Yeah, any funny stories or he tells any stories you had running with m j U m j UM. I thought it was I thought it was really cool of how it how it all came about. Um. Then he went down to play at the growth and uh, he texts me. He's like, hey, what are you doing at six thirty. I was like, nothing, sit on the couch, all right, I'm gonna calling you.

So I'm sitting there six thirty, six forty five. Then he's notoriously late six seven o'clock, rolls around calls me, hey, what are you doing? I was like, sitting on the couch because here somebody wants to talk to you. It was m J. This is my first time I ever talking to m Jack And he said, hey, if we do this deal, right, no more running in the back, like alright, digging at me. And I'm like, all right,

sounds good. Yeah, okay, So I thought that was pretty special. Um, but m J. Man, he's just he's competitive and uh loves to loves to poke the bearon bet against you and uh just just to push it, just just to motivation. And he'll he'll like in the moment he's you know, joking around and hey, I'll bet against you here. But then he'll pull you aside and he's like, you know what I'm doing right, and then get results and he'll

be like he did that to us in practice. So I'm pretty sure he knew what he was doing when he was a race weekend. When you're getting ready to go into a race weekend, music wise, what you listening to? Man, I'm different. I'm into the heavy metal stuff. Metal cores of stuff you can't understand when they're screaming and shouting the energy. Yeah, but it honestly, it's it does the exact opposite of what they're outputting, Like it calms me down. Interesting.

So we always call it angry music for happy people. And it's something that I found in two thousand four or five, and I liked it mostly because of the drumming. I have a drum set at home. I like to walk around a little bit every once in a while, and it was nice. It was easy for me to shut out the words and just listen to the drum track and try to replicate that. Like. I enjoyed that,

Like that was cool. And then the more and more I got into it, got to know some bands and appreciate more the music and the art of it and how normal they are outside of the performance, and then they just turned into a maniac and so it's like the whole respect level has gone up for them. But man, just the breakdowns. The breakdowns were the best part of that music. And they put you in this mindset where like you can't be messed with, And so I enjoyed that.

But I enjoy all types of music. Really, I got one room. Don't touch my drums set. I might put my nuts on your drums. Did you touch my drum set? Oh yeah, you got a lot of victories. What's the sweetest any anyone stand out, Um, I'd say all all of them are very important to me. My first truck win at the national level, you know, that was big. That was you know, late in the season, not really the best of seasons racing for Kyle Bush and his truck team. He's winning every time he gets in the truck.

And then we went out and won martin Zille and like that was like, hell, yeah, we did it. And then we show up the next year we won four more and then since uh I was winless and then this one's probably number one. Going into that season, lack of funding, lack of sponsorship. From the rip of the start of the year, it was like, I don't know if you're gonna be able to race all the way throughout the year. We're gonna go until we can't know more. So it's like okay, and just so happens, we put

together our best year. Were fourth in the points at race number eight and going into Kansas, the forty three car in the Cup race, the driver at that time broke his back and a crash and that was a forward car. I was driving from fourth at the time and got on the phone. I was like, I hope he's all right, but I need to be in that ride. I want to fill in, you know, until he gets back. And so agents were working on it and through all that stuff and all worked out by I think it

was race number eleven or twelve. UH. We got the call like, hey, it's your times next weekend at Pocono to drive the forty three. But hey, also, you're done racing Xfinity, Like we're shutting it down. So it's like you're gonna be out of a ride. But for the next four year in so I was a substitute and put together our best races. It was good. And then they were like Eric's back, the guy who broke his back, he's back, So thanks for your time, see you later. I was on the couch. I was on the couch

from UH late July two August or September. It was like four or five weeks. I was on the couch. Then Michigan rolled around and a team called a truck team called and he said, hey, we want you to come drive my truck. I was like okay, and we went out there and we won it. And so it was four years, three years of just getting kicked in the dirt, and it was like Boom obviously won. I had that one race I won. Then I was back on the couch, so I was like, damn, I know,

I still got it. We went to work and I got a cup ride the next year driving the forty three, and then the second one. Talla Diego was big last year, but this passed when at Kansas just because of the way the racing was. We dominated the last third of that race and we wont in that fashion, and it was one of those It's like, okay, no more. If I could say sh about this one. You know, Talla

Diego was a rain short and race. We knew it was gonna rain, and we drove up to the field and took the lead and rain fell and races over with right. But we always had that bullshit like you always had the asteria inside that because you didn't go the full distance. Even I put Astra inside it. But the races where I was doing bad, I would be like, yeah, you only want that because you because it rained. You know,

I'd become a hater myself. I'm like my biggest enemy but also my biggest cheerleader at the same time, and Kansas, I can't even say ship to myself. On that one because it's like we did it, we did it right. So that one two high ups. I got two questions. Are you saying truck team because the truck the name of the drivers on the truck. Why are you saying why do you keep saying truck? So the truck series. So there's three cities, there's three levels when you get

to uh NASCAR. So for ball I would go, I would go maybe maybe high school or Juco and then collegiate ball and then pros pros Cup. Right what we race on Sunday, Xfinity is collegiate and then truck is Juco, high School. And so that's the levels where you get to and it's a stepping stone. Some kids can come up through because they got money and boom to the top, but their experience shows. And I don't know if the answer how many races in this season two exhibition races? Uh? Yeah? Racist.

Um of late athletes have come out and been brave enough to speak on mental health, which I think is important. It's it's it's always been something that's kind of hush hush or not man enough to really talk about. You've struggled with depression throughout your life, Um, How did you get through it? Do you still go through it? Um? What's the process with that? Yeah? I think I had a I was having a couple of days of depression last week, actually on my birthday. No idea, why comes

and goes? Yeah? That was Yeah, that was the first time in in a while. But uh, I thought I was like, okay, I'm twenty nine, like birthdays or just another day to me. But that was on Saturday. And then Sunday we raced that Roval, which is the worst track on the schedule. Every driver will tell you, and

it's just what Charlotte, it's our home race. So we got the big Coke six hundred, Uh, the big race and then they used to be a smaller race, used to be the Bank of America on the big track, but now they made it a road course race and terrible idea. But anyways, that's another story another day. And historically never really run well there, and so it was always one of those deals like you show up to a game, it's like, man, I'm gonna play like today.

Just you just always feel it. Yeah, And I struggle at road courses in general, but we've gotten better and better. Long story, short qualified decent start the race, really good. In lap four I messed up and almost spent out and wreck all right in last for the the race, and then we make it through the Rex and the Carners. We finished seventh, like damn good day. And I got out of the car and I was like, yeah cool,

and I was I was riding home. I'd have a motorcycle read in Harley's and I read my motorcycle home and I was just like, what the hell is going on? Like I'm not pumped, I'm not excited, and I was like, ah, yeah, just turned twenty nine. Thanks were great, you know, finished seventh at your worst racetrack, Like so it just happens, and um, you know, for me, it's woke up the next day and they pumped, like just just like that. Yeah,

Like I don't do anything different. I just know like the grass is always green on the other side, and son's gonna wake up. Our son's gonna rise tomorrow. So that's kind of my mentality going with it, and every it is different and how they deal with it, and for me, it's turning on that music to help get

it out and then things are good. Uh. In your team made national headlines with you know, what someone thought was a noose fount in your garage, FBI investigation, a lot of yeah, no, yeah no. Can you break that without going too deep into the situation. Can you break that down for us? And what happened? Um Talladega? Um, you know with everything that was going on, George Floyd all that, you know, just got rid of the Confederate

flag and our sport and we're going to Talladega. You know, heightened awareness is at all times, so it's like, if something's gonna happen, it's something's gonna happen there. And um, at that time, it was COVID. So we got rid of practice, we got rid of qualify, and we just show up and race. So we're sitting in the bus, Blannie and I. We're sitting the bus playing two K or something, and we're like, let's go to dinner soon,

all right. So we're about to go get some uh some pizza or something, and I get a call from the president, Hey, what's up, President of mascart, Steve Phelps, what's up? Hey, here's your bus. It's like, uh yeah, sure, see in a minute. I'm like, oh ship, yeah, I'm like so I go up, pull up, like the receipts on my phone. I'm like, what about tweet? I'm like, Ship, you know, I've gotten in trouble for Twitter a couple of times here and there joined the club, and so

I'm like, okay, you know, I see him walking. I opened up the door for him, Hey, you want to bottle of water? Like, what's up? And it was one of those looks I never forget. It's just dead pan, tears in his eyes. I'm sorry, Ship, you know. And he told me, you know, crewmember found what a noose? And so I was like, oh, Ship, okay, like all right, and obviously long story short investigated. Not a noose, not

a threat towards me. Looked just like a news tied up just like this whatever it might be the size of your pinking but still looks like that. Um you know. Throughout that whole deal, it was just like damn, you know, and I knew. I called my crew member who had found it. I said, hey, ma, you sure, because I was like, this is gonna look, this is gonna be bad. And called him my crew chief called me. He's like, dude,

fucked up. And I was like, all right, what did you learn from that if anything, Um that honestly, I don't really know. I mean, you know you always have to just you know, keep your head on a swivel and just look out for self, right, Like that's the important thing with life. And you know, I hate that whole SCENEO went down and now now from from going from all that and people think it's a play and you know, a plot for me to you know, always losing his r eye Like I was good. I had

had a really good deal going. You know, the results may not have shown that, but we were we were solid and uh and so you gained i'd say majority of your fan base, but you've also gained a whole new fan base. Um, not from that, but seeing what all stem from it. You people show their true colors, right, even even close people like they were like, oh yeah

that's Bubba for you. M like whoa, all right yeah and um and so you it's like all right, you know, I keep my circles tight and it just got tighter then and and that's okay with me. Um, But you know, ship happens and you you you grow on and move on from it, and you know it, you know, it made me more aware of my surroundings in everyday life. So I'm always you know, who's here for me and who's not. You know, you go to the track now and Kyle's Kyle Bush still gets the most booze, but

you know his is his is different. You know, my ship is like more personal, and so it sucks. But throughout all that, the people that really understand the story and and and and know the facts, like you have a whole new fan base and it's and it's been very supportive, and I've been appreciative of it because they weed out the bullshit just like I would. And uh, they're there for you. So it's cool to have people

like that. Being the only black driver in NASCAR, um, I remember when Tiger Woods kind of broke that barrier and kind of opened the door and got you know a lot of minorities, particularly African to Ericans into golf. Do you do you think about that at the beginning middle now? Does it not cross your mind? I know you just want to be known as a racer because

that's what we are. But do you ever think about kind of your historical significance in this spot you're in, and and and the ability to encourage the next Bubble Wallace to come along the lines I do when we talk about it. Okay, Um, you know, like I said when I was a kid, we just go up, show up, and race, and when go home, race and win again, race and lose. We just kept doing that. When I won my first race at Martinsville, it was like, yes, you know, great job, dude, you you did it. You know,

you won your first struck race. And then you get out and they're like, Bubble, who was first afric American to win? And it's like, oh ship, right, wow, Okay, I didn't even cross your mind now, No, it's it's there. And so I in my tweet, Uh that's pinned since seen is you know, you're not gonna stop hearing about the black driver. There's only one one, and so accept it, embrace it, and enjoy the journey because that's what I've done. Like, yeah, I'm tired of hearing about it. But media's got to

get their click bait and all this ship. You know, they're not just gonna put Bubba Wallace one of race. People are gonna be like, who the hell's at they put black driver? Yeah, the viewership goes up. Some black friends, my best friends blay four. Um, but you know it's it is what it is. But I don't It's not like I, you know, run away from that. I accepted it. Yeah, and and try to make it better. And I'll say everywhere we go, now there's minorities that you know that

are fans. They're like, hey man, we're fans because you like, we've never watched NASCAR, and it's it's super dope. Like, yeah, I'm one of them. Yeah. I was surprised today when we went to the thing, there was like a lot of black people. And it sounds maybe crazy to say, but I was surprised. We saw like a a lot of black people worked and I'm just like, m okay, yeah,

you know, yeah, it's that was. That was one of the things that my mom at Richmond, we had one Richmond and two thousand eleven and um, this was this was more like a kind of more like JV football or j V ball and we won Richmond and my mom was like, hey, you look up in the stands. What do you see? This is after the race? Like

now they're empty. It's like no, look and it was just Hispanics, minorities, black cleaning the stands and there she was like they probably have no idea that there's a black kid down here dropping and it was like, wow, that's that's pretty interesting. And Richmond, Richmond is in the hood. It is right next door to the hood, and it's incredible to see now, like I said, eleven eleven years, like how much that's changed. We're doing these deals called Bubble's Block Party. We just did one in in uh

in Birmingham, which was super dope. We had DJ Many Fresh Out and Big Crip Fresh Fresh and uh the crowd was awesome. Done in the black folks like it was super dope and they were interested in they were pumped to see me there, right, but we weren't at the racetrack and and I wasn't performing. It was just one of these deals, you know, and it's like, Okay, now, this this is the real job. How do we get this crap to carry over? What's the carry over? How do we get this Let Manny Fresh come DJ that

motherfucker that might be. So that's the real process of like, Okay, we got these people knowing about NASCAR and Bubba Wallace and all of our partners here, but they're still not at the track, which is i'd say the goal. Yeah. Right, so we've still got a lot of work to do there. And what that answer is it is who knows, you know, what is the how do we do that? It's a it's a journey, not a destination right right time? Yeah, I mean obviously all time, you know, it's on our minds.

And like you even said, like I didn't. Movie is known about Nascar, but I didn't started paying attention until I simon, this is my color. Like we're close. He's a little he's he's staying oven a little longer. I mean, you were kind of similar. So I just like, oh, there's someone hey. True, no, but I think that's dough. Um. You've always been someone to use your platform to kind of speak on important issues, talk to us about your project,

lived to be different. Yeah, so we're all different. Right. You guys can't drive a race car. I can't play ball. We're different. I can attempt to, Yeah, you can shoot. I'm not even I can't get in the car. And I told a buddy of mine that I told a buddy of mine it might be in this room. I said, hey, man, you might be able to take pictures and shoot videos. I can do that same ship too, but you can't drive race So just remember that. Remember that when you

want to talk, Hey man, my picture better than yours. Yeah, I can do your job, you can't. He a little bit of reality. I just speak facts. But again, we're all different. We're all different. And you know, is it my purpose in life to be a race car driver? You don't know? Is it your purpose to was it your purpose to play ball? You don't know? But you live it out every day to figure out what your purpose is. And it's different from everybody else. And so

as I've always said, live to be different. Like you know, I'm different the way I look in the sport, and so I'm not letting that stop me. So I encourage other people to live on life, have fun with it. Only you can tell yourself no. People gonna try. But you gotta be strong enough mentally and physically to say no. That mental part. How do you reflect on your career with this so far? What's what anything you want to accomplish? Like on the first thing on your mind? Yeah, I

think you know. It's it's really big, uh to be successful. For me, success reads everything, winning means everything everything, and realizing that there's so much more to life than that. Like I've I've started to learn that, Like I I made a big mistake and when you know, I wasn't running well and I told my fiance like, hey, Rasin is always gonna come first. That was a massive stakes

racing thing. Always gonna be there, right, you know, and understand that life is super important and the people that you're surrounded with is super important. I started to appreciate that a lot more. And we're in a great spot, better than we've ever been. Um. And so understanding that part of it has been really really cool. Um. But from the racing side of things and my career, there is is you know, Bubba wins Talladega, it's a massive story.

Bubba wins Kansas, It's a massive story. I want to get to the point where it's like, oh, Bubba, just want another you know, but but did it again? Yeah, and it's and it's just like Okay, that's it and not be some like oh ship like I'd like to text go from four hundred down to twenty. Hey man, nice job, good job. That's it. Super appreciative all foreign people that text me. But it's one of those deals

is like it's a surprise. Still, it feels like a surprise, and I wanted to get it to where it's like a normal occurrence. So if you're going to do this for someone in years to be able to have it, just another one. It's another one? Is it? Who is Bubba Willas outside of the homebody? I don't I don't like PC. Yeah, PC, So I'm on that wars on stuff. Okay, see like okay, let me tell you something. When somebody

say they're a PC, they mean they cheat. They got aimed bats, somebody just moving the moss and shop you can aim assists with the controllers. Yeah, but it's just so so you know, it's easier with their mouths recoil. Jack just behind and try to snipe people. He's not really out there. I'm gonna picking teams. It's a good leader. I'm gonna pick you and the rest of the guys. It's gonna do a lot of killing. And I was

gonna call people out in snipe just getting carried. I'm sniping. Hey, someone came and played Jack on Call of Duty Murray on our show, they do a knife and kill Jack with a knife and jack knife on the game. I'm shooting everybody doing a knife in me. Yeah, so I'm a big gamer. Um. There's a couple of us that get on uh about every night, nine thirty, ten o'clock. It's the what's up? It's time? All right, baby, I got a text. You gotta go killing the chill. That's

what I was trying to me with bonds. Yeah, that's how we're killing the chilling. I love that. Besides that, I'm golfing. Try to golf once twice a week. Put your handicap a twelve. Okay, you're okay, Yeah that's weelve and it's so frustrating. Shot eighty seven a day, eighties seven. Now we didn't get to finish, so I can get the score. But now I'm I am a hater of myself when it comes to golf. Oh you don't want to play around me because I used to get super

fucking mad. I'll enjoy the moment, but I'm just madam competitive and I'm like, you know what to do, do it and I can't do it. So but yeah, golf and just relaxing at home like parties. I'll party all day if it's at my house. Yeah, I'm not going out, hate the city, hate traffic. Just I lift eleven minutes from the airport. Get on playing, go home race, do all that come back? You're driving enough. I want to be home too quick. Hitters, coming down to the end

of the show. First thing across your mind. Let us know top five NASCAR drivers of all time in your opinion Richard Petty got, Dylan Hart, Jimmy Johnson all seven times champions. Uh you know, I didn't really pay attention to the older stuff. Um so people are gonna be like, oh, you didn't say like Kelly Yarborough or you know, Davey Allison's your list. Yeah, uh so I got those three and then right now current time Kyle Bush, Kyle Larson,

stuck on the island. Three shows are movies in rotation Friday. Uh, I'm a horror movie fanatic. And Halloween came out today. Uh it was thirty the thirtieth Halloween, thirty one. It's gonna be asked, but that's all right. I was watching Halloween when I was like four or five. So yeah, like a lot of parents, my friends that we could,

we couldn't watch watch all of it. Uh So Friday, Halloween, let's go more suspense um like law abiding sis and one night in Vegas on the money line cardcause everything is on the house. They got a lot of money over there. Three people you'd bring with you past or present? I'm not in Vegas and you're not party or but tonight you're gonna party because it's I'm money line swipe it. Um. Let's see who who would I bring present? That's tough,

better alive? One night, yeah, one night in Vegas. I'm gonna have to go with I said Friday, So I'm gonna have to go with Tucker Smoke Okay, yeah Smoky because I was too. And then who's another solid one? I would have to probably invite Wayne out wheezy oh yeah yeah uh. And then the third the third I party with m jam right him Jam yeah yeah, I'm

just speaking and cigars, so that's you got some. I already got some good tea if you like that, and I don't like that, and like that any pre race routines you've got, Our schedules are so like compact on. We try to time it out to where I'll have like forty five minutes to an hour after all of our meet and greets and stuff at the track. Uh to go back to the bus eat Uh, shower if you need to, but just get ready. But I'll put music on. I put music on and go to the

back room of the bus and blast it. So did too. Yeah, it's just done out. So it's it's funny. I always tell the new people that I meet. It's like when you'll see me at the track, you know, doing the meet and greets, it's, hey, what's up? How are you?

You know, everything's great, like welcome out. But then when you see me again, like no disrespect, but I'm you know, because it's so different for us, Like two hours before game, you guys are in locker room, you know, getting Fred, We're signing autographs, get some babies, We're doing all that stuff. And even before we throw a leg in the car, we're still doing that chip. So it's always always in the moment. You guys can see that. On Sunday. How fast do you get in and out of the pits? Uh?

Average average? So the pit stops the pit stops alone own. Uh if you can bust off an eight five, let's getting eight seconds really eight like a change of blown tire whatever. The blowing tire is different because you gotta get the car up. But if it's a come in, come in, a clean stop and everybody executes, it's eight

point five and nine seconds and the slowest. There's some teams that, you know, maybe developmental teams that are excuse me, doing fourteen fifteen seconds, but you got no shot every second, and that's changing all four tires and what else? And fuel four tires and fuel enough. Yeah, and so if you ask for an adjustment that slows down your time by a couple of few tenths, have it. No, So you have to be spot on every time. So eight

eight five, I think is our fastest recorded stop. It's not hours, but in the sport for this new car, because it used to be it used to be uh ten seconds, but we've gone from five lug nuts to one lug nut, so you think about that time. It decreased that time, so it took three second. It's tough to deal. Here's the real question. Five dinner guests better alive? Um U plus five? Okay, So there's two sitting in the room right here, right let's right, my boy, my boy,

we're gonna have a good time. I'm gonna make sure and I'm more secured. Um, let's go with uh, you know, let's go with Prince. Uh, Prince, let's go with him. Let's go with h. I think it'd be awesome to sit there and have a conversation with Obama. Oh, have a have a have a drink, have a cocktail? One more? Um, Kobe, m there you go. I'm bringing the wheat. If you could see one guess on all the smoke Michael Jordan, who would it be? Um? Before you answer the question,

you have to help us get your answer. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll see if I can make a phone call get Yeah, what made you think of Mike? I didn't think of that. Yes, yeah, Michael, makes sense. Might come on through. Yeah, there you go. Well, Bubba man, we appreciate your time. Best this weekend. We're gonna be out there cheering for you. Um Man. Best luck the rest of the season. I know it's coming down to one end. Jack, you got something to give him? What we got? Let's go. You can sit while you

playing CD. Yeah, all the smoke shirt. What I'm saying, are you chilling or killing? He said? I love it? Thanks once again, Bubba Wallas, big shout out, money Line, Blue Wire Studios, the Win Hotel. You can catch us on Showtime Basketball YouTube and the I Heart platform Black Effects. We'll see you all next week. Put Up n Street, everybody in