Bubba Wallace’s Car to Feature Black Lives Matter Paint Scheme During NASCAR Martinsville Race

Bubba Wallace has a car that will stand out on Wednesday. The NASCAR star recently revealed his paint scheme to his No. 43 car for the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway, and it will be all about the Black Lives Matter movement. The car will be painted black and have the hashtag #blacklivesmatter on each side. The hood of the car will also feature a painting of the black hand holding a white hand to show unity.

With Wallace being the only full-time black driver in the NASCAR Cup Series, he’s been very outspoken when it comes to the protests on racial and social injustice. The protests began when George Floyd, a black man from Minnesota, died while in the custody of Minneapolis police officers, and Wallace had a strong reaction. “S—s getting old… hell, its been old. [What the f—] is gonna change?! [prayer hands emoji],” Wallace wrote on Twitter.

Along with not being happy with Floyd’s death, Wallace also wants changes in NASCAR. This week, Wallace told CNN he wants NASCAR to ban confederate flags at races. “My next step would be to get rid of all Confederate flags,” Wallace said in an interview with CNN on Monday. “No one should feel uncomfortable when they come to a NASCAR race. So it starts with Confederate flags. Get them out of here. They have no place for them.” Because of the flag’s history, Wallace realizes not too many fans would be in favor of the move. However, he believes its the best thing to do in order for the country to move forward.

“There’s going to be a lot of angry people that carry those flags proudly, but it’s time for change,” he added. “We have to change that, and I encourage NASCAR — we will have those conversations to remove those flags.” This is not the first time Wallace has talked about racial issues this year. Back in April, Wallace reacted to fellow driver Kyle Larson using a racial slur during an iRacing event.

“It’s NOT just a word,” Wallace said in a statement on Twitter. “There is a ton of negative meaning behind the word. Doesn’t matter if a person uses it in an offensive way or not. The word brings many terrible memories for people and families and brings them back to a time that WE as a community and human race have tried our hardest to get away from.”