Bubba Wallace is taking heat from fans once again. Following the 2023 NASCAR All-Star race, Wallace, who finished second, was being interviewed by Jamiel Little of Fox Sports about his performance. And before the interview, Wallace appeared to flash his middle finger toward the camera, which outraged fans.
Bob Pockrass, NASCAR reporter for Fox Sports shared NASCAR’s reaction to Wallace’s incident, and the organization said that he won’t be penalized since he used the gesture to a friend. NASCAR went on to say that Wallace flashing his middle finger was inappropriate but not malicious.
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Wallace is the only Black driver competing in the NASCAR Cup Series full-time. And while he’s done a few questionable things in his career, the 29-year-old has been attacked by fans since speaking out during the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020. On Saturday, Wallace competed in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at North Wilkesboro Speedway and finished fifth. And after the race, Wallace spoke about the boos directed at him.
“As long as you continue to live your life judging a book by its cover, that’s who you are,” he said, per Fox News. “Don’t change it up for anybody else. That’s the biggest thing. That’s fine. “I mean, I finished fifth, I got a good payday. I’m good.”
Wallace is having a solid season despite not winning a race yet. In 13 races, the Alabama native has finished in the top 10 four times and finished in the top 5 three times while leading in 115 laps. He’s in 15th place in the points standings, meaning he would qualify for the playoffs for the first time in his career if it began today. Wallace is the most successful Black driver in NASCAR history, winning six races in the Tuck Series and two races in the Cup Series.
In 2021, Wallace spoke to PopCulture.com after winning his first Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway. “Amanda [Wallace’s wife] claims that she told me that we were going to win, but I had a feeling Friday before the race, this is definitely going to happen. Just everything felt right. And so there was moments throughout the race though, I was like, this is not what I had envisioned. We were running 25th, but it’s Talladega, you never know what could happen with that last run there. We made a late charge to the front and actually got some help from Kurt [Busch], so it was kind of cool. A little bit of foreshadowing of what we can do with our future. But yeah, I think just being able to relive that moment and look back on what we were able to do that day is really cool.”
