Race: Bubba Wallace (2022) s01e04 Episode Script
The Inner Voice
1
When I started out,
we always won.
Back in 2013 win win.
What's next? I am so proud of you, baby! Goddang it, Mom.
Come on, now.
It's Daytona.
Well, that sucks.
Hey, can we get top 20 here? I screwed up so bad.
It sucks, man.
Coming into the 2021 season - Oh! - A hard crash! got into a wreck.
 Fucked that one up.
Oh! Bubba goes around! What the fuck? Going into Martinsville, I expected to win.
Hey, fuck you.
I hate losing, and I haven't won in four years.
What the hell is going on? Still telling myself that I suck every day.
They were like, "What's going on? You seem different.
" I'm like, "I'm depressed.
" And I finally told him, I need help.
Your favorite race so far this year? Well, it was gonna be Martinsville, but that didn't work out.
Um Hm.
I haven't had one.
I haven't had one.
I wanna show a couple things to everyone about what I see that's a struggle.
There's plenty to talk about.
Uh, biggest thing I wrote down is braking, center turn and migration, what Freddie saw in the race, our communications during a race, uh, and again, just get back to believing that we are better than what we're showing right now.
We talk about the limitations we have.
Part of that is getting Bubba in here to be face-to-face with the guys that mechanic the car, that put the car together.
What did he fight the most? Was he loose in? Was he tight center? Was he loose off? A lot of factors keep us from winning.
Wanna make sure we cross those off.
Now, you getting beat at Martinsville.
I know dang well you struggled at Martinsville.
Yeah, I'm really pissed at Martinsville.
I expected to win.
So, that's what happens when you have expectations like that.
I expected to run better.
I'm actually surprised we suffered as poor as we did.
We all wanted to be better than 16th.
So, that's what I wanna talk about.
I think, um 'Cause again, you didn't like your brakes.
I mean, you said the pedal was That effort was high for you, right? Yeah.
Like, it was super stiff.
And, I mean, I was - All I had to press that motherfucker.
- Yeah.
And it's, like, doing doing this under the braking zone.
It's like Man, I was going way beyond comfort zone just to get it to stop.
Is our brake pedal, in general, stiffer than what you had over at RPM? Yes, especially at Martinsville.
It was confidence in the brakes.
You knew they weren't gripping as much.
Fix the brakes first.
I mean, Freddie, you wanna tell Bubba what you thought? Looked to me like you were just really struggling to get it slowed down, struggling with the brake package.
It looked uncommon for what we've always been doing there.
Didn't know if that was just the brakes.
Car was not good, by any means.
Um, it was tight.
It was loose.
Tight is no traction in the front.
Loose is no traction in the rear.
Hard for everybody.
Everybody's mad, frustrated.
'Cause he was asking me on the first 50 laps, "Hey, what's he doing? He looks like he's all out of place.
" And again, you were.
Bubba needs some coaching and, you know, some realism.
It's not easy.
A lot of times, there's hurt feelings.
Easy to say, "My equipment's not good enough.
" But again, it's not about, you know, taking it personal, it's trying to be critical about being better.
So, one thing I noticed, and I've spent hours looking at data He's slower than me mid-corner.
It's That's why it's like, you don't need to make all your time here.
The orange Yeah, like, carry the heavier break longer.
- Yeah.
- And trail break.
You can't just rely on natural talent.
That's something that Bubba has, so that's the first key, refining it.
What I want to see is by the end of this, we're battling inside the top ten.
Get a better brake package, we'll be fine.
Oh! I'm not gonna lie.
That was so frustrating.
I don't care we finished It was good we finished 16th 'cause we should have finished fucking 25th.
There's no doubt.
I had high hopes going into Martinsville.
I expected to win.
That confidence I felt I had? Gone.
Funny how that works, huh? I've known Bubba from kids up until now.
We've been really close.
All the attention was great last year, but now he wants to back that up with results on the race track, but if those aren't coming as quickly as he would like, the stress and pressure starts getting on him.
When he says, "I wanna go out there and win under the checkered," and then that doesn't happen, it's just not anybody else's fault but his own in his eyes.
He would harbor it inside to where he was just so frustrated and so built-up that he would essentially explode, like an inch away from losing it.
I remember a couple of years ago after he finished second at the Daytona 500, he's, I mean, super emotional.
Walk through the emotion of this moment for you.
He has allergies.
I'm watching this from behind the stage, I'm like, "What is going on?" Pull it together, bud.
You just finished second.
It's awesome.
I just try so hard to be successful at everything I do, - and my family pushes me - each and every day.
And they might not even know it, but I just wanna make them proud and Second isn't horrible, but it's still a good day.
Um I-I always know that he's hard on himself, but this was to a whole 'nother level.
And I'm telling him, like, "You gotta be open and honest with me.
" "This is friendship right now.
There's more to this.
" And I finally told him.
I got a lot of shit going on.
I need help.
I commend you for coming forward about that, because a lot of people are struggling.
They were like, "What's going on? Seem different.
" I'm like, "I'm depressed.
" It's been a lot better, um, but there's still days I go home, sit on the couch, and look at a blank TV.
- Oof.
- Yeah.
Welcome back to our coverage of this tour event already in progress.
Good stuff today.
The short game's been really sharp today.
There's a lot of shit going on up here.
Um My mental state has definitely taken me out of a lot of races throughout the last three or four years.
I became one of those haters.
I became the person sitting in the stands that boos me.
"You suck.
You can't do this.
" "Your teammates are lappin' you.
" "You got the same stuff they do, and you're pathetic.
" "You're a piece of shit.
" You know, when you're at this level, you do have a lot of responsibilities and obligations to fulfill, and a lot of people counting on you.
You know, I want the best for myself, my family.
And so when it doesn't happen, you start to blame yourself for not getting the job done, you know? But that's I think that sends you down that path.
And then it just kind of latches onto you, and you can't really just shake it off.
That dark cloud comes over, and you can't think positive things, you know? I don't know.
I-I haven't been the suicidal person.
It's just the self-doubt, self-hate of like, "Hey, you'll never be good enough.
" And it's like It's hard to overcome that.
He and I talk very often about where we're at.
We had a pretty rough patch in our relationship for about a year.
We were actually struggling in our relationship when he, um, came to me and said how he was struggling mentally, and that was the first time.
It's hard to watch but over the last couple years, I've figured out how to help him, I think, in ways, um Try to calm him down if he's worked up, or if he sees something, you know, we try to bring it back to reality, you know.
But I definitely think a lot of it stems from his parents' divorce.
He really cares about his relationship with his father, and it's not there at the moment.
Right now, they're just not in a, um communicative, uh, space.
And so I think that's hard on Darrell, um, because he won't say it, but he needs it, he needs that relationship, in my opinion.
The relationship that Bubba has with his dad was very close.
A lot of people have the misconception that Bubba was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.
That is so not true.
When Bubba first started racing, we had just started our company, Wallace Industrial, it was an industrial cleaning business.
We had hydro-blasting trucks, and vacuum trucks, pressure washers.
You know, the PSIs are powerful.
The machines that Wallace Industrial has can basically cut a house in half.
It took a lot of time and sacrifice to support Bubba.
His dad made sure that he had the best equipment in order to run with the best.
You know, we had to wait before we could pay our bills because of the sacrifices we made with his racing.
His dad supported him in that.
People don't understand, that was his best friend.
I give a lot of credit to his father for being where he is today, but when it comes to divorce, you know We were together almost 30 years, and I never could have imagined the breakup would be as nasty and ugly as it was.
So, that was 2016.
It was such a bad divorce.
Life is falling apart.
You know, my parents' life is falling apart.
Me and my dad, yeah, we didn't talk for, uh We didn't talk for a long time.
His quote is, "Time heals all wounds," and then that would be it.
2016, when I signed my, uh, my first Cup contract You know, my dad was always a part of my deals.
He was the one negotiating everything, was always there, part of those meetings, and this time he wasn't.
It was a little weird, intimidating, being there by myself, but I had my managers around me, but, you know You sit there and look at everything, and you're kind of an adult on your own.
So I remember texting him, you know, "Hey, Pops.
Hope all is well.
" Um "Just wanted to say I love you, uh, and hope that I made you proud by signing my first Cup contract.
" Bub has tried to reach out to his father several times.
Of course he's bothered that the relationship he has with his father is not where he would like for it to be.
Um, and I know he's deeply hurt by that.
Um, and like I said, we just continue to pray, uh, for healing.
Do you feel like time heals all wounds? No.
No.
I'm in a routine.
Usually at the gym 8:45 in the morning.
Still haven't accepted that routine.
I still bitch and complain about it, just 'cause I don't like being up early or working out.
I still do it, though.
Just to keep me mentally focused and not become an enemy of self.
Such a stigma that people can't talk about being depressed.
Just seems like it latches onto you, and you struggle to, uh Ooh, God! to shake it off.
Like, just snap out of it.
When it comes to Bubba's emotional state, I don't wanna seem worried, but he's still figuring out what he needs to do to get his emotional state back to where it is, but it takes time, and sometimes he's not very patient.
- Bubba, march.
- Huh? What? - March, don't run.
- Oh.
The next race to come up, which is Talladega, a lot of people would think to come back to Talladega would be very traumatizing, but, you know, you wipe the slate clean and you go back.
That's just my mentality.
Talladega, the first big sporting event since the pandemic to allow a large number of fans.
Five thousand fans were here today, and a NASCAR official told me that the Confederate flag ban is in place.
All Confederate flags are now prohibited from NASCAR events.
This comes after the circuit's only Black full-time driver pushed for the change.
I think people thought of NASCAR as a racist sport.
And we're not.
We are a sport of people who want to include other people to come here.
For those that wanted to fly the flag and that was important to them, they just can't do it at our facilities.
Across the street from the track, there are a number of gift shops selling Confederate flag memorabilia.
They're everywhere you look out here.
Alabama is a very difficult state for a person of color to be in.
My first experience was in 1990 going to that track.
People stopping their conversations and pointing at me.
It was clear that I didn't see anybody else that looked like me.
And I could tell that I was a fish out of water.
A plane flew over the racetrack in Talladega today with a Confederate flag and a banner that read "Defund NASCAR.
" It's just very, very rooted in oppression and, you know, white supremacy and things of that nature.
We were maybe ten days, if that, off of banning the Confederate flag.
And so, to find the Confederate flag in Talladega, Alabama, there was a lot of tension.
Also, given where we were as a country during that time, emotions were high.
- I can't breathe! - Louder! - I can't breathe! - Louder! Overnight, nationwide unrest.
Across the country, what started as peaceful gatherings protesting the death of George Floyd devolved into destruction.
At least two dozen cities are under some sort of curfew.
The climate of the entire sport at that time, there were a large group of people that were all for him, "He's the best thing that's ever happened to the sport.
" There's also a very large group saying, "You are essentially ruining NASCAR by taking this stance.
" There was a protest outside the track.
People are protesting as a result of something you did.
It felt, it felt I felt nervous.
Very tense weekend to go To start.
Rain has now made its way to the speedway.
I'm afraid this shower has turned into a super soaker.
So, we're at Talladega, and the worst thing that happens at a NASCAR track is when it rains, right? It's miserable 'cause you're gonna go through this long process of trying to dry the track.
I was up in race control, talked to Steve O'Donnell.
It's almost 4:00 on Sunday.
He said, "We can't dry the track in time.
" "Gonna get too dark.
We can't go.
" "We're gonna have to postpone till tomorrow.
" I'm like "Brutal.
" Um, I said, "Okay.
" And he said there's a crew member on Bubba's team, that they found a noose in Bubba's garage stall.
My heart sank.
What are we gonna do? But, importantly, we needed to have a discussion with Bubba.
Um, and that, obviously, I felt was my responsibility.
My phone rang, and I was like, "Steve Phelps.
" And said, "I need to talk to you.
" He's like, "Mind if I swing by?" I'm like "Okay.
Shit.
" "Should I pack up my bag, Steve? Do I need to leave?" "Am I suspended? What's the deal?" He's like, "All right, I'll be there in a minute.
" I'm like, "Okay.
" So, I went to his bus, and it-it was I I have to tell you I was as nervous as I've been in almost anything I've ever done to have to walk into his motor coach and to tell him this.
Um So, I open up the door for him.
He walks in, and he looks up, says, "Hey, bud.
" He's got tears in his eyes, and he's struggling to talk.
Um It was hard.
Um, so, I walked in, and I told him.
He was like, "There was a noose found in your garage.
" And so it was like "A what?" And he said we'll do everything to "find the motherfucker that did this," and they'll never be allowed back in our garage, in our sport.
And tears are rolling.
"But we'll be in contact.
" Then he left.
So, I sat there.
Called my mom.
I got a call from Bub.
He said, "I have something to tell you.
" "They think there was a hate crime committed.
" "They found a noose.
" I'm emotional.
And I was like, "Son, are you okay?" - "I'm all right.
" - He said, "Mom, I'm fine.
I'm nowhere" "We're not even allowed to even go to the garage.
I'm I'm fine.
" He's gonna have extra security, all that.
NASCAR's involved.
Someone's trying to intimidate Bubba.
Who did it? Why'd they do it? Was this targeted? Was it on purpose? How do we wanna handle this? We have to acknowledge it, right? Before media gets a hold of this, we gotta put something out there.
We've got to make sure we handle this correctly.
Breaking news this morning, a noose was found A noose was found in a garage at the Talladega Superspeedway overnight.
NASCAR says, "We're angry and outraged, and cannot state strongly enough how seriously we take this heinous act.
" Bubba Wallace's statement, he said, "We will not be deterred by the reprehensible actions of those who seek to spread hate.
" "This will not break me.
" "I will not give in, nor will I back down.
" Immediately, Steve Phelps said, "There needs to be a full FBI investigation.
" We had to investigate why that noose was there.
Less than 24 hours later, there are 15 field agents that descended on Talladega.
Add federal investigators now looking into the hanging of a noose.
Obviously, if they've committed a crime, you deal with them with the full muscle and extent of the law.
I heard about the noose on social media.
I mean, let's be honest, it's what everybody was thinking, "This is on-brand for this sport.
" And considering the level of which Bubba had been making his feelings known, and had become very active about expressing his outrage over what was happening in our country, and being a leader and a voice, we all knew there was gonna be some moment where somebody was gonna try to put him back in his place and somebody was gonna try to silence him.
That noose seemed to be, "Here it is.
Here we go.
Here comes the bullshit.
" It's a noose.
And understanding what that symbolizes, it's like, "Well, Bub, they're just trying to scare you.
" "Don't let this affect you.
It'll be all right.
" Called my dad.
You can put down your differences for big things like that.
"Hey, there was a noose found.
" "You got a gun?" That's what he said.
I was like, "No.
" "You need to get one.
" "All right.
" He's the only one that knows what it's like to be Black and be driving in NASCAR.
For him to be dealing with this, um, and dealing with it alone There was, of course, a level of, you know, sadness for him.
There's just a long history of Black athlete activism.
We could go back to Jack Johnson.
We could go back to Althea Gibson, Jackie Robinson, Jesse Owens, Bill Russell.
All these Black athletes who used their sport to address something bigger.
In war, the intention is to kill and continue killing innocent people.
If a Black athlete was political, it hurt his career.
Muhammad Ali was immediately stripped of his title by the World Boxing Association.
His ranting and raving, his association with extremist Negroes, have all made him unpopular.
Tommie Smith told me when they got kicked off the Olympic team, sent home from the Olympics, couldn't find a job, totally ostracized by society.
He was broke.
In every generation, there's always been athletes that took a stand.
There's also been athletes that have been very apolitical, not having a point of view on these issues.
Nobody does it better than Hertz.
It was too polarizing.
Gonna lose half your customer base.
And so, you know, it was the right thing to do from a business and a bottom-line perspective.
So, famously, you talk about Michael Jordan saying, "Republicans buy shoes too.
" "Why would I speak out on politics? That's gonna hurt the bottom line.
" But then there's a shift, and a lot of it happened in LeBron James' time, where LeBron James went from an athlete who maybe wasn't gonna speak out to suddenly, "If you don't speak out, you're not paying attention.
" Outrage over the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin is spreading LeBron James decided that it was time to speak up.
Eric Garner saying "I can't breathe" 11 times.
I think it was a mass sort of recognition that there's something big that we need to fix in this country.
Here, where Michael Brown was killed - Sterling shot by officer - Philando Castile shot Not guilty verdict in the death of Freddie Gray.
Colin Kaepernick is expected to kneel once again.
Colin Kaepernick, he put a different obligation on athletes when it came to speaking up for social justice.
I know the consequences that come along with my decision.
Get that son of a bitch off the field right now.
Out.
He's fired! I believe our President has kind of used sport to kind of divide us.
Shut up and dribble.
Looking at the nature of protesting, it's at its most supreme effectiveness when it can create disruption.
The entire Cowboys team, including owner Jerry Jones, a supporter of President Trump's, taking a knee.
Seeing what Colin Kaepernick did and what he went through, uh, it's impossible for people not to be inspired by that.
And it's also impossible not to say, "It's time I risk something.
It's time I put something on the table.
" I got a daughter.
And I'm gonna do whatever I gotta do to make sure she can look at her dad and be like, "Hey, you did something, tried to make a change.
" Know what I'm saying? At this point, I've been blessed to have the privilege of being in the NFL, but I can't look in the mirror, and see other people dying on the street that should have the same opportunities I've had, and say, "I can live with myself," because I can't if I just watch.
That spirit has woven its way into Bubba Wallace.
Something changed inside me to be an activist.
My mother said, "Did you ever believe you'd be an activist?" And I'm like, "No, not really.
" But, you know, I just felt in my heart that I needed to step up.
I know that people often look at when an athlete is, you know, is the only one in the sport The thing about breaking a barrier is that it involves breaking.
That means there's pain associated with it.
And when you go back and you look at what athletes like Jackie Robinson had to deal with, what you didn't hear about is what that did to Jackie's spirit, the pain it left him with, being the only one, being called "nigger" in every possible stadium.
Dealing with a huge level of racial hostility, you know, that's psychologically traumatizing.
And so, when the noose incident happened, I was disheartened, sad, because what Bubba is going through, in real time, is horrible.
He's paying a cost and a price that most people aren't built to pay.
Welcome to Talladega.
Where we try for the second day to get 500 miles of racing in.
Weather prevented that yesterday.
Jimmie Johnson had called me to check in.
We also have a driver's chat, and he said, "I don't know about y'all, but I plan on standing next to Bubba for, uh, for national anthem.
" In our driver text, it started growing, "We're gonna stand in unity behind Bubba.
" That to me was like, "Man, this is this is my friend.
" We're really a big family.
We support each other no matter what.
All of NASCAR's drivers have rallied around Bubba Wallace, the NASCAR Cup Series' lone Black driver.
I noticed it was very busy in the background of the drivers.
The drivers and their crews, the entire garage area.
Bubba's friends, competitors, and on-track foes have closed ranks around him.
That was the whole garage.
And I lost it.
Richard Petty is here today.
The king of our sport flies in the middle of COVID, and is there to walk beside him? I went because I was 100% behind my driver.
When we have a driver driving for us, he becomes part of the Petty family, or we become part of his family.
It was spectacular.
I mean, I was incredibly emotional while watching it.
That was a tremendous sign of unity.
Shocking.
That's something you never thought that you would see in NASCAR.
For everybody to stand in support with Bubba in that moment, give us that visual about what that support looks like There's something bigger at stake here.
To send that message to other people that you consider him to be one of you is powerful.
There's been quite a bit of time that has passed since that day.
You're still gonna have those people that wanna have backlash.
Hopefully, they just choose to not come to the race.
Whoo! Yeah! Let's go, baby! Dega, baby! To come back to Talladega, it was a little weird.
As traumatizing as it is, athletes in general, you know, we forget quickly, and we we come back ready to work the next day.
The race is on for Bubba Wallace! No matter what struggles you go through, you keep pushing.
- Get 'em, Bub.
- Yes, sir.
- This'll be a good day for you.
- Hopefully.
- It'll be good.
You been rolling.
- Yes, sir.
How's everything just in general? - Grinding through.
It's a lot.
- Is it? You got a lot going on? For sure.
We'll be all right.
Come yell at me if you got anything I can help with.
Okay.
I will.
- Let me know.
- Thanks, Coach.
Appreciate it.
What's up? This is the bullshit we keep talking about.
Like what? Now we all have to go to the back.
All the cars go through inspection.
NASCAR, what they saw is we had a piece of tape around the A-posts of our car they didn't like.
We went through inspection, you had a chance to look at it, but when they're on the grid, they didn't like it.
They kept making up shit of like, "Eh, we don't like it.
" We get on the grid.
Now they're like "We don't like that tape.
Go to the back.
" Yeah.
What is it? It's nothing.
You got to pull that off.
And now that's called an unapproved adjustment.
You adjusted the car after inspection.
You have to go to the back.
Did they get all of our cars? I'm sure they did.
JGR, which is Joe Gibbs Racing, along with 23XI, were aligned with Toyota.
And so that means, essentially, Bubba, he also has to go to the back.
Thing is, we've gone through tech multiple times.
Exactly.
Yeah.
The further you are back in the field, the dirtier your air is, the worse your car's gonna drive, the slower it's gonna be.
Welcome back to Talladega.
Late breaking news, all of the Toyotas will start in the back due to unapproved adjustments.
Follow the other cars.
Have all the Toyotas back here with us.
We'll work with them, try to get up there.
All right.
You know the deal here, 188.
Let's go to work.
Yes, sir! Ready, stacking a little Green, green.
Green flag at Talladega! Be aggressive.
Try to get up front.
All clear.
Bubba Wallace has moved up 31 positions after starting last, 40th.
Wow.
Got 1 goin' down now, be ready.
Go down there now.
Denny Hamlin Oh, he's gonna Wrecking All the way through.
Cool it down.
Wrecking.
Fuck.
Easy, easy, easy, easy.
Easy, easy, easy, easy.
Keep coming now.
Keep coming.
Stay green, stay green.
You good? I just checked the right spot.
Whoo! Ah, you know, pretty uneventful.
Just had a car land on us.
I think we're good, we made it through.
Thankful to see that car back on four wheels, and grabbing the window net there.
- A good sign.
- Great sign.
Green, green.
- 21 gonna put a block, yes.
- Oh, wow.
Wow.
Lead change here.
From worst to first, Bubba Wallace started this race 40th under penalty.
He's making a move.
Come back on bottom.
Come bottom.
When you're leading, you have to be on your game.
Keep an eye on the 11 of Hamlin.
He is trying to get his lap back before this stage ends.
To, uh, throw the right blocks at the right time.
Back bottom.
Whoa.
And make sure you keep that lead.
Hamlin and Keselowski are nose-to-tail on the inside.
And here they come.
And then Denny came up into the picture, and he's aggressive.
Gotta block every run he's got.
11's got momentum in the middle lane.
That's where the chess match comes in.
What's Bubba Wallace gonna do? Gonna try to protect that lead.
Are they teammates or not teammates, team owner or not team owner in that situation? Blocking the boss.
Long as we run good, he'll be okay with it.
Bubba Wallace trying for his first-ever stage win.
Lot of aggressive moves.
That's what pushed him to the lead.
Watch 2 going top, up top.
Whoa! I thought he made a few moves that were questionable.
He was lucky he didn't get wrecked in a few of 'em.
34, 12, on the bottom, come down bottom.
Whoa, down the yellow line.
Flies to the bottom to block the run.
How much risk you take? But you're trying to block both of those lines to maintain control.
Take no prisoners.
Roger that.
All right.
We're in a good spot.
It'll be one to go.
Up top.
All the way top.
- Denny, an outside wall.
- There he is.
Wreckin' behind you.
Stay green.
That was a big block.
Stacked them up, turned them around.
- Stage ends.
Bubba Wallace.
- Got it.
Let's fuckin' go, boys! Check that off the list.
First stage win for me.
Appreciate it.
Got the stage win, pretty cool.
That was our first, pretty special moment.
Stage 3.
Bubba Wallace just ran the fastest lap of the day, 202.
77 miles per hour.
He was very aggressive, played the lines correctly.
When big runs were coming, he was getting in front of them.
Gotta get out from behind 42.
He's terrible.
When you make a move, and you're deciding to pass the person in front of you on the high side or the low side, you're relying on people behind you to follow you.
And the pass will not get made if you don't have someone behind you willing to stay with you.
That's not gonna help.
Bubba goes to the outside of the 42.
That's gonna stall that whole lane now.
I didn't understand that move.
Fucking just awful.
You make one wrong move, you get shuffled to the back.
If you do it too late, then it's really hard to get back up to the front.
Ran well all day.
We got stage points.
We put ourselves in good position, but we kinda gave it away with a mistake.
Here they come.
To the outside comes McDowell, and Brad Keselowski wins Talladega! Man, that was wild.
Brad Keselowski led one lap.
Only one that counts! - We've been there, done that.
- Yeah.
Good day.
P-18 is not where we wanted to finish, but, obviously, it's a stage win, points, everything else.
Could have been a lot worse.
Uh Nice job, Freddie, pit crew, road crew.
Good points day.
Bubba's first stage win of his career was big for the team.
It's still a checkered flag, even though it's green and white, not black and white.
- Good job.
Good day.
- Good day.
Obviously wanted to win, but we made it up on the points.
So, it was good.
Okay, Bub.
It's important to win a race from a driver-confidence standpoint, I can tell you that.
For a team-morale standpoint.
Is it necessary? No.
But Bubba is a very emotional person, and he feeds off the good times, and he also feeds off the bad times.
As an athlete, though, I think you have to really manage your emotions.
And I think that the great ones, you know, from what I've seen, handle adversity better than others.
The FBI called me.
Wallace was not the target of a hate crime.
People jump to their own conclusions.
- Noose hoax - The fake stunt You're a fucking piece of shit.
I was like, "The President tweeted at me!" Bubba owes no one an apology.
This is as solid as I've seen Bubba in a long time.
Got a penalty.
You fucked up, and you cost us a top-ten day.
You have Michael Jordan at the track, and it's your worst track? - It's gotta play in your mind a bit.
- Let's go race.
I can't see.
- And into the wall! - I'm done.
Oh, oh my God I got to make it to the end It's far All my life, I've been counted out All my life has been hard, hard Oh, hard, hard And oh my God I've got to make it to the end It's far The sun is burning And it's getting hot Feeling so alone, alone There's only one thing left to do I put the pedal to the floor I put the pedal to the floor I put the pedal to the floor I put the pedal to the They're coming for my head Leaving just to see my shame I think they want me dead, dead But no, I won't give up And no, I can't give in I'm in my journey And God, you know I'm gonna win They're coming for my head Leaving just to see my shame I think they want me dead, dead But no, I won't give up They'll know I can't give in I'm in my journey And God, you know I'm gonna win I'm gonna win, oh
Back in 2013 win win.
What's next? I am so proud of you, baby! Goddang it, Mom.
Come on, now.
It's Daytona.
Well, that sucks.
Hey, can we get top 20 here? I screwed up so bad.
It sucks, man.
Coming into the 2021 season - Oh! - A hard crash! got into a wreck.
 Fucked that one up.
Oh! Bubba goes around! What the fuck? Going into Martinsville, I expected to win.
Hey, fuck you.
I hate losing, and I haven't won in four years.
What the hell is going on? Still telling myself that I suck every day.
They were like, "What's going on? You seem different.
" I'm like, "I'm depressed.
" And I finally told him, I need help.
Your favorite race so far this year? Well, it was gonna be Martinsville, but that didn't work out.
Um Hm.
I haven't had one.
I haven't had one.
I wanna show a couple things to everyone about what I see that's a struggle.
There's plenty to talk about.
Uh, biggest thing I wrote down is braking, center turn and migration, what Freddie saw in the race, our communications during a race, uh, and again, just get back to believing that we are better than what we're showing right now.
We talk about the limitations we have.
Part of that is getting Bubba in here to be face-to-face with the guys that mechanic the car, that put the car together.
What did he fight the most? Was he loose in? Was he tight center? Was he loose off? A lot of factors keep us from winning.
Wanna make sure we cross those off.
Now, you getting beat at Martinsville.
I know dang well you struggled at Martinsville.
Yeah, I'm really pissed at Martinsville.
I expected to win.
So, that's what happens when you have expectations like that.
I expected to run better.
I'm actually surprised we suffered as poor as we did.
We all wanted to be better than 16th.
So, that's what I wanna talk about.
I think, um 'Cause again, you didn't like your brakes.
I mean, you said the pedal was That effort was high for you, right? Yeah.
Like, it was super stiff.
And, I mean, I was - All I had to press that motherfucker.
- Yeah.
And it's, like, doing doing this under the braking zone.
It's like Man, I was going way beyond comfort zone just to get it to stop.
Is our brake pedal, in general, stiffer than what you had over at RPM? Yes, especially at Martinsville.
It was confidence in the brakes.
You knew they weren't gripping as much.
Fix the brakes first.
I mean, Freddie, you wanna tell Bubba what you thought? Looked to me like you were just really struggling to get it slowed down, struggling with the brake package.
It looked uncommon for what we've always been doing there.
Didn't know if that was just the brakes.
Car was not good, by any means.
Um, it was tight.
It was loose.
Tight is no traction in the front.
Loose is no traction in the rear.
Hard for everybody.
Everybody's mad, frustrated.
'Cause he was asking me on the first 50 laps, "Hey, what's he doing? He looks like he's all out of place.
" And again, you were.
Bubba needs some coaching and, you know, some realism.
It's not easy.
A lot of times, there's hurt feelings.
Easy to say, "My equipment's not good enough.
" But again, it's not about, you know, taking it personal, it's trying to be critical about being better.
So, one thing I noticed, and I've spent hours looking at data He's slower than me mid-corner.
It's That's why it's like, you don't need to make all your time here.
The orange Yeah, like, carry the heavier break longer.
- Yeah.
- And trail break.
You can't just rely on natural talent.
That's something that Bubba has, so that's the first key, refining it.
What I want to see is by the end of this, we're battling inside the top ten.
Get a better brake package, we'll be fine.
Oh! I'm not gonna lie.
That was so frustrating.
I don't care we finished It was good we finished 16th 'cause we should have finished fucking 25th.
There's no doubt.
I had high hopes going into Martinsville.
I expected to win.
That confidence I felt I had? Gone.
Funny how that works, huh? I've known Bubba from kids up until now.
We've been really close.
All the attention was great last year, but now he wants to back that up with results on the race track, but if those aren't coming as quickly as he would like, the stress and pressure starts getting on him.
When he says, "I wanna go out there and win under the checkered," and then that doesn't happen, it's just not anybody else's fault but his own in his eyes.
He would harbor it inside to where he was just so frustrated and so built-up that he would essentially explode, like an inch away from losing it.
I remember a couple of years ago after he finished second at the Daytona 500, he's, I mean, super emotional.
Walk through the emotion of this moment for you.
He has allergies.
I'm watching this from behind the stage, I'm like, "What is going on?" Pull it together, bud.
You just finished second.
It's awesome.
I just try so hard to be successful at everything I do, - and my family pushes me - each and every day.
And they might not even know it, but I just wanna make them proud and Second isn't horrible, but it's still a good day.
Um I-I always know that he's hard on himself, but this was to a whole 'nother level.
And I'm telling him, like, "You gotta be open and honest with me.
" "This is friendship right now.
There's more to this.
" And I finally told him.
I got a lot of shit going on.
I need help.
I commend you for coming forward about that, because a lot of people are struggling.
They were like, "What's going on? Seem different.
" I'm like, "I'm depressed.
" It's been a lot better, um, but there's still days I go home, sit on the couch, and look at a blank TV.
- Oof.
- Yeah.
Welcome back to our coverage of this tour event already in progress.
Good stuff today.
The short game's been really sharp today.
There's a lot of shit going on up here.
Um My mental state has definitely taken me out of a lot of races throughout the last three or four years.
I became one of those haters.
I became the person sitting in the stands that boos me.
"You suck.
You can't do this.
" "Your teammates are lappin' you.
" "You got the same stuff they do, and you're pathetic.
" "You're a piece of shit.
" You know, when you're at this level, you do have a lot of responsibilities and obligations to fulfill, and a lot of people counting on you.
You know, I want the best for myself, my family.
And so when it doesn't happen, you start to blame yourself for not getting the job done, you know? But that's I think that sends you down that path.
And then it just kind of latches onto you, and you can't really just shake it off.
That dark cloud comes over, and you can't think positive things, you know? I don't know.
I-I haven't been the suicidal person.
It's just the self-doubt, self-hate of like, "Hey, you'll never be good enough.
" And it's like It's hard to overcome that.
He and I talk very often about where we're at.
We had a pretty rough patch in our relationship for about a year.
We were actually struggling in our relationship when he, um, came to me and said how he was struggling mentally, and that was the first time.
It's hard to watch but over the last couple years, I've figured out how to help him, I think, in ways, um Try to calm him down if he's worked up, or if he sees something, you know, we try to bring it back to reality, you know.
But I definitely think a lot of it stems from his parents' divorce.
He really cares about his relationship with his father, and it's not there at the moment.
Right now, they're just not in a, um communicative, uh, space.
And so I think that's hard on Darrell, um, because he won't say it, but he needs it, he needs that relationship, in my opinion.
The relationship that Bubba has with his dad was very close.
A lot of people have the misconception that Bubba was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.
That is so not true.
When Bubba first started racing, we had just started our company, Wallace Industrial, it was an industrial cleaning business.
We had hydro-blasting trucks, and vacuum trucks, pressure washers.
You know, the PSIs are powerful.
The machines that Wallace Industrial has can basically cut a house in half.
It took a lot of time and sacrifice to support Bubba.
His dad made sure that he had the best equipment in order to run with the best.
You know, we had to wait before we could pay our bills because of the sacrifices we made with his racing.
His dad supported him in that.
People don't understand, that was his best friend.
I give a lot of credit to his father for being where he is today, but when it comes to divorce, you know We were together almost 30 years, and I never could have imagined the breakup would be as nasty and ugly as it was.
So, that was 2016.
It was such a bad divorce.
Life is falling apart.
You know, my parents' life is falling apart.
Me and my dad, yeah, we didn't talk for, uh We didn't talk for a long time.
His quote is, "Time heals all wounds," and then that would be it.
2016, when I signed my, uh, my first Cup contract You know, my dad was always a part of my deals.
He was the one negotiating everything, was always there, part of those meetings, and this time he wasn't.
It was a little weird, intimidating, being there by myself, but I had my managers around me, but, you know You sit there and look at everything, and you're kind of an adult on your own.
So I remember texting him, you know, "Hey, Pops.
Hope all is well.
" Um "Just wanted to say I love you, uh, and hope that I made you proud by signing my first Cup contract.
" Bub has tried to reach out to his father several times.
Of course he's bothered that the relationship he has with his father is not where he would like for it to be.
Um, and I know he's deeply hurt by that.
Um, and like I said, we just continue to pray, uh, for healing.
Do you feel like time heals all wounds? No.
No.
I'm in a routine.
Usually at the gym 8:45 in the morning.
Still haven't accepted that routine.
I still bitch and complain about it, just 'cause I don't like being up early or working out.
I still do it, though.
Just to keep me mentally focused and not become an enemy of self.
Such a stigma that people can't talk about being depressed.
Just seems like it latches onto you, and you struggle to, uh Ooh, God! to shake it off.
Like, just snap out of it.
When it comes to Bubba's emotional state, I don't wanna seem worried, but he's still figuring out what he needs to do to get his emotional state back to where it is, but it takes time, and sometimes he's not very patient.
- Bubba, march.
- Huh? What? - March, don't run.
- Oh.
The next race to come up, which is Talladega, a lot of people would think to come back to Talladega would be very traumatizing, but, you know, you wipe the slate clean and you go back.
That's just my mentality.
Talladega, the first big sporting event since the pandemic to allow a large number of fans.
Five thousand fans were here today, and a NASCAR official told me that the Confederate flag ban is in place.
All Confederate flags are now prohibited from NASCAR events.
This comes after the circuit's only Black full-time driver pushed for the change.
I think people thought of NASCAR as a racist sport.
And we're not.
We are a sport of people who want to include other people to come here.
For those that wanted to fly the flag and that was important to them, they just can't do it at our facilities.
Across the street from the track, there are a number of gift shops selling Confederate flag memorabilia.
They're everywhere you look out here.
Alabama is a very difficult state for a person of color to be in.
My first experience was in 1990 going to that track.
People stopping their conversations and pointing at me.
It was clear that I didn't see anybody else that looked like me.
And I could tell that I was a fish out of water.
A plane flew over the racetrack in Talladega today with a Confederate flag and a banner that read "Defund NASCAR.
" It's just very, very rooted in oppression and, you know, white supremacy and things of that nature.
We were maybe ten days, if that, off of banning the Confederate flag.
And so, to find the Confederate flag in Talladega, Alabama, there was a lot of tension.
Also, given where we were as a country during that time, emotions were high.
- I can't breathe! - Louder! - I can't breathe! - Louder! Overnight, nationwide unrest.
Across the country, what started as peaceful gatherings protesting the death of George Floyd devolved into destruction.
At least two dozen cities are under some sort of curfew.
The climate of the entire sport at that time, there were a large group of people that were all for him, "He's the best thing that's ever happened to the sport.
" There's also a very large group saying, "You are essentially ruining NASCAR by taking this stance.
" There was a protest outside the track.
People are protesting as a result of something you did.
It felt, it felt I felt nervous.
Very tense weekend to go To start.
Rain has now made its way to the speedway.
I'm afraid this shower has turned into a super soaker.
So, we're at Talladega, and the worst thing that happens at a NASCAR track is when it rains, right? It's miserable 'cause you're gonna go through this long process of trying to dry the track.
I was up in race control, talked to Steve O'Donnell.
It's almost 4:00 on Sunday.
He said, "We can't dry the track in time.
" "Gonna get too dark.
We can't go.
" "We're gonna have to postpone till tomorrow.
" I'm like "Brutal.
" Um, I said, "Okay.
" And he said there's a crew member on Bubba's team, that they found a noose in Bubba's garage stall.
My heart sank.
What are we gonna do? But, importantly, we needed to have a discussion with Bubba.
Um, and that, obviously, I felt was my responsibility.
My phone rang, and I was like, "Steve Phelps.
" And said, "I need to talk to you.
" He's like, "Mind if I swing by?" I'm like "Okay.
Shit.
" "Should I pack up my bag, Steve? Do I need to leave?" "Am I suspended? What's the deal?" He's like, "All right, I'll be there in a minute.
" I'm like, "Okay.
" So, I went to his bus, and it-it was I I have to tell you I was as nervous as I've been in almost anything I've ever done to have to walk into his motor coach and to tell him this.
Um So, I open up the door for him.
He walks in, and he looks up, says, "Hey, bud.
" He's got tears in his eyes, and he's struggling to talk.
Um It was hard.
Um, so, I walked in, and I told him.
He was like, "There was a noose found in your garage.
" And so it was like "A what?" And he said we'll do everything to "find the motherfucker that did this," and they'll never be allowed back in our garage, in our sport.
And tears are rolling.
"But we'll be in contact.
" Then he left.
So, I sat there.
Called my mom.
I got a call from Bub.
He said, "I have something to tell you.
" "They think there was a hate crime committed.
" "They found a noose.
" I'm emotional.
And I was like, "Son, are you okay?" - "I'm all right.
" - He said, "Mom, I'm fine.
I'm nowhere" "We're not even allowed to even go to the garage.
I'm I'm fine.
" He's gonna have extra security, all that.
NASCAR's involved.
Someone's trying to intimidate Bubba.
Who did it? Why'd they do it? Was this targeted? Was it on purpose? How do we wanna handle this? We have to acknowledge it, right? Before media gets a hold of this, we gotta put something out there.
We've got to make sure we handle this correctly.
Breaking news this morning, a noose was found A noose was found in a garage at the Talladega Superspeedway overnight.
NASCAR says, "We're angry and outraged, and cannot state strongly enough how seriously we take this heinous act.
" Bubba Wallace's statement, he said, "We will not be deterred by the reprehensible actions of those who seek to spread hate.
" "This will not break me.
" "I will not give in, nor will I back down.
" Immediately, Steve Phelps said, "There needs to be a full FBI investigation.
" We had to investigate why that noose was there.
Less than 24 hours later, there are 15 field agents that descended on Talladega.
Add federal investigators now looking into the hanging of a noose.
Obviously, if they've committed a crime, you deal with them with the full muscle and extent of the law.
I heard about the noose on social media.
I mean, let's be honest, it's what everybody was thinking, "This is on-brand for this sport.
" And considering the level of which Bubba had been making his feelings known, and had become very active about expressing his outrage over what was happening in our country, and being a leader and a voice, we all knew there was gonna be some moment where somebody was gonna try to put him back in his place and somebody was gonna try to silence him.
That noose seemed to be, "Here it is.
Here we go.
Here comes the bullshit.
" It's a noose.
And understanding what that symbolizes, it's like, "Well, Bub, they're just trying to scare you.
" "Don't let this affect you.
It'll be all right.
" Called my dad.
You can put down your differences for big things like that.
"Hey, there was a noose found.
" "You got a gun?" That's what he said.
I was like, "No.
" "You need to get one.
" "All right.
" He's the only one that knows what it's like to be Black and be driving in NASCAR.
For him to be dealing with this, um, and dealing with it alone There was, of course, a level of, you know, sadness for him.
There's just a long history of Black athlete activism.
We could go back to Jack Johnson.
We could go back to Althea Gibson, Jackie Robinson, Jesse Owens, Bill Russell.
All these Black athletes who used their sport to address something bigger.
In war, the intention is to kill and continue killing innocent people.
If a Black athlete was political, it hurt his career.
Muhammad Ali was immediately stripped of his title by the World Boxing Association.
His ranting and raving, his association with extremist Negroes, have all made him unpopular.
Tommie Smith told me when they got kicked off the Olympic team, sent home from the Olympics, couldn't find a job, totally ostracized by society.
He was broke.
In every generation, there's always been athletes that took a stand.
There's also been athletes that have been very apolitical, not having a point of view on these issues.
Nobody does it better than Hertz.
It was too polarizing.
Gonna lose half your customer base.
And so, you know, it was the right thing to do from a business and a bottom-line perspective.
So, famously, you talk about Michael Jordan saying, "Republicans buy shoes too.
" "Why would I speak out on politics? That's gonna hurt the bottom line.
" But then there's a shift, and a lot of it happened in LeBron James' time, where LeBron James went from an athlete who maybe wasn't gonna speak out to suddenly, "If you don't speak out, you're not paying attention.
" Outrage over the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin is spreading LeBron James decided that it was time to speak up.
Eric Garner saying "I can't breathe" 11 times.
I think it was a mass sort of recognition that there's something big that we need to fix in this country.
Here, where Michael Brown was killed - Sterling shot by officer - Philando Castile shot Not guilty verdict in the death of Freddie Gray.
Colin Kaepernick is expected to kneel once again.
Colin Kaepernick, he put a different obligation on athletes when it came to speaking up for social justice.
I know the consequences that come along with my decision.
Get that son of a bitch off the field right now.
Out.
He's fired! I believe our President has kind of used sport to kind of divide us.
Shut up and dribble.
Looking at the nature of protesting, it's at its most supreme effectiveness when it can create disruption.
The entire Cowboys team, including owner Jerry Jones, a supporter of President Trump's, taking a knee.
Seeing what Colin Kaepernick did and what he went through, uh, it's impossible for people not to be inspired by that.
And it's also impossible not to say, "It's time I risk something.
It's time I put something on the table.
" I got a daughter.
And I'm gonna do whatever I gotta do to make sure she can look at her dad and be like, "Hey, you did something, tried to make a change.
" Know what I'm saying? At this point, I've been blessed to have the privilege of being in the NFL, but I can't look in the mirror, and see other people dying on the street that should have the same opportunities I've had, and say, "I can live with myself," because I can't if I just watch.
That spirit has woven its way into Bubba Wallace.
Something changed inside me to be an activist.
My mother said, "Did you ever believe you'd be an activist?" And I'm like, "No, not really.
" But, you know, I just felt in my heart that I needed to step up.
I know that people often look at when an athlete is, you know, is the only one in the sport The thing about breaking a barrier is that it involves breaking.
That means there's pain associated with it.
And when you go back and you look at what athletes like Jackie Robinson had to deal with, what you didn't hear about is what that did to Jackie's spirit, the pain it left him with, being the only one, being called "nigger" in every possible stadium.
Dealing with a huge level of racial hostility, you know, that's psychologically traumatizing.
And so, when the noose incident happened, I was disheartened, sad, because what Bubba is going through, in real time, is horrible.
He's paying a cost and a price that most people aren't built to pay.
Welcome to Talladega.
Where we try for the second day to get 500 miles of racing in.
Weather prevented that yesterday.
Jimmie Johnson had called me to check in.
We also have a driver's chat, and he said, "I don't know about y'all, but I plan on standing next to Bubba for, uh, for national anthem.
" In our driver text, it started growing, "We're gonna stand in unity behind Bubba.
" That to me was like, "Man, this is this is my friend.
" We're really a big family.
We support each other no matter what.
All of NASCAR's drivers have rallied around Bubba Wallace, the NASCAR Cup Series' lone Black driver.
I noticed it was very busy in the background of the drivers.
The drivers and their crews, the entire garage area.
Bubba's friends, competitors, and on-track foes have closed ranks around him.
That was the whole garage.
And I lost it.
Richard Petty is here today.
The king of our sport flies in the middle of COVID, and is there to walk beside him? I went because I was 100% behind my driver.
When we have a driver driving for us, he becomes part of the Petty family, or we become part of his family.
It was spectacular.
I mean, I was incredibly emotional while watching it.
That was a tremendous sign of unity.
Shocking.
That's something you never thought that you would see in NASCAR.
For everybody to stand in support with Bubba in that moment, give us that visual about what that support looks like There's something bigger at stake here.
To send that message to other people that you consider him to be one of you is powerful.
There's been quite a bit of time that has passed since that day.
You're still gonna have those people that wanna have backlash.
Hopefully, they just choose to not come to the race.
Whoo! Yeah! Let's go, baby! Dega, baby! To come back to Talladega, it was a little weird.
As traumatizing as it is, athletes in general, you know, we forget quickly, and we we come back ready to work the next day.
The race is on for Bubba Wallace! No matter what struggles you go through, you keep pushing.
- Get 'em, Bub.
- Yes, sir.
- This'll be a good day for you.
- Hopefully.
- It'll be good.
You been rolling.
- Yes, sir.
How's everything just in general? - Grinding through.
It's a lot.
- Is it? You got a lot going on? For sure.
We'll be all right.
Come yell at me if you got anything I can help with.
Okay.
I will.
- Let me know.
- Thanks, Coach.
Appreciate it.
What's up? This is the bullshit we keep talking about.
Like what? Now we all have to go to the back.
All the cars go through inspection.
NASCAR, what they saw is we had a piece of tape around the A-posts of our car they didn't like.
We went through inspection, you had a chance to look at it, but when they're on the grid, they didn't like it.
They kept making up shit of like, "Eh, we don't like it.
" We get on the grid.
Now they're like "We don't like that tape.
Go to the back.
" Yeah.
What is it? It's nothing.
You got to pull that off.
And now that's called an unapproved adjustment.
You adjusted the car after inspection.
You have to go to the back.
Did they get all of our cars? I'm sure they did.
JGR, which is Joe Gibbs Racing, along with 23XI, were aligned with Toyota.
And so that means, essentially, Bubba, he also has to go to the back.
Thing is, we've gone through tech multiple times.
Exactly.
Yeah.
The further you are back in the field, the dirtier your air is, the worse your car's gonna drive, the slower it's gonna be.
Welcome back to Talladega.
Late breaking news, all of the Toyotas will start in the back due to unapproved adjustments.
Follow the other cars.
Have all the Toyotas back here with us.
We'll work with them, try to get up there.
All right.
You know the deal here, 188.
Let's go to work.
Yes, sir! Ready, stacking a little Green, green.
Green flag at Talladega! Be aggressive.
Try to get up front.
All clear.
Bubba Wallace has moved up 31 positions after starting last, 40th.
Wow.
Got 1 goin' down now, be ready.
Go down there now.
Denny Hamlin Oh, he's gonna Wrecking All the way through.
Cool it down.
Wrecking.
Fuck.
Easy, easy, easy, easy.
Easy, easy, easy, easy.
Keep coming now.
Keep coming.
Stay green, stay green.
You good? I just checked the right spot.
Whoo! Ah, you know, pretty uneventful.
Just had a car land on us.
I think we're good, we made it through.
Thankful to see that car back on four wheels, and grabbing the window net there.
- A good sign.
- Great sign.
Green, green.
- 21 gonna put a block, yes.
- Oh, wow.
Wow.
Lead change here.
From worst to first, Bubba Wallace started this race 40th under penalty.
He's making a move.
Come back on bottom.
Come bottom.
When you're leading, you have to be on your game.
Keep an eye on the 11 of Hamlin.
He is trying to get his lap back before this stage ends.
To, uh, throw the right blocks at the right time.
Back bottom.
Whoa.
And make sure you keep that lead.
Hamlin and Keselowski are nose-to-tail on the inside.
And here they come.
And then Denny came up into the picture, and he's aggressive.
Gotta block every run he's got.
11's got momentum in the middle lane.
That's where the chess match comes in.
What's Bubba Wallace gonna do? Gonna try to protect that lead.
Are they teammates or not teammates, team owner or not team owner in that situation? Blocking the boss.
Long as we run good, he'll be okay with it.
Bubba Wallace trying for his first-ever stage win.
Lot of aggressive moves.
That's what pushed him to the lead.
Watch 2 going top, up top.
Whoa! I thought he made a few moves that were questionable.
He was lucky he didn't get wrecked in a few of 'em.
34, 12, on the bottom, come down bottom.
Whoa, down the yellow line.
Flies to the bottom to block the run.
How much risk you take? But you're trying to block both of those lines to maintain control.
Take no prisoners.
Roger that.
All right.
We're in a good spot.
It'll be one to go.
Up top.
All the way top.
- Denny, an outside wall.
- There he is.
Wreckin' behind you.
Stay green.
That was a big block.
Stacked them up, turned them around.
- Stage ends.
Bubba Wallace.
- Got it.
Let's fuckin' go, boys! Check that off the list.
First stage win for me.
Appreciate it.
Got the stage win, pretty cool.
That was our first, pretty special moment.
Stage 3.
Bubba Wallace just ran the fastest lap of the day, 202.
77 miles per hour.
He was very aggressive, played the lines correctly.
When big runs were coming, he was getting in front of them.
Gotta get out from behind 42.
He's terrible.
When you make a move, and you're deciding to pass the person in front of you on the high side or the low side, you're relying on people behind you to follow you.
And the pass will not get made if you don't have someone behind you willing to stay with you.
That's not gonna help.
Bubba goes to the outside of the 42.
That's gonna stall that whole lane now.
I didn't understand that move.
Fucking just awful.
You make one wrong move, you get shuffled to the back.
If you do it too late, then it's really hard to get back up to the front.
Ran well all day.
We got stage points.
We put ourselves in good position, but we kinda gave it away with a mistake.
Here they come.
To the outside comes McDowell, and Brad Keselowski wins Talladega! Man, that was wild.
Brad Keselowski led one lap.
Only one that counts! - We've been there, done that.
- Yeah.
Good day.
P-18 is not where we wanted to finish, but, obviously, it's a stage win, points, everything else.
Could have been a lot worse.
Uh Nice job, Freddie, pit crew, road crew.
Good points day.
Bubba's first stage win of his career was big for the team.
It's still a checkered flag, even though it's green and white, not black and white.
- Good job.
Good day.
- Good day.
Obviously wanted to win, but we made it up on the points.
So, it was good.
Okay, Bub.
It's important to win a race from a driver-confidence standpoint, I can tell you that.
For a team-morale standpoint.
Is it necessary? No.
But Bubba is a very emotional person, and he feeds off the good times, and he also feeds off the bad times.
As an athlete, though, I think you have to really manage your emotions.
And I think that the great ones, you know, from what I've seen, handle adversity better than others.
The FBI called me.
Wallace was not the target of a hate crime.
People jump to their own conclusions.
- Noose hoax - The fake stunt You're a fucking piece of shit.
I was like, "The President tweeted at me!" Bubba owes no one an apology.
This is as solid as I've seen Bubba in a long time.
Got a penalty.
You fucked up, and you cost us a top-ten day.
You have Michael Jordan at the track, and it's your worst track? - It's gotta play in your mind a bit.
- Let's go race.
I can't see.
- And into the wall! - I'm done.
Oh, oh my God I got to make it to the end It's far All my life, I've been counted out All my life has been hard, hard Oh, hard, hard And oh my God I've got to make it to the end It's far The sun is burning And it's getting hot Feeling so alone, alone There's only one thing left to do I put the pedal to the floor I put the pedal to the floor I put the pedal to the floor I put the pedal to the They're coming for my head Leaving just to see my shame I think they want me dead, dead But no, I won't give up And no, I can't give in I'm in my journey And God, you know I'm gonna win They're coming for my head Leaving just to see my shame I think they want me dead, dead But no, I won't give up They'll know I can't give in I'm in my journey And God, you know I'm gonna win I'm gonna win, oh