Bubba Wallace Drive To Win

“Some days, you wake up and somehow you just know something good is coming your way” — a feeling of foresight & confidence, of approaching victory. Days like these make you want to seize any opportunity you can. You try not to question what wondrous mixture of circumstances have gifted you this special day or what you did to deserve it. You go out into the world and do what you can and try to harness this blessing before big moments for the rest of your life, like rituals. At least that’s what Bubba tries to do.

He woke up with this feeling as a boy before field day. Being the fastest kid in school, he’d descend on the field knowing that he'd leave with a fistful of ribbons, always trying to one-up last year's take. 

Once he could reach the pedals -now the fastest kid in Concord, North Carolina- he traded the school yard turf for fairground asphalt. From ten years old, he burned his usual 110%, racing go-karts in front of NASCAR audiences opening for main events. He could smell the glory out there too, mixed with burnt rubber and gasoline.

“You have to put the work in now to see the results later”, Bubba learned. And 20 years later, those same crowds were chanting his name during the Cup Series. “Nothing can stop you from winning.”

Bubba woke up again with that same unstoppable feeling days before he dared the weather to stop his finish line rush at Talladega. That unstoppable force coursed through the 23 car and he seized his first NASCAR Cup Series victory. He felt it yet again before his win in Kansas. Maybe it just comes down to hard work, preparation, and a great team. Maybe there’s something else in the secret sauce.

Before Bubba made history in the 23 car, he partnered with Logitech G for both the NASCAR Cup Series and eNASCAR’s iRacing Pro Invitational Series. His time on the simulator shifts between other powerful forces — work and play. At times, he’s laser focused with his team to test what shocks and springs to run for upcoming weekends through the simulation, preparing for the unexpected. Other times he’s red-lining in a virtual car, embracing the chaos of propulsion.

“On any given Sunday, only one driver on the asphalt is going to get what they want out of that day,” despite each racer seizing every single opportunity they can on the track, some obstacles just cannot be avoided. There’s always next Sunday, another shot at glory and another test of a champion’s mentality.

The road to glory is riddled with challenges, some minor, others seemingly immovable. It’s when the impossible is accomplished that victory is the sweetest. It doesn’t matter if it’s in the sim or in the groove — Bubba follows his intuition to win for his team & his supporters, satisfying that unstoppable force inside him.

“I think the moment that I don't care about winning anymore is probably the day I retire.” For Bubba, there’s no such thing as an immovable object. Maybe in the rear-view, in his past, but he’s roared through anything that’s stood in his way to get where he is. His eyes are trained forward, towards what’s next, and it’s all open road.