Once upon a time, Bubba Wallace loathed road courses with the kind of passion most of us reserve for hospital food or HOA meetings. He didn’t just struggle on them—he admitted openly that he went into them without a plan, armed with nothing but blind optimism and tire smoke.
That was then. Now? Well, he still might suck at them—but at least there’s a PowerPoint behind the effort.
“I might suck but I’m going to give it my all,” Wallace said Friday in Mexico City, where NASCAR is racing for points outside the U.S. for the first time since Eisenhower was in office.
Wallace has a history of being allergic to right turns, but the old dread has shifted into something more useful: strategy.
“Before, I would try too hard with no plan – I’m just like ‘let’s see if this works,’ and it doesn’t,” he said. “Now, kind of understanding where to position the car and what to do on five-lap tires versus 20-lap tires is different now.”
He’s also not afraid to admit that it’s finally—maybe—starting to click.
“When you look at Chicago, we’ve been fast… bad luck has struck twice there. ROVAL – really good finishes… always have speed there. Hell, COTA qualified second this year – it is starting to click.”
But it wasn’t always like that.
“It takes me back to 2018… I had qualified next to last or something and [Kasey Kahne] walks up and says, ‘I was in the same boat once, and all of a sudden it just clicked.’”
Friday afternoon, Wallace was 18th in final practice, which isn’t great. But then again, this is a guy who loves being different—on the track and on the side of a Chumba Casino-wrapped Camry.
“All of our paint schemes… are really, really sharp and out there, and different,” he said. “We are big on being different.”
Speaking of different, Wallace is loving Mexico—and the food might be the main reason.
“They love their spice here, and it is good,” he said, clearly delighted. “Their hottest one has a decent kick to it, but it has a tremendous amount of flavor… I think we are just looking for who can be in the most pain in the States.”
He’s also embracing the fact that this weekend belongs to Daniel Suárez, racing at home in front of a passionate crowd.
“There is one rule this week – is to not wreck Suarez,” Wallace joked. “I didn’t think about that, but definitely adopting that rule too.”
Asked what he should be called now, Wallace didn’t blink.
“Whatever you want. I’m embracing it. I’m having a good time.”
Even the NASCAR-issued luchador mask? Sure, why not.
“I was just handed it as I was walking over here from NASCAR themselves. The NASCAR team gave this to me, so I appreciate that.”
On track limits—always a touchy subject on a street-style layout—Wallace offered up one of the more level-headed takes.
“I was a big fan of the tire packs,” he said. “It forces you to stay on the track limits… keeping us on line and keeping us on the racing surface.”
And on NASCAR’s broader ambitions abroad?
“This is a massive step to be in this demographic, in this market,” Wallace said. “There is no reason that we can’t create this environment somewhere else across the seas – it’s just the logistics of it all is really, really hard.”
At the end of the day, Bubba Wallace knows he’s still got a mountain to climb on road courses. But for once, he’s got something more than just a climbing rope and good intentions. Sure, he finished 18th in final practice, but he’s walking taller these days—armed with a roadmap, a mask NASCAR handed him, and a sincere appreciation for Mexican chili sauces that don’t taste like lava.
And for a guy who once looked lost the moment someone said “hairpin,” that’s real progress.
Greg was a writer for DriveTribe supporting Amazon's The Grand Tour and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, and a Masters degree in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek and a regular contributor to Forbes.