NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace has become a pretty iconic figure in motorsports. He is not only the lone Black full-time driver in the Cup Series, but he also helped lead the movement to ban Confederate flags at NASCAR events. This is in addition to now working with a Black team owner, as Wallace now drives on NBA legend Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing team, which makes its NASCAR debut this year.

However, while Bubba Wallace looks to help 23XI have a stellar season in 2021, he has also revealed that he has an ulterior motive heading into the Daytona 500.

Bubba Wallace has had a successful NASCAR career so far

He hasn’t been in the NASCAR Cup Series for too long, but Wallace has had a decent amount of success so far in his career.

According to his NASCAR driver page, Bubba Wallace was runner-up for the Rookie of the Year award in 2018 after finishing second at the Daytona 500 and in the top 10 in two other races. In 2019, though, Wallace only had one top-five and one top-10 finish, but he had a much better 2020 season. Wallace finished in the top 10 a career-high five times that year and had one top-five finish. Additionally, Wallace ended the 2020 season 22nd in the Cup Series standings.

Wallace has also won six Truck Series races in his career, too.

Now, the 27-year-old looks to have a big season with new ownership — legendary ownership.

He is racing for Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing in its debut NASCAR season

This offseason, Bubba Wallace joined Michael Jordan’s new NASCAR team, 23XI racing. The team is also co-owned by three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin.

Wallace is driving the No. 23 Toyota for 23XI this season, and it appears that the car is pretty fast.

“Our car is super fast. It’s one of the fastest cars in the garage,” Wallace said, according to NBA.com.

Wallace also believes that 23XI racing is helping increase representation in NASCAR, specifically in terms of minority ownership, as music star Pitbull is now also an owner of Daniel Suarez’s team.

“It’s big,” Wallace said, according to Sporting News. “It shows other minorities, ‘Hey, if these guys are investing, then why can’t we?’ and it will continue to grow our sport. That’s what we need. … I think we’ve put NASCAR on the map in a lot of new areas and a lot of new fans looking to tune in this year, which is huge for all of us. We just need to keep the ball rolling.”

Now, as Bubba Wallace gets ready to kick off the 2021 NASCAR season, he has recently revealed his ulterior motive for having success at this year’s Daytona 500.

Bubba Wallace wants to shut up his haters with a win at the Daytona 500

Bubba Wallace recently appeared on Shannon Sharpe‘s Club Shay Shay, and Sharpe asked Wallace what it would mean to win the Daytona 500.

“That race — anybody can win,” Wallace said on the Feb. 9 episode. “… It’s very hard to do; it’s an incredible feat for Denny [Hamlin] to be back-to-back, three-time Daytona 500 winner right now.”

He then revealed his ulterior motive for wanting to win the Daytona 500 this year.

“Being able to do that, I would love to start to shut up some of those haters that are out there,” Wallace said. “It’s like ‘OK; we got it.’ But part of me knowing that anybody can go win this race if you put all of your eggs in that basket; dot your Is and cross your Ts, anybody can do it. So, Daytona would just be the start of that, and then we build off that. Then we go win us another one, and then it’s just like, look in the camera and drop the mic. So, that’s kind of what we’re expecting.”

Bubba Wallace obviously wants to win the Daytona 500 and have success in 2021 for many reasons. One big reason, though, is to shut up his haters.

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