In the mid-2000s, Jimmie Johnson stood as the gold standard in NASCAR, and Bubba Wallace counted himself among the many who drew inspiration from the seven-time champion. While Johnson piled up titles, Wallace studied his every move, soaking in the lessons that would later shape his own career.
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Ahead of the second race of the Round of 16 at Gateway, during the media session, Wallace was asked which driver he most looked forward to facing when he entered the Cup Series. The No. 23 driver didn’t hesitate. “Yeah, I remember filling in and running the Daytona July race, and it was cool racing Jimmie [Johnson],” Wallace recalled.
He added, “I remember it was like Jimmie [Johnson], [Ryan] Blaney, me, and [Corey] LaJoie kind of all right there together at one point, and I was like, ‘Damn, that’s pretty cool racing against seven-time.’ I think I even said that over the radio. And so, to be able to race against him a handful of years was cool. He’s been a great mentor and a friend for me.”
For Wallace, Johnson was more than a rival on the track. He was a mentor, someone approachable, easy to talk to, and, in his words, “an all-around good dude.” That connection made Johnson the one who left a lasting mark.
Wallace broke into the Cup Series in 2017, but it wasn’t until 2018 that he secured a full-time seat with Richard Petty Motorsports. Hence, he raced alongside Johnson for two years until the latter retired in 2020.
By 2021, he joined Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing, where his career began to take off. Over nine years, he has logged 282 starts, scoring three wins, 57 top-10s, and three poles.
His breakout came early, with a runner-up finish in his first full-time Daytona 500. His best overall campaign came in 2023, when Wallace closed the season 10th in the standings at Phoenix. More telling has been his steady improvement: an average finish of 18.31 in 2022, 15.82 in 2023, and a career-best 15.3 in 2024.
This season, Wallace punched his playoff ticket with a Brickyard 400 victory at Indianapolis. He opened the postseason strong, finishing sixth at Darlington. Now he heads to Gateway, where his numbers have been modest, an average finish of 25.7 in three starts, with a best of 21st last year after starting eighth, but he enters determined to turn the corner at a track that has yet to give him a breakthrough.
