During an interview last month, Bubba Wallace opened up about 23XI Racing’s new facility. And one of the things from Wallace’s comments that stood out was his choice of words when referring to the new facility. “Airspeed is what we’re calling it. That’s the name of the shop. Can’t say shop anymore,” Wallace said on Rubbin’ is Racing. The fact that Wallace refrained from using the word ‘shop’ stood out to a NASCAR fan who asked the reason for this by NASCAR journalist Bob Pockrass.
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The fan asked, “Why did Bubba say he would get in trouble for saying ‘back at the shop?’”
“In a way to promote the culture of the company that where they work is more than a shop, the 23XI folks refer to their shop as Airspeed,” Pockrass replied.
“So if an employee calls it a shop, the employee gets the stink eye or something when the employee enters the shop.”
It’s worth mentioning that Wallace referred to Airspeed as a facility unlike any in NASCAR currently. “The industry hasn’t had a new race shop built in 20 years. It’s just state-of-the-art stuff now,” the #23 driver said.
As for when it’ll be fully functional, Wallace said they are “fully up and running” but tweaks are still being made here and there, and it would take them until the middle of the season to be “full green light.”
Bubba Wallace reacts to his Martinsville finish
Further establishing the notion that he is a driver who is only progressing up the ladder, Bubba Wallace finished in 4th place at Martinsville. And while usually he is known to be harsh and overtly critical of himself, Wallace was pretty content with his finish in the most recent race.
“I appreciate everybody’s effort, you know?” Wallace said as per NASCAR. “Being able to close the deal out, it’s just — finally, right? It’s one of those moments where it’s like you can let out a big breath because we got the result that we deserved.”
“I was content with finishing sixth there to end it, but you never give up on those restarts. So it’s actually nice to be able to fire off good and actually net positive.”
At this point in the season, Bubba Wallace has three finishes inside the top 5. Martinsville’s 4th place finish was his best of the season so far. So it’s only natural to think that going forward, Wallace could get his first win of the season and celebrate it with his team in their new shop Airspeed facility.
