Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr., the only full-time Black driver on the NASCAR circuit, needed just a half of a foot of a lead or less to be the first driver to cross the finish line at the Daytona 500 on Sunday, NASCAR’s biggest race.
But rookie driver Austin Cindric, a Team Penske racer, was .036 seconds ahead of Wallace at the checkered flag, speeding through the finish for a thrilling photo finish victory.
“Damn, I wanted to win that one,” said Wallace, who heads the Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin race team. “I didn’t have a fighting chance the first time in 2018,” Wallace reflected. “This one, being that close, is just like a gut punch. So going from all the confidence in the world to literally having it ripped out from underneath you is a really [expletive] feeling.”
Wallace has compiled four top-5 finishes at Daytona, and was second last August in a 400-mile race before getting his first Cup victory at Talladega Superspeedway in October. His story as one of the few Black drivers in the history of NASCAR has been well documented.