DAYTONA BEACH, Florida – Bubba Wallace ran into trouble early and late in his first Daytona 500 driving for Michael Jordan.
He left the NASCAR mark race on Sunday with another stage, becoming the first black driver to drive a lap in the Daytona 500.
Wallace dropped to the bottom line at the end of the second stage to take the lead in lap 129 of Toyota no. 23. He lost the lead back to reigning champion Denny Hamlin – who owns 23XI Racing along with Jordan – and took third place at the end of the stage.
Wallace was caught in a last hot and chaotic lap and finished 17th in a race won by Michael McDowell.
“He’s running ahead and fighting for stage wins. That’s what we want to see,” Hamlin said of Wallace.
Wallace was forced to pit with 22 laps left in the race because he felt a vibration at Toyota. He fell one lap down and pushed Hamlin to give his Toyota boss and teammate a shot at his run for a third consecutive Daytona 500 championship.
Hamlin finished in fifth place.
“We’ve worked together a few times,” Hamlin said. “Actually, I thought he would win the second stage.”
Wallace placed second in the 2018 Daytona 500 for a black driver’s highest score in the race.
Wallace had a first two-thirds of Sunday’s rain-delayed race at Daytona International Speedway after a tumultuous start in Jordan’s debut event.
Toyota no. 23 of Jordan failed the inspection twice before the race, causing NASCAR to fire the team leader of the field. The car passed the third attempt, but had to start from behind the field. Jordan watched the start of the race in a deluxe suite.
Six-time NBA champion had his first conversation with the 23XI crew leader when he called Mike Wheeler to find out why the team failed the inspection.
Jordan entered NASCAR as the first black main owner of a full-time Cup Series team in nearly 50 years. He is close with Hamlin and has taken root in the past with driver Joe Gibbs Racing.
This initiative is not strange for Jordan. Jordan was a child when his late father packed his car and took the family to NASCAR races on southern tracks such as Daytona, Darlington Raceway and the late Rockingham Speedway.
Jordan once said he sets his watch to watch NASCAR every week.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Jordan and Wallace did not meet until this week. Jordan hit town in the days before the race and played golf – naturally – and had a TV team meeting with Wallace and Hamlin.
“I feel like he’s going to learn how to win. He has the talent,” Jordan told Fox Sports. “We wouldn’t have invested in him and we would have chosen him if he didn’t have the talent to win. By the end of the year, I think he will have a chance and he will probably win at least a few races. If there is more, I would be delighted. “.
Wallace did not win the first 112 careers in the Cup, all leading to No. 43 for Richard Petty Motorsports. Wallace is the only full-time black driver at the highest level of NASCAR and raised his profile last summer, when he successfully demanded that the series ban the display of Confederate flags on racetracks. His activism attracted the attention of corporate America, which raised enough funds through five companies to sponsor the entire Cup season.
Wallace, 27, set the speed in Toyota no. 23 – yes, the old number of Jordan’s Chicago Bulls – at Speedweeks and occupied the only training session this week. He qualified sixth, before falling behind the pack due to problems arising from the practice of stopping.