Ask ten separate NASCAR drivers which career disciplines and decisions led them to the top motorsports brand in America, and racing fans would more than likely receive 10 different answers.
Bubba Wallace found himself revisiting that time period and admitted his come-up would have been different with a second go-around. The 23XI Racing driver was asked what he would change if he could go back to his days as a driver, still hungry and focused on making it to the NASCAR Cup Series.
At the time, he had the option to run a limited Xfinity schedule with Joe Gibbs Racing or commit to a full-time ride with Roush Fenway Racing. “The first thing that came to mind was not going to Roush,” Wallace admitted while reflecting on the decision.
He explained that the alternative was a seven-race opportunity with JGR that might have delivered fewer starts but potentially more impactful results.
Wallace initially delivered consistent mid-pack finishes at Roush in 2015, including a third-place run at Chicagoland, a fifth at Charlotte, and multiple top-10 finishes across a 33-race campaign.
By 2017, Wallace opened the season with five straight top-six finishes before the partnership unraveled mid-season due to sponsorship issues. He remained connected to Ford, which positioned him as the replacement for Aric Almirola after a back injury in 2017.
Wallace believes that without the Roush move, he likely would not have received that call, and he wonders what could have happened in the Toyota pipeline. “Who knows? Because they were really hell-bent on Erik Jones,” Wallace admitted to The Athletic.
His NASCAR journey came full circle years later when he joined 23XI Racing in 2021 and returned to the Toyota family, where he’s finding the most individual and team success of his career.
Since joining Michael Jordan’s team, Wallace has picked up three Cup Series wins: Talladega in 2021, Kansas in 2022, and the Brickyard 400 in 2025. He’s kept that momentum going into 2026. Meanwhile, his teammate Tyler Reddick leads the Cup Series after taking five wins in the first ten races.
Wallace made his 300th career start at Kansas, finishing fifth. He’s currently ranked 12th in the NASCAR standings. Besides Kansas, he’s scored top-10 finishes this season at EchoPark Speedway, Phoenix, and Las Vegas.