Bubba Wallace’s Brickyard 400 win appears to be a popular one. Former NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace had a few thoughts on the race. Like he does every week, Kenny was back with another monologue to break down the race weekend.
Coffee with Kenny is a nice way for NASCAR fans to start their morning. That is, if you don’t mind the wild, but oftentimes accurate, rantings of the host.
Kenny Wallace has been in and around racing his entire life. He’s seen a lot throughout the years and has connections throughout the sport, both new and old. This morning, he touched on the Brickyard 400 and the win from Bubba and the 23 team.
In his usual fashion, Kenny was open and honest about how he felt. He also made a few good points along the way.
“Let me say this about Bubba,” Wallace explained. “I know that he’s a lightning rod, and I know that he’s controversial. I know that he gets a lot of boos. But I gotta be honest with you, there’s a reason Ryan Blaney and Bubba Wallace have been best friends and they’ve been playing music together. You see the videos out there. There’s a reason why Denny Hamlin and Bubba hit it off. There’s so many drivers that like Bubba.”
A lot goes on behind the scenes that NASCAR fans never see. Bubba Wallace is beloved by his peers. You can tell. Almost the entire field came up and bumped his car or waved as they drove by him on the cool-down lap.
As Kenny Wallace spoke, he eventually talked about the Talladega noose controversy that happened during the 2020 season. It was an incident that changed Bubba Wallace’s image among many fans overnight.
“Bubba got thrown to the wolves with that whole situation,” Wallace said. “Okay? What I mean by that is, that wasn’t his deal. That was not his deal. All the sudden, it just got plopped right on his doorstep. So, I don’t even pay attention to that whole situation that happened at Talladega. I don’t, it’s like, la la la. It’s like, man, he’s done – he’s the one and only.
“Bubba’s the one and only, and all the sudden, the whole world turned on him and hated him. I did not like that. I did not like the angry mob coming at one man. Just imagine for a minute, you being one person in life and an angry mob coming at you when you’re like, ‘Woah, what the hell happened here?’ You know? You know, at the time everything went down at Talladega, he wasn’t even at the race track. So, that’s all I’m going to say about that.”
As he often does, the longer Kenny went on, the goofier he got. But his final point was made loud and clear.
Kenny finished up his Bubba Wallace comments with another comparison to his brother, Rusty. You really can’t argue with his reasoning now that Bubba is a Brickyard 400 winner.
Over the years, Bubba has been hated by many fans. He receives comments and hate that few other drivers have ever had to face in the sport. Still, he hasn’t given up. This season, he’s matured even more, and it showed on Sunday.
“So, that’s what I got to say about Bubba. Now, you can continue to hate on him, but I’m afraid to say, he’s part of that Michael Jordan, Denny Hamlin deal. The more you hate on him, the better he’s going to do. He’s learned to take that negative energy and use it as fuel, just like my big brother Rusty Wallace. Like I told you in the past, as soon as you start talking s**t about Rusty, you done f***ed up, because now he’s going to do better.”
Bubba Wallace is a Brickyard 400 winner. No amount of hate is going to take that away.
