NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace is one of a very few people who are seemingly unimpressed with rumors that President Donald Trump might return to the Dayton 500 this Sunday at Daytona International Speedway.
Trump previously served as grand marshal for the 2020 event. He commanded drivers to start their engines and took a ceremonial lap around the speedway in his armored limousine, leading the field before the green flag in a vehicle known as "the Beast."
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued temporary flight restrictions for the 16th that strongly hinted Trump was heading back to Daytona.
Everybody seems pretty jazzed about his appearance. Well, except for one man named Bubba.
Wallace, who just signed an extension with Michael Jordan's 23XI Racing in September, told reporters at the Daytona 500 media day that he "couldn't care less" if Trump is there or not.
“We’re here to race,” he added. “Not for the show.”
NASCAR star Bubba Wallace responds to Trump possibly attending Daytona 500 after past feud https://t.co/kTMJnN6HqX
— Fox News (@FoxNews) February 13, 2025
The friction between Bubba Wallace and the two-term president has been simmering for years. Wallace, who in 2021 became the first African-American driver to win a Cup Series race since Wendell Scott in 1963, generated a storm of controversy the previous season with his involvement in a Jussie Smollett-esque garage pull incident.
He adamantly promoted allegations that a “noose” had been placed in his garage. While Wallace didn’t report the alleged hate crime himself, he certainly played up reports that he had been the victim of a racially motivated attack.
So convinced were his NASCAR peers that they participated in this virtue signaling ...
We rally around @BubbaWallace. Fellow drivers push his No. 43 car to the front in Talladega.#IStandWithBubba pic.twitter.com/n0YwN1qq5l
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) June 22, 2020
That all seems silly when viewing through a rearview mirror. Pun intended.
The FBI investigated the incident and determined it was actually a garage door pulldown - not a noose - that had been there for over a year and that there was, in fact, no hate crime.
Trump called on Wallace to apologize for the incident shortly thereafter, but instead, the driver blasted him for spreading "hate" and accused his supporters of being hypocrites.
When President Trump later attended the Daytona 500 in 2020, he ripped critics who felt he had been too political with his commentary.
"I’m overhearing people say 'leave politics out of NASCAR' when they are the same damn ones that were drooling over the fact of the BIGGEST political person being at the Daytona 500 this year," he wrote on X.
"Same damn ones that love when the Trump car is on track ... Buncha damn clowns!!"
Why Bubba Wallace’s Stance on Politics Has Changed After Previously Accusing Trump of Hate
These latest comments about the president's return are far more subdued. It is a tactic Bubba has engaged in recently for the sake of his mental health.
During the 2024 presidential election, Wallace refused to comment or provide an endorsement to Kamala Harris. He advised people to enjoy life by visiting McDonald's and said he had been political in years past "because our sport was in desperate need of change."
Now, apparently, change is no longer necessary.
Wallace has attributed his new toned-down approach to racing and life to stepping away from social media and avoiding “toxic comments” from NASCAR fans.
That's a good move for anybody in today's chaotic world, even more so for a man who recently became a father. Wallace welcomed his son Becks back in September. This was the first child of Wallace and his wife Amanda, who he’s been married to since New Year’s Eve in 2022.
Prior to this weekend's Daytona 500, President Trump made history as the first sitting president to attend the Super Bowl.
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