Bubba Wallace: “We’re here.”

Bubba Wallace will become the first African-American to race full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series in the last 50 years

The have aligned for Bubba Wallace. In 2018, he’ll enter his first full-time season in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. 

But, the stars are also aligning for Richard Petty Motorsports. They have made the switch to Chevrolet. The brand new Camaro will debut in 2018. In addition, the team has entered into an alliance with Richard Childress Racing.

“I’m beyond excited,” Bubba Wallace said during NASCAR media day. “I might not show it, but, man, this is it. We’re here. We’re at the Cup level. I’m one of the Cup guys walking around today on media day. 

“I’m not an Xfinity guy, like ‘Oh, where’s such‑and‑such, he’s in the Cup Series.’  I’m there now, so it’s good. I’m ready to go. We’ve got a lot of stuff that has obviously changed over the offseason, switching over to Chevrolet.”

“The new Camaro ZL1 is awesome looking, looks great, especially with our colors on there, that Petty blue touch to it.  Moving up camp to RCR, being on campus with them, so I’m adjusting to it all, and it’s all coming together pretty good.”

Bubba Wallace - 2018 STP Race Car
Bubba Wallace – 2018 STP Race Car (Photo: Richard Petty Motorsports)

And last week, Richard Petty Motorsports debuted their 2018 STP paint scheme. Bubba Wallace had a hand in the design elements of the famous STP paint scheme.

Related: Bubba Wallace designed the 2018 STP paint scheme

“Going into those four races last year, it was like, ‘OK, this isn’t my car, this isn’t my ride, no need to throw that extra little bit out there. Let’s just get through.’ And we ended up having some of the best races. We were on the cusp of fighting for a top 10 there at Kentucky. Just got edged out by my good friend (Ryan) Blaney there, so that was that.”

“It was good to learn in that whole process. I just wish there was that one more that year to see what we could have done at Loudon. Coming back into this year, it’s been so nice to walk into the shop and be like, ‘Hey, man, good to see you again.’ No restarting over. Maybe just learning names of the people that I didn’t meet from behind the scenes, front office people, parts room, stuff like that. 

“That’s a new process for me. It’s one of those deals like, OK, we’ve got a good thing going here, so I’m excited about that. We’re ready to get to Vegas for our first on‑track test coming up here in two weeks—and then Daytona.”  

Bubba Wallace 2018 Photos

More

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Related: “I outran KBM. With Kyle in the race.” -Bubba Wallace

Related: Richard Petty Motorsports forms alliance with RCR

Related: NASCAR is involved in the sponsorship search for Bubba Wallace

Links

STP | Darrell Wallace Jr | RPM | RCRNASCAR

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