Each week, The Athletic asks the same 12 questions to a

different race car driver. Up next: 23XI Racing’s Bubba

Wallace, who is on the verge of clinching a Round 2 playoff

spot entering Saturday night’s elimination race at Bristol

Motor Speedway. Wallace is currently 50 points up on the

cutoff line. This interview has been edited and condensed,

but the full version is available on the 12 Questions Podcast.

‍

1. What was one of the first autographs you got as a kid,

and what do you remember about that moment?

I was running around with (Ryan) Blaney at pole night for the

(Coca-Cola) 600, and we were in the (driver/owner

motorhome) lot. I remember getting my shirt signed by a few

drivers. One of them was Greg Biffle, and it was some racing

t-shirt.

That was when I was 9 or 10. Fast forward to eighth grade,and I was wearing that shirt when I had my 4-wheeler

accident — that’s the scar between my eyes. I was not

wearing a helmet; wear your helmets, kids. I ran into a

chicken wire fence. You couldn’t see it throughout the

woods. That shirt got ruined; it was ripped and bloody.

Oh, I always thought that scar was like a birth thing.

No, eighth grade. It was the day of my sister’s high school

graduation. I didn’t go to that. All the family was in (town) but

I was embarrassed because I looked f—ing horrible. It was

bad.

‍

2. What is the most miserable you’ve ever been inside of

a race car?

Remember when swine flu was a thing? At 2010 for the Drive

for Diversity Combine at Motor Mile (in Virginia), I was sick. I

was done, I was out. One of the people on Rev Racing’s team

had a bus there, and I slept in the motorhome until 5 o’clock,

and I was the last person to go out, then went to the top of

the board.

I honestly can’t even say I was miserable inside the car,

because when I got in the car, I felt fine. I did what I needed

to do. But before that, it was horrible. For some reason, you

feel better in the car.

‍

3. Outside of racing, what is your most recent memory ofsomething you got way too competitive about?

Nothing really stands out besides the boring answer of

“everything.” Me and my bus driver, photographer and

manager, we all play video games. There’s no ranking order,

but I know who is on top, and it’s frustrating that sometimes

they don’t see the same things I see. So I have to remember

that and calm down. (Wife) Amanda will game with us too,

and she’ll be like, “Dude, calm down. It’s just a game.” But I

take everything super serious.

‍

4. What do people get wrong about you?

The stuff that I see is, “I don’t like his attitude.” Like they took

our interview (from Playoffs Media Day), and they’re like,

“Look at him. He’s so arrogant.” What the f— did I have to be

arrogant about in that situation? Because I said, “Get the

white piece of paper away from me?” It’s crazy how if you

don’t like somebody, the minute they say something good, it

goes right over your head and you hate them for saying it.

It’s mind-boggling how people can get to that level. There’s

not a person in the world that I hate to that level. Five or six

years ago, I would be so focused on “What the f—? Why do

you think that way about me?” Now, I really don’t care.

Your sarcasm is an easy target for people.

They already are on the fence or they already don’t like me,so they take my sarcasm and they’re like, “Yep, see? Told

you he’s an a—hole.”

Bubba Wallace’s victory at the Brickyard 400 in July snapped a 100-race

winless streak and put him into this year’s playoffs. (Justin Casterline / Getty

Images)

‍

5. What kind of Uber passenger are you, and how much

do you care about your Uber rating?

Don’t care about the rating. I don’t think I’m any type of

passenger, just “Thanks for the ride” and go on about my

way. But I will say, if you’re the Uber driver (and I say), “Hey,

how are you?” and you respond, “I’m good,” that’s cool. If

it’s, “Hey, how are you?” and no response — dude, what the f

—? It’s not even small talk. It doesn’t even need to go past that. It’s just, “Hey, are you good today?”

‍

6. This is my 16th year doing these 12 Questions

interviews, so I’m going back to some earlier questions

and re-asking to see how the answers compare. In 2013,

I asked you your three favorite apps. At the time, you

said: Snapseed (photo editing app), Twitter and

Instagram. I’m guessing that has changed, so what are

they now?

Instagram is still on top. Twitter (X), I don’t even have right

now. I’ll put YouTube second, for sure. And then I’ll go

Lightroom for editing photos and stuff.

That’s not too far off. You’ve still got a photo editing app,

you’ve still got Instagram and just YouTube instead of

Twitter.

I’m pretty heavy on YouTube. The third one could be a toss-

up, just between apps you rotate through. I could easily put it

as the music app or the Whoop band app.

7. Another question from a previous 12 Questions series:

What is a run-in you’ve had with a driver that TV or the

media missed?

You already know about the Aric (Almirola) stuff. I haven’t

had any other run-ins, honestly.Last year, Denny Hamlin answered this question during

his 12 Questions interview and spoke at length about the

2018 altercation you guys had.

There you go, that’s one. Denny still says I blew his tire (at)

the finish in the (Daytona) 500, but I told him, ‘Man, it looks

very reminiscent of you just destroying Blaney at Martinville

the year prior in the fall race.’ Remember that big pile-up on

the frontstretch? He just hooked a left. It looked very

reminiscent of that.

So I took it and ran with that, and I tried to tell him that. But

he mentioned something about Adderall. Remember that

whole Adderall thing? I got a call from a sponsor, like, “Hey,

are you on it?” It was something that snowballed into

something much bigger. So I’m like, “Dude, what the f—?

You’re putting us in a bad spot because you said 90 percent

of the drivers are on Adderall. Not cool. I don’t appreciate

that.”

He said, “You think I need an f—ing PR lesson from you?”

Typical Denny. He would probably still say that today. Then

we get to Atlanta to talk it out, and we did the opposite of

that. And here we are now (with Wallace driving for the race

team Hamlin co-owns).

8. Other than one of your teammates, who is a driver

you’d be one of the first people to congratulate them invictory lane if they won a race?

Blaney, that’s easy. But let’s go with the non-winners. The

first one who comes to mind is Todd Gilliland. Super good

kid and a lot of fun to be around. I knew Harrison (Burton) for

a few years, and I indirectly met Todd through him. He’s just

super nice, and he can dish out the sarcasm right back. We

race each other really hard and really good.

9. How much do you use AI technology, whether for your

job or your daily life?

I could go weeks without using that thing, so not really.

Unless it’s a funny joke with your friends. Like you’re in a

group chat, and you start just firing off these random

thoughts and put them in ChatGPT. Like you’re talking about

a topic, and then it’s like, “Oh, I need a picture for this.” Then

you give the prompt (for a meme or funny photo).

10. What is a time in your life that you thought was really

challenging, but you’re proud of the way that you

responded to it?

Man, you can go multiple routes with this one. The first thing

that came up was obviously 2020 — all of that.

I’m going to pick (his stretch of) 100 races without a win

(until he won the Brickyard 400 this summer). Your

teammate just straight kicking your a—, you go through it,you have a kid, and all the stuff we’ve been talking about for

the last six months, then finally getting that win. So from a

year and a half until Indy, that Sunday, all up through that. It

was not pretty. I was pissed off, depressed — and then here

we are. Life is good.

11. What needs to happen in NASCAR to take the sport to

the next level of popularity?

We are very inside of our own four walls, and that’s it. I’m not

sure on that, because you can take (Formula One drivers)

Lewis Hamilton or Max Verstappen and drop them anywhere

in the world and people go crazy, right? You drop myself or

Chase Elliott or Ryan Blaney in London and no one knows

who we are. You drop us in New York City and maybe we get

one or two people, right?

Obviously, a lot of people wish it was back to how it was in

the heyday — but no sporting league, no sanctioning body, is

the way it was 15 or 20 years ago. Everything has evolved

and it’s changed. So I don’t know what the magic answer is

to that. What do you think?

I think it’s star power, but I don’t know how to fix the star

power. You need an athlete where people want to tune in

and watch how that person does.

We have (Kyle) Larson. I think Larson is that person.But same thing — if you put him in New York …

Yeah, no one knows. It’s tough, because Larson is getting

the dirt crowd to watch. But homeboy, homegirl at the Pilot

over here across the street doesn’t know who Larson is.

They’re not like, “I want to see how he’s going to do.” I could

be wrong.

If I could go on a hot streak here and win six out of the last

nine … because I’m not tooting my own horn, but if you

dropped the three names I just said — myself, Chase or Ryan

— in New York, I’m getting recognized first.

You have the ability to go beyond our little bubble into

the mainstream.

Yes, but it takes winning. I have to win to be able to do that,

and not just one in every three years. I understand that, and I

know that. But I guarantee a lot of people are going to take

that comment and say, “Look, he’s selfish and he’s cocky

and he’s arrogant, talking about himself.” I’m not saying that

at all — I’m saying that I need to win more … I need to

become more competitive, which is what you dumba—s are

saying. I’m agreeing with what you’re saying. And I think if

that happens, then you start to see a little bit of that.

12. Each week, I ask a driver to give me a question for the

next interview. The last one I did was with Richard Petty,but he did not have a question for the next person. So I’m

re-using a question from Ty Dillon a couple months ago:

What would 10-years-ago-you be proud of you for doing

now?

Ten years ago is 2015, so that’s toward the end of my first

Xfinity season. I don’t think the 2015 Bubba would see this

and be like, “Damn, that’s pretty cool.” Because you’ve got to

go through all the hard times to understand how to come out

better. So I would think the 2035 Bubba would be really

proud of the 2025 Bubba; the 2015 Bubba has no idea the

hardships you have to go through to get where you’re at.

The next interview is with Brad Keselowski. Do you have

a question I can ask him?

What is his continuing motivation factor? In the position he’s

in now, why does Brad Keselowski continue to still race? Is it

just the sheer ideology of competing? He’s the owner of the

team, he’s got his manufacturing business, he’s got a

beautiful family — he’s got it all, and he’s got a

championship. Yes, that was 13 years ago. But is it just the

sheer fact that he still has “it?” If that’s the simple answer,

OK, cool.

‍