Win gives Bubba his place in history

BUBBA Wallace became only the second African-American driver to win a race in the NASCAR Cup Series after speeding to victory in the rainshortened YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Wallace (pictured), who last year led successful calls for displays of the Confederate flag to be barred at NASCAR events following the murder of African-American George Floyd, led for five of the 117 laps in the race in Alabama.

When a second downpour forced a further suspension, the race was stopped with 71 laps still to run, handing victory to Wallace and his 23XI Racing team, which is owned by NBA great Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin.

Wallace is the first AfricanAmerican driver to win in NASCAR’s Cup series since Hall of Famer Wendell Scott in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1963.

The 27-year-old Wallace joined 23XI last year after leaving Richard Petty Motorsports.

Wallace regularly spoke out against racism following Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis, and in June last year called on NASCAR chiefs to ban the Confederate flag from racetracks used on the circuit.

The flag has long been a staple at NASCAR tracks in the sport’s southern US heartlands but it remains a symbol of slavery and racism for many.

NASCAR later banned displays of the flag at its races.

Wallace was involved in controversy in June last year after his team reported that a noose had been found hanging in the team garage at Talladega Superspeedway.

A subsequent investigation by the FBI determined Wallace had not been the victim of a hate crime and that the noose was a pull-down rope on a garage door that had been there since 2019.