After all the drama of the last week, Bubba Wallace was his usual candid self when speaking to media ahead of this weekend’s racing at Pocono. Here are some highlights of the press conference: 

THE LAST FEW WEEKS WITH EXTRA DISTRACTIONS, BUT ALSO LOOKED UPON AS A SPOKESPERSON AND SYMBOL. WITH ALL THAT RESPONSIBILITY, HOW ARE YOU NAVIGATING THAT?

“It’s just another day. The clock resets at midnight every night and we’ll go through whatever is on the schedule then and I’m just excited to get back in the race car come tomorrow. But we’ve got media in between then and now, so we’ll see.”

WHEN YOU RAN OVER TO THE FENCE (POST-RACE) ON MONDAY AND THERE WERE A GROUP OF BLACK FANS THERE TO GREET YOU AND IT SEEMED LIKE THEY CAME JUST TO SEE YOU. IT’S ONLY BEEN A SHORT TIME SINCE THE CONFEDERATE FLAG ISSUE HAS COME UP WITH YOU, BUT HAVE YOU FOUND MORE BLACK FANS OR PEOPLE WHO SEEM INTERESTED IN NASCAR THAT WEREN’T BEFORE?

“Yeah, absolutely. I think just from the following standpoint, it’s been pretty big. Before all the chaos and madness started a couple of weeks ago at Atlanta and Martinsville and now this, it was like 180 thousand fans on Instagram and now I’m at 450 thousand, or something like that. I don’t know. A lot of people of color are coming out and saying that they’re going to be watching for the first time and have been watching since; so yeah, I think there’s a huge following that we will see and I’m excited to see when the full racing schedule gets back to normal from COVID to allow fans to come back in full capacity and see a new face there. That was pretty damn cool to see that new crowd there at Talladega with all the support. So, we’ll see how it continues to grow.” 

WHO HAS INSPIRED YOU TO BE A LEADER IN CHANGE? AND CAN WE EXPECT TO SEE ANY NEW COOL CARS FROM YOU LIKE THE ‘BLACK LIVES MATTER’?

“I don’t know if anybody has inspired me. I think it’s just what I feel in my heart and what feels right and finally voicing my opinion on the tough subjects that a lot of people are afraid to touch on. I’m not afraid to speak my mind. I’ve done it and gotten in trouble and learned from it. So, people that know me, I’m 100 percent raw and real. I’ve told you that before, as well. As far as another paint scheme, I’m not sure. That was an unsponsored race where we paid out of pocket for that one and basically took a bet on ourselves and took a chance on ourselves and that was big. I think with all this stuff we’re starting to get some partners involved and who knows if we’ll have another unsponsored race this year. If so, we’ll see what we can do.”