We want to be treated equally and not judged off our skin color.
Bubba Wallace
No matter what faces you in life, always look up to God, and he will guide the way. You just have to walk that path very stern, and very proud.
The people that don't want change, the ones that don't see how removing Confederate flag creates so much more opportunities for our sport to grow - they don't want our sport to grow.
We are much more than just drivers who drive a race car.
When you sign up to become something, you're signing up to become something larger than yourself. Represent something more than yourself.
Creating unity and compassion and understanding of each of our brothers and sisters is so powerful. We have to preach that to the ones that don't want to listen and understand.
For me, I just want to be a role model, put a positive impact on the kids that are watching the sport, that want to be a part of the sport, and leave a good everlasting impact on the sport, continue my legacy down the road.
That's how I was taught. That's how I was raised, to ignore the stupidity, continue on and do what I need to do.
We were fortunate enough to have our own business to keep us moving up through the ranks - go-karts, Bandoleros, Legend cars, Late Models. That's where we stalled out, but luckily we caught a break with Joe Gibbs Racing and the diversity program.
Systemic racism is a problem from every aspect of life.
Everybody's equal. Everybody should deserve the same opportunity, the same challenge, the same whatever.
Everybody should live their lives to the fullest with no hassles, no hold-backs, no matter what age, what color you are... I don't have an issue talking about it, taking the forefront of it.
We've all got to make sure we're all pulling in the same direction. That's what's going to keep us ahead of the ball. As soon as we start getting in the opposite direction, that's when we start getting behind, and the results will start to show.
The year 2020 will be one to forget for sure.
I'll never be intimidated by somebody, and I will treat you will respect as long as I'm treated with respect.
I want to be a champion, and win races as much as I can and elevate my platforms and become an icon in the sport. It's going to take a lot of hard work and determination from my camp and for myself to get to where we need to be. I'm excited about the journey.
It's true, black lives do matter. It's not that we're saying no other lives matter.
It all relies on teamwork. We could be running fifth all day, and we come down pit road for the last stop and the pit crew messes up, then we all go down and not just them.
Black lives matter just as much as White lives matter, just as much as Hispanic lives matter.
People want to dethrone you from the pedestal that you're on when you have a platform, when you have a voice.
My mom told me, every weekend, always stay positive no matter what the circumstances. Stuff's gonna go down. It's not gonna be your race. Media is gonna take the bad before the good.
I've had my fair share of incidents with law enforcement, whether they're saying smart remarks, condescending remarks to downplay who I am and what I can afford... It's something that made me stronger on the back end of it, and learned from those instances.
The encounters I had were very few, but they were powerful. The negative encounters I've had with law enforcement were very few, but they stood out.
We are ambassadors. We are leaders of our own brands, and then in life things are thrown at you, you have to stand up for what's right. That brings on a whole new role. It's not on the front of the agenda that you see, but if you read the fine print it's part of becoming an athlete and the pedestal you get with that.
Our voices carry so much more weight than Joe Schmo from down the street.
I feel for everybody that goes through it because depression is real, and it doesn't take much to put you in that state of mind to where you think everybody's against you, you're up against the world and that's not true.
People are entitled to their own opinion to make them feel good, to make them sleep at night.
There should be no individual that is uncomfortable showing up to our events to have a good time with their family that feels some type of way about something they have seen, an object they have seen flying.
The Ahmaud Arbery video was the final straw for me in being silent. That shook me to the core like nothing has in the past. Something flipped inside of me to be more vocal and stand up for racial equality and make sure we get a hold on that and change the face of this world and get it to a better place.
That's a goal of mine and the sport. To become more diverse and change the demographic, bring in a new face.
For me, it's always been to be on your toes about everything no matter what you do - my mom and dad always stressed that to me.
I just kind of go by the theory of, 'Don't knock it until you try it.'
There's no need for me to go out there and try to set the world on fire, try to win races and put myself in a tough spot, not be able to capitalize on it. If the opportunity presents itself, yeah, we'll jump on it. There's no need for me to force a hole, end up tearing up a racecar.
It's simple-minded people like that, the ones that are afraid of change, they use everything in their power to defend what they stand up for instead of trying to listen and understand what's going on.
No one should feel uncomfortable when they come to a NASCAR race.
From Richard Petty to Andy Murstein, everybody at RPM is standing behind me and believing in me on track and also following me through this journey off track and letting me find my way and find my voice in standing up for what's right.
I've stood for the national anthem ever since grade school. It's a patriotic thing for me. I understand what Colin Kaepernick and others are doing, but it's not for me.
Once we got to the race track, everybody called me Bubba - we created a brand around it. Now it's become a household name.
It's an honor to be driving the 43.
You know, it helps having an African American driver behind the wheel. I'm representing that culture and that background. But a lot of background pressure, I don't really put that on me. I know I have enough pressure to go out and perform every week.
Once we started racing, my dad had his own industrial cleaning business about twenty minutes from the house, so we kept our race cars there.
A typical off day for me, I'm hanging out at the house.
I try to represent myself and my team the best that I can.
Times get tough sometimes, you lose cool.
This is a team sport.
It's something we're trying to change and NASCAR is as a whole trying to bring in a younger fan base, a different-looking fan base, we're trying to change the whole demographic of the sport. Me going out to do that is something I'll take responsibility for.
I've already got 10,000 more eyes on me because I am of color and they're going to see what I can do in the top series. That's enough pressure in itself, so I don't need to add extra pressure.
From what I've learned I need to do, is let everything else go and focus on finishing the race and having fun.
I need to go out there and run my own race, and have fun with it.
Nobody loves finishing second, as we've seen in past races. It's a sport that you want to get everything you can out of it, but sometimes it just doesn't work out.
