Toyota GAZOO Racing – Bubba Wallace
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
MEXICO CITY (June 13, 2025) – 23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace was made available to the media on Friday prior to this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
BUBBA WALLACE, No. 23 Chumba Casino Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing
What motivates you to be one of the fan favorite drivers based on your liveries?
“That’s a good question. I think our team does a really good job with our partners – to represent, one, the brand the right way, but also, in just a fun, innovative way that are different, and not your same traditional things that you have been seeing – whether it is plastered around the town or just things you have seen over the years. I think we do a really good job – all of our paint schemes on all of our cars for the most part are really, really sharp and out there, and different and that’s what we want to be. We are big on being different.”
Has your mindset changed going into road courses now?
“Yeah, for sure. I mean, I’ve always said – no matter how pissed off I was after practice or qualifying or a race on a road course in years past, I always said that I enjoyed them because it was different. It’s not just turning left and the same old stuff that we are used to. It was just when the competitive side kicked in, which was always lap one, it was really hard for me to find the enjoyment inside said weekend. When you look at Chicago, we’ve been fast every time we’ve unloaded – bad luck has struck twice there. ROVAL – really good finishes there, multiple top-10 finishes there I believe, always have speed there. Hell, COTA qualified second this year – it is starting to click. It takes me back to 2018, my rookie year – Kasey Kahne was driving the 95 car, and we were sitting down in the drivers meeting, I had qualified next to last or something and he walks up and says, I was in the same boat once, and all of a sudden it just clicked and I think he has won a couple of road course races – I think he won at Sonoma one year. Like you don’t know what it is, but it just clicks. I feel like we are in that transition period where it is clicking, we are putting a lot of work and a lot of prep into every road course weekend, we are already starting to prep for Chicago coming up, prepped for this for the last month and change, so yeah, I embrace it every time it comes up because it is a race. There is points on the line, and I don’t have the mindset to just ride around with the top down. I might suck but I’m going to give it my all, and I think that is where I would get in trouble before, is I would try too hard with no plan – I’m just like let’s see if this works, and it doesn’t, and so now, kind of understanding where to position the car and what to do on five-lap tires versus 20-lap tires is different now. I have all of those bullet points built up, so all that being said – excited to get on track. Looking forward to it. For me, it’s just another opportunity another set of downs to go and capitalize on.”
What should we call you now?
“Whatever you want. I’m embracing it. I’m having a good time. Being down here has been a lot of fun. I think, honestly, I’m excited to see (Daniel) Suarez in his element. Away from the race track and embracing his home culture – like I can’t imagine how big this is for him, and I get joy out of just thinking about that for him. I’ve seen Ryan’s (Blaney) video this morning, and there is one rule this week – is to not wreck Suarez, and I’m like I didn’t think about that, but definitely adopting that rule too.”
When did you get here and what have you enjoyed so far?
“We got here on Wednesday afternoon, and Thursday morning, Mobil 1, a partner of ours – we had an early morning and spent time on a Trajineras, hopefully, I said that right to my locals here. Did some racing on the water with Ruben – that was a lot of fun and just got to dive deeper into the Mexican culture and understand eating different foods and candies. They love their spice here, and it is good. I think the spice levels here compared to back home in the States – is they will bring out three different sauces, right, and they will be like this one is good, this one is medium and this one is really hot – they warn you beforehand, and we do the same – this one is really hot, well when you get home, ours is stupid hot – no flavor, nothing at all. Their hottest one has a decent kick to it, but it has a tremendous amount of flavor to go with it, and so I’m like they are doing it right down here. I do appreciate that fact. I think we are just looking for who can be in the most pain in the States, and that is good for us (laughter). “
Where did you get the mask?
“I was just handed it as I was walking over here from NASCAR themselves. The NASCAR team gave this to me, so I appreciate that.”
Can you talk about the track limits and the tire packs?
“So, to the tire packs, I will answer that really quick because we were just talking about that in the hauler, I think it is good for us. Us Cup drivers, we push to find the limits of the race cars and the race tracks, and it seems like we are always revamping the race tracks to meet the driver’s needs – like, well the track needs to be wider here for us. Slow down, slow down and we can make the corner. We are taking a race track and making it – cup cars 2.0 and it doesn’t make sense to me, so I was a big fan of the tire packs. It forces you to stay on the track limits and I spent the majority of my time on the sim, staying tidy and staying on the racing surface, and I think hopefully that pays dividends for when we get on track later. But I’m a big fan of the tire packs, keeping us on line and keeping us on the racing surface.”
Do you think NASCAR is ready to go to other countries, and which country should they go to?
“I think this is a massive step to be in this demographic, in this market. I think if we can work out the kinks of logistics and traveling – we’ve all seen the traffic nightmares that some teams have had over the last 24 hours. I think if we can all come together and come up with some solid plan that we won’t have to run into that issue again. Nothing is ever the same. I think it can be done. I think the leadership has done a good job with everything that is in place for us to get here and put on an event for the local crowd here in Mexico. The real answer to that will be post-race once we all see it all – like this is my first couple of hours on the race track grounds, and I’ve enjoyed it so far. I’ve enjoyed being away from the race track, I’ve enjoyed my time at the race track, so there is no reason that we can’t create this environment somewhere else across the seas – it’s just the logistics of it all is really, really hard. I know the teams go through a lot of stress. Our truck drivers are the real heroes for this week traveling 2500 miles, or somewhere around that number if I’m correct, just to not go home and have an off weekend, we go right back to Pocono – it is still game on for the next several weeks. Logistics need to be worked out for sure, but I think we can do it.”
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