Bubba Wallace, who pilots the No. 23 Toyota Camry for the Michael Jordan-owned 23XI Racing, shared his excitement on social media as he arrived at the Bowman Gray Stadium on Saturday ahead of the practice sessions. The Alabama-born driver took to Instagram and shared a video of himself walking on the racetrack as he acknowledged the fans who were cheering for him from the stands.
Wallace, who is usually known for his quirky personality and witty comments shared a rather simple two-word caption on his Instagram story to signal the commencement of the 2025 season.
"We back," the 23XI Racing driver wrote on IG.
The drivers received a lot of cheers from the fans during the first practice sessions of the season. However, a post on X from @MatthewDillner showed a fan showing the middle finger to Bubba Wallace as he raced along the track. Known for having some of the best comeback remarks on the grid, the 31-year-old just had to get one out for the fan in the stands.
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"I’m gonna guess more fingers than teeth on that cat," Wallace wrote in response to Matthew's post.
Following practice, Wallace showed some good pace, finishing fourth in Heat Race 2. As a result, he will start the Clash on Sunday in P14 out of the 20 drivers who qualified for the race in the Heat races. His teammate Tyler Reddick will start from P4.
Bubba Wallace sets his goals for the 2025 NASCAR season
While he failed to qualify for the playoffs in 2024, it was one of the better seasons for Bubba Wallace with more top-5s and top-10s than he has achieved before. Now as he prepares for the 2025 season, he has made it clear that he wants more success but not at the cost of having fun.
23XI Racing recently entered a new chapter as Wallace’s longtime crew chief Bootie Barker stepped down, making way for Charles Denike, a seasoned Craftsman Truck Series veteran. Despite Denike’s track record, Wallace knows that transitioning to the NASCAR Cup Series is a significant challenge.
Sharing his thoughts on a recent episode of NASCAR Live, Wallace explained that he’s fully committed to helping Denike adjust to his new role.
“I got to meet Charles last year for the first time… He’s like super smart, he’s come from a military background. So he’s just very punctual, very set. It’s a massive jump. I think that the more time we spend around each other… And I’m excited… I want to let his wife and kids know that this is a massive commitment,” Wallace shared on a recent episode of NASCAR Live (5:55 onward).
However, Wallace also made sure to let Denike know that he wants to have fun as they build a strong partnership and strive to win together.
"I wanna win races, but also I just wanna have fun. The first encounter I had, I probably reiterated to him 23 times about how much fun I wanted to have,” Wallace quipped.
The 31-year-old said that he wanted to let his new crew chief know that it is only when you start having fun that you start winning races.
