For most drivers who have become family men, their ducks are in a row. Racing may be their bread and butter, but when it comes to family, the garage doors come down. Some put up a barrier. They don’t let racing get in the way of family time and, at the same time, don’t let outside distractions affect their performance. That’s Bubba Wallace.
It’s worthwhile to mention that Wallace isn’t the only one who follows a mantra like this. Joey Logano had previously stated that he doesn’t even glance at messages on his phone unless the sky is falling or Roger Penske in on the line. Wallace has now drawn his own boundary between NASCAR and home.
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In a clip shared byDirty Mo Media on X, Wallace stated, “I mean, look, we’ve made the decision. I unfortunately missed the birth of my first kid. I’m not missing the second one.”
“And it was actually Amanda’s call on the first one. She was like, ‘Winning is so important.’ Like, I don’t see a scenario where you’re not missing him unless he came on like a Wednesday, but Beck’s is an ass-hole, came at Sunday at 2 o’clock.’”
“So, but that was her call. And then this go around, I said, ‘I’m not, I’m not missing another one,’ because people, people that don’t know that I miss ask, well, how did you do in the,’ I’m like, ‘I wasn’t there.’ And then you see their look on their faces, and they’re like, ‘Oh.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, I was racing.’ And I don’t, I don’t want to do that. It’s fine. I lost the race that day. It’s okay. I can, I get another race next week, and I don’t get another kid.”
Wallace gave his final verdict, asserting, “So I will be missing a race if it comes down to that, and that’s it, final.”
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Wallace’s son Becks Hayden was born on on September 29, 2024, while he was strapped into his 23XI Racing No. 23 Toyota Camry car at Kansas Speedway. That day, he had started the race from 13th and crossed the line 17th in the Hollywood Casino 400.
While he could have decided to miss the race for the birth of his son, he and his team chose not to, particularly because Kansas is a place where he has made noise before, including a win in the 2022 edition.
And while his mind was likely all over the place, and with him not being there for his wife, Wallace’s 2024 fall race at Kansas did not go that well. A year later, however, in the 2025 Hollywood Casino 400, he found himself in the hunt again, trading blows on the final lap before finishing P5 after contact with his own boss, Denny Hamlin.
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This time, though, the #23 driver has made peace with the trade-off. There will always be another green flag, but there will not always be another first cry in a hospital room.
The post ‘That’s Final’: Bubba Wallace Draws a Firm Line Between NASCAR and Family Time Going Forward appeared first on The SportsRush.
