DAYTONA BEACH, Florida – Bubba Wallace ran into trouble early and late in her first Daytona 500 that drove Michael Jordan on Sunday.
Still, he left the NASCAR canopy race with another milestone, becoming the first black driver to lead a lap on the Daytona 500.
Wallace fell to the bottom line at the end of the second stage to take the lead on lap 129 of Toyota no. 23. He lost the lead against double defending champion Denny Hamlin, who is co-owner of 23XI Racing with Jordan, and finished third at the end of the stage.
Wallace was caught in a fiery and chaotic last lap and finished 17th in a race won by Michael McDowell.
“He was running ahead and fighting to win stages. That’s what we want to see,” Hamlin said of Wallace.
Wallace was forced to face the field with 22 laps to end up feeling a vibration in the Toyota. He fell one lap down and pushed Hamlin to his boss and his Toyota teammate to boost his career in a third consecutive Daytona 500 championship.
Hamlin finished fifth.
“We worked together quite a few times,” Hamlin said. “In fact, I thought I would win the second stage.”
Wallace finished second in the 2018 Daytona 500 to get the best place in a black rider’s race.
Wallace had two solid first thirds of Sunday’s race in the backlog at Daytona International Speedway after a tumultuous start to Jordan’s first race.
Jordan’s No. 23 Toyota failed the inspection twice before the race, prompting NASCAR to drive the team’s car head off the field. The car passed on the third attempt, but had to start from the bottom of the field. Jordan saw the start of the race from a deluxe suite.
The six-time NBA champion held his first conversation with the 23XI crew chief when he called Mike Wheeler to find out why the team failed the inspection.
Jordan entered NASCAR as the first black main owner of a full-time Series Cup team in nearly 50 years. He is close with Hamlin and has rooted Joe Gibbs Racing in the past.
This adventure is not a lark for Jordan. Jordan was a child when his late father packed the car and took the family to NASCAR races on southern tracks such as Daytona, Darlington Raceway and the now-defunct Rockingham Speedway.
Jordan once said he sets the clock to watch NASCAR every week.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Jordan and Wallace never met until this week. Jordan arrived in town the days before the race and played golf, of course, and had a TV team meeting with Wallace and Hamlin.
“I have a feeling he’s going to learn to win. He has the talent,” Jordan told Fox Sports. “We wouldn’t have invested in him and we wouldn’t have chosen him if he didn’t have the talent to win. By the end of the year, I think he’ll have a chance and probably win at least a couple of races. If so, more would be euphoric.”
Wallace did not win any victories in his early 112 career, driving No. 43 for Richard Petty Motorsports. Wallace is the only black full-time driver at the highest level of NASCAR, and raised his profile last summer when he successfully called for the series to ban the display of Confederate flags at racetracks. His activism caught the attention of the corporate United States, which raised enough funding through five companies to sponsor the entire Cup season.
Wallace, 27, picked up speed on Toyota no. 23, yes, the old number of Jordan Bulls, at Speedweeks and surpassed this week’s only training session. He placed sixth before falling behind the group due to problems arising from pit stop practice.