Bubba Wallace Leaving Richard Petty NASCAR Team
A famed NASCAR Cup Series team is losing the most popular driver to have piloted one of their cars over the last several seasons. Darrel “Bubba” Wallace has announced that the end of the 2020 season will be his final time in the seat for the iconic No. 43 for Richard Petty aka “the King” to race fans.
Bubba started his Cup Series career with Richard Petty following his role as a replacement driver for Aric Almirola after Almirola suffered from a back injury. Almirola moved on to Stewart – Haas Racing and Wallace took the seat full-time. That was three seasons ago.
credit: Royalbroil / CC BY-SA
Wallace made his decision abut leaving the team known by releasing a statement on his social media platforms.
“This was not an easy decision as I have nothing but the utmost respect for Richard Petty and his family, but I believe it’s time for someone else to take over the reins of the No. 43,” Wallace said in his post.
“Thank you to the King and everyone at Richard Petty Motorsports for giving me the opportunity to start my Cup Series career. I’ve grown so much as a driver and as a person since joining them. We’ve got nine more races together, and I hope we can finish the 2020 season on a high note.”
While the driver of the No. 43 this season, Wallace is currently ranked No. 23 which is great for the Petty ride considering past seasons. He’s also finished five times in the top-ten this year with a career-best second-place run at the 2018 Daytona 500.
This season Wallace has also become a focal point for equal-rights following an incident where a knot tied in the form of a noose was found in his garage stall at Talladega.
An investigation showed that the noose was there the year prior and had nothing to do with the Mobile, Alabama born driver. Wallace never saw the knot as it was reported by his team members.
During the investigation, NASCAR did inspections of every garage area at every NASCAR Track track and found no other knots tied in the same manner.
As of this writing, plans for where Wallace will drive next season have not been announced. A statement from the Petty team says they will announce plans for their new driver following the end of the season.
“We look forward to the next chapter in the making for the iconic No. 43 team. We will announce our new driver in the future.”
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