Bubba Wallace broke a promise he made to Rajah Caruth.
After giving him some tough criticism in the immediate aftermath of the last lap at Daytona last month, Wallace said he would be the first to chew him out but also the first one to greet him in Victory Lane, and the latter didn’t happen after the win on Friday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
As it turns out, this was the first time in years that Wallace had not taken his motorhome to the west coast, so he was actually staying in a hotel on the Las Vegas Strip instead. Wallace concedes he probably should have driven over.
“I got nervous with about, what 28 to go after final pit stops, I found myself, my fists were clinched. I’m like, ‘that’s weird, relax,’ and then 15 to go, sitting on the couch like super zoned in,” Wallace said. “10 to go, I got up and that’s where I was. I just didn’t want him to get ahead of himself. He had such a massive lead and you could see him start to give it up a little bit but that was more so him having a two second lead and not needing to make a mistake.
“I was really proud of that. (Tyler) Ankrum was closing in, but I was sure he was saving his stuff, and once he took the white, like, a sigh of relief. Once he made it through 3 and 4, home free, and that was really cool.”
He missed the win in person but was nevertheless stoked, proud and excited for his friend and protégé after winning for the first time at NASCAR’s third highest level.
“I’ve been really hard on him, tough on him since Day One, and I’ll never forget the first time watching him race a Legends car at Charlotte Motor Speedway,” Wallace said. “I got into his face and said, ‘what are you so afriad of the wall for?’ He hasn’t even hit it yet, so I said find where it is, because he was like two car lengths off it, giving up time.
“You saw what happened at Daytona, I said I would be there for him, and I lied to him, told him I would be the first person in Victory Lane and first person to chew him out, well, I was not there and I hate that. Still super cool to see, super proud, proud to play a small part in it.”
Wallace did get a hold of Caruth while the latter was on the way to the airport. He also gave him the business because Wallace said Caruth should have been more excited. He teased him over his burnout too.
“His burnout was lame, and his phone call was lame, so I said come on man, you just won your first race and I was more pumped up than he was,” Wallace said with a laugh.
All jokes aside, Wallace is really proud of Caruth and says he is seeing immediate gains from the lessons learned during his rookie season last year.
“Just utilizing all that he learned last year,” Wallace said. “He had races where he was really fast and gave it away. I told him, ‘hey man, your stuff is fast but I don’t think you’re going to be faster than Kyle (Busch) so don’t race him. He can run laps around you.’
I think he started to realize, ‘I’m actually better than Kyle,’ so managing the scenarios in racing are the next conversation we need to have, because you got through the first one so let’s see how the mindset changes …
“Its super cool to see him go through all the motions, trying to figure out, being in the right spot and right mindset in those scenarios like last night.”
Wallace also says he doesn’t think much about what the win means for representation or history. Caruth joined Wendell Scott and Wallace as Black drivers to have won at the NASCAR national touring level. That doesn’t mean Wallace dismisses the notion, but it isn’t at the forefront of his consideration, both for himself or Caruth.
“I said it in 2013 when I climbed out of the truck, that I don’t pay attention to history,” Wallace said of his first Truck Series win, which came at Martinsville Speedway. “You guys put that in there, and I think that’s cool (but) didn’t even think of that.”
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.