NASCAR's only Black driver, Bubba Wallace, will drive a car with a special Black Lives Matter paint scheme during the Martinsville race
- Bubba Wallace will drive a car that has "#BLACKLIVESMATTER" written on the side during the upcoming NASCAR race at Martinsville on Wednesday night.
- Wallace said the idea for the car's new look stemmed from the Blackout Tuesday protests that people took part in last week.
- "People will look up what this hashtag means, and hopefully get a better understanding, and know that we're not trying to create division," Wallace said. "We are trying to unite."
Bubba Wallace, the only Black driver in NASCAR, will have a new look when he takes to the track at Martinsville on Wednesday night.
Wallace's No. 43 car will have a new paint scheme that expresses a message of solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.
On Tuesday, Wallace and his team revealed the car, which will have #BLACKLIVESMATTER written across the side and sport an image on the hood that shows a white hand and a Black hand embracing.
"I'm excited for the opportunity to run the #BlackLivesMatter car for Martinsville," Wallace said in a video his team posted on Twitter. "One of our best racetracks, statistically my best racetrack for sure. With this statement that we have, running this racecar, being on live television on Fox, I think it's going to speak volumes to what I stand for, but also the initiative that NASCAR, that the whole sport is trying to push."
Wallace said that the idea for the car stemmed from the Blackout Tuesday protest, in which people showed their support of Black Lives Matter by posting a black image on social media accounts.
"It was actually on Blackout Tuesday, which was a special day and a big day for our country, seeing millions and millions of people peacefully protesting," Wallace said. "We knew that the Martinsville race was open, we did not sell sponsorship for that, and it sparked an idea of, why not run a blackout car? I was like, absolutely, that would be incredible."
While the team considered a few options for how to get across their message on the car, Wallace ultimately felt like the simplicity and ubiquity of the Black Lives Matter hashtag would best accomplish their goal. Wallace said he hopes his car will help people understand that the movement is about equality, not division.
"Why not dive straight into the root and put Black Lives Matter on the car? It's the most powerful hashtag going around, especially, these past couple of days, past couple months. And it's true: Black lives do matter. And it's not that we're saying no other lives matter. We're trying to say that Black lives matter too. If we put t-o-o on the end, I think a lot more people would understand it. We want to be treated equally, and not judged off of our skin color.
"All lives will not matter until Black lives matter, so I think by running this branding on our car, putting the hashtag out there, bringing more awareness to it, it lines up with the videos that we had put out as NASCAR. Listening and learning, and educating ourselves. So people will look up what this hashtag means, and hopefully get a better understanding, and know that we're not trying to create division. We are trying to unite."
Wallce and 39 other drivers will face off on Wednesday night in the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway. For fans interested in seeing the car in action, the race will be broadcast on FS1.
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