By Bob Pockrass
NASCAR will race Saturday night, and Bubba Wallace tweeted Thursday night to emphasize that his participation is not a message that he doesn’t believe in the message sent by the strikes and postponements in other sports leagues.
Wallace, the only full-time Black driver in NASCAR’s national series, has publicly advocated for racial equality. The 26-year-old Richard Petty Motorsports driver’s tweets were the first from a NASCAR Cup Series driver on the subject of the Jacob Blake shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Wallace also posted a couple of follow-up tweets in response to his initial thread, including referencing President Donald Trump’s visit to the Daytona 500.
Jimmie Johnson, in a regularly scheduled Zoom media availability previewing Daytona, said drivers and NASCAR have talked about how they want to respond.
NASCAR has not issued a statement, but there was no indication that it was considering postponing events this weekend at Daytona.
It is the regular-season finale Saturday for the NASCAR Cup Series and the track could have as many as 20,000 in attendance.
