Bubba Wallace had barely settled into his seat for Daytona 500 Media Day earlier this week when the first question came.

The question wasn’t about his chances of perhaps winning his first 500 and what that would mean for his racing career.

It wasn’t about what he needs to do to be a more consistent driver and a championship contender.

And it wasn’t even about the antitrust lawsuit his race team owners — Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin —have filed against NASCAR.

Nope.

The very first question asked of Wallace was about President Donald Trump being invited to attend the Daytona 500 after the war of words he had with Wallace on social media five years ago.

It was an awkward moment and Wallace seemed a bit taken aback that this was the inaugural question of his media session.

He tried to move on as best as he could.

“I couldn’t care less,” Bubba said. “We’re here to race. Not for the show.”

And that was it.

Except in today’s click-bait, hot-take, Trump-triggered media world, Bubba’s 12-word answer became international news.

Headline in the Daily Mail of London: “NASCAR star reignites feud with Donald Trump ahead of President’s Daytona 500 visit.”

Headline in the Irish Star: “Bubba Wallace makes brutal Donald Trump admission ahead of Daytona 500.”

Other headlines:

— “Feud reignites between Trump, Black NASCAR driver ahead of 2025 Daytona 500”

— “NASCAR star issues statement after HUGE Donald Trump rumor.”

— “Bubba Wallace Sends Clear Message Amid Donald Trump, Daytona 500 Rumors.”

Quite frankly, those headlines are disgraceful.

I was standing two feet from Bubba.

He didn’t send a clear message.

He didn’t make a brutal admission.

He didn’t issue a statement.

He didn’t reignite a feud.

He was just trying to move on from an ill-timed question that he knew was a no-win situation for him in today’s Trump-obsessed political climate.

Bubba Wallace is 31 years old now. He’s married with a new baby. And he’s made it clear that he now wants to be known more for being a race car driver than a social justice warrior.

If only we will let him.

For the longest time, Bubba had the following message pinned to the top of his social-media accounts: “There is only 1 driver from an African American background at the top level of our sport. I am the 1. You’re not going to stop hearing about ‘the black driver’ for years. Embrace it, accept it and enjoy the journey.”

That message is no longer there, nor seemingly is his desire to delve into controversial political battles. Maybe because he drives for Michael Jordan’s race team, Jordan’s famous apolitical mantra from back in the day — “Republicans buy sneakers, too” — has rubbed off on Bubba. After all, MAGA members — and lots of them — watch NASCAR races.

Personally, I used to love Bubba standing up for what he believed in. I loved when he came out and pressured NASCAR to ban Confederate flags from its tracks. Trump, of course, ripped NASCAR’s decision, which seemed curious for a president whose entire reputation is based on patriotism and making America great. Why would a president of the United States of America endorse a flag symbolizing a confederacy that went to war to make us the Divided States of America?

Shortly thereafter in 2020, Wallace and Trump feuded again when a noose was discovered in Wallace’s assigned garage stall at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. After an investigation, federal authorities said that the noose-knotted rope, used to close the stall’s pull-down garage door, had been hanging in the stall since the previous October and that no hate crime had been committed.

Trump went on social media and essentially accused Wallace of contriving the whole noose narrative. Wrote Trump: “Has @BubbaWallace apologized to all of those great NASCAR drivers & officials who came to his aid, stood by his side, & were willing to sacrifice everything for him, only to find out that the whole thing was just another HOAX?”

Wallace replied on social media: “Always deal with the hate being thrown at you with LOVE! … Love should come naturally as people are TAUGHT to hate. Even when it’s HATE from the POTUS.”

Wallace soon found out that when you go head to head against Trump and his supporters, it’s a nasty, losing proposition. Heading into the 2024 election, Wallace made it clear he was done talking politics. He scrubbed all of the political posts from his social-media platforms and now only posts family photos, racing pictures and promotional plugs for his sponsors.

“Social media nowadays is just a way for people to hide behind a screen and voice their opinions on things they don’t really know about,” Wallace said in October. “It’s just too much negativity that it’s going to take years and years and years to get rid of, and we don’t have time for that. Now, with being a dad and trying to be the best that I can be here for my race team and my team here, that’s where I’m investing my energy.”

When I asked Bubba earlier this week if he is less opinionated than he has been in the past, he cracked: “Are you saying I’m less of an a-hole?”

Then he turned serious.

“The biggest thing is the time and energy invested in trying to have an opinion with people who don’t give a damn about it. It’s just a waste of time, and the No. 1 thing that I hate is wasting time,” said Bubba, who won one of the Daytona 500 duel qualifying races Thursday. “So I guess I’m trying to be less opinionated and more focused on what I need to do, which is to go out and perform and win races.”

If I’ve written it once, I’ve written it a million times: If Bubba could win the Daytona 500 and go on to become a championship-caliber driver for a 23XI race team co-owned by the iconic Jordan, it would be the biggest thing to hit NASCAR since naked-lady mudflaps, deer-antler bottle openers and dip-can holster belts.

Which is why Bubba, it seems, is trying desperately to turn his focus from controversy to competition.

He wants us talking about his talent, not his politics.

He no longer wants to be known for tweets, flags and feuds with the president.

He wants to known for winning,

Because in the end, winning doesn’t just change the conversation — it ends it.

Bubba Wallace has realized it’s time to let his driving do the talking.

If only we will let him.

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