01x05 - The Road to Success

[bunniefuu]

[truck engine idling, revving]

[intense music playing]

[car engines roaring]

[announcer 1] Texas Grand Prix,
a Circuit of the Americas.

Twenty turns over 3.6 miles,

and a lot of braking and shifting here.

Road courses are by far one
of the most challenging things

for NASCAR Cup Series drivers.

[crowd cheering]

You have to be hard on the gas,
hard on the brake. You're shifting gears.

[Wallace] I seem to struggle my a*s off
on road courses.

Oval tracks, I kinda get into a rhythm.

But when you got 14 corners,
nine of them are right-handers

and, you know,
the rest are left, it's like,

"Wait, what did I just do
in this last one? Like, what?"

[announcer 1] Well, we have
a mostly dry track condition for now.

What'll it be when they get
up the hill to turn one?

[Wallace] The forecast said


I'm like, "Oh, f*ck. Here we go."

[Wheeler, on radio] An update, Freddie.
I got a drizzle at the stadium section.

Nothing crazy.

[Kraft, on radio] 10-4. Same here.
It's coming, though. It's behind me.

They were looking at the radar.
They were like, "Rain is coming."

[Wheeler, on radio] Rain is imminent.

[Wallace] The race comes around,

and it's still dry, and they have us
starting on the wet tires.

So right before the race, NASCAR gave
us an option before wanting to go,

anybody who wants to pit,
come put dry tires on.

When the track's dry, you get the tires
to match it, and you go way faster.

So, a lot of guys pitted, because a lot
of people in front of us took dry tires,

and we didn't.

[engines roaring]

[Wheeler, on radio] Do not eat
these tires up. Take care of them.

[announcer 1] Green flag!

Well, as soon as we take
the green flag, downpour.

- [engines roaring]
- [intense music playing]

[Wallace] All right. Sweet.
This works out.

[engine roaring]

[announcer 1] Listened in on
William Byron.

[Byron, on radio] I'm gonna need
different tires here.

[announcers laughing]

- [announcer 2] "Different tires."
- [announcer 3] Didn't take long.

Bubba Wallace doing a nice job.
Great choice by staying on slicks.

It couldn't have worked out much better.

[Wallace] That worked in our favor
'cause we could stay out.

Then the rain started
getting really bad.

[Wallace, on radio] I can't see.

That's when all hell broke loose.

- [engines roaring]
- [intense music playing]

[announcer 3] No visibility here.

Oh, man.

[announcer 2] Oh, Ryan Blaney
with heavy damage.

[Wallace] It was just basically
driving down highway

and putting your hand
over your eyes... going 150?

[engines roaring]

Oh! We came for the rodeo,
and ended up at the circus.

- [dramatic music playing]
- [Wheeler, on radio] Wrecks everywhere.

[loud thud]

[announcer 1] Wallace, three back.

- [engine revving]
- [intense music playing]

- [crash]
- [announcer 3] Damn!

[announcer 1]
Heavy damage to Wallace.

[Wallace, on radio] f*ck.

Boom. That it. There's nowhere else to go.

[announcer 3] Bubba Wallace,
no idea that Kevin Harvick's checking up...

[metallic crash]

...runs right in the back of him.

[Wallace] I'm done.

Bad luck thing where, you know,
Bubba didn't see the 4 car checking up,

because I guess the spotter told him
that there was a wreck in front of him,

and bam! Ran into him. Day over.

[unsettling music playing]

[dark instrumentals]

[bright tone]

[birds chirping]

[Carter] Asher!

[Wallace] Water?

[Wallace] The intensity,
all the media, all the hoopla,

trying to balance all that
has been super tough.

You have so many people wanting stuff.

"Hey, I need this.
Hey, I need that. Hey, I need this."

Just always being asked to do something.

[Wallace whistling]

Come on.

Like, I would come home and...
Just to do nothing.

And it's so nice.

You know, I'm a believer in
if things aren't right at home,

they won't be right at, you know, at work.

Actually coming home, and...
looking at Amanda and seeing, like,

she's just proud
of whether I wreck or win...

Win, lose, or draw,
she's just happy for me.

And it's, like, remembering that...
It's like... [sucks teeth]

It's pretty cool.

[warm music playing]

[Wallace] Uh, can you hand me
that yellow screwdriver?

[Hall] Looks like a morgue.

- This blue reminded me of a cemetery.
- [Wallace] I'm blocking you.

[Carter] Yeah, it's too blue.
Go one back. It's too much.

Because he's so busy right now,

it's hard for him
to get a moment to relax.

- Yeah, I like that.
- [woman] That's better. I agree.

- They all need to go one click that way.
- [Hall] One click.

[Carter] He has less hours
than he ever did before,

so, uh, for him, he likes to come home
and just watch a movie.

He's a movie fanatic.

"From Monroe." "You went to Monroe?"
"No, I went to Jefferson."

What movie's that from?

Life.

I knew that.

- No, you didn't. You've never seen Life.
- [Carter] I have seen it.

- Yeah?
- [Carter] Yeah.

Give me a line from it. Not that one.

"Jefferson?"

[Carter, Wallace, Hall laughing]

[upbeat music playing]

[Wallace] Looks like a morgue.
People are gonna come over, like, "Dude,

why's it so... I know why you're depressed,
'cause these f*cking kitchen lights."

[Carter, Wallace, Hall laughing]

"If you change your kitchen lights,
your battle with depression will be done."

Oh!

I've lost my edge.
But these trophies say otherwise. [laughs]

[Carter] What year is that, '14?
Oh, that's good.

[laughs] This one's 2020.

There we go. I think it looks good.

[cicadas, birds chirping]

He and I talked a lot
about where we're at.

[emotional music playing]

Darrell's still trying
to figure everything out,

you know, mentally dealing with
just the stresses of his life, um...

Yeah, it's a work in progress.

I mean, last year was crazy.

The more... I forget about everything
that happened until I talk about it.

Like, it all comes back to me,
because it is insane,

uh, the amount of change
we went through as a country,

the amount of stress
we had in this household, um...

For so many different reasons.

[ethereal music playing]

[Phelps] Late yesterday afternoon,
a crew member from the 43 team

discovered a noose in the garage.

[dramatic music playing]

This morning at 7:30, we notified
the Birmingham office of the FBI,

and they've started their investigation.

The drivers feel very strongly that they
wanna show their support of Bubba.

He's a member of the NASCAR family.

We will do everything in our power
to make sure that

whoever has committed
this act comes to justice

and rid this type of behavior
from our sport.

Last year, I get a phone call saying,
"There was a noose found in your garage."

We were like... "Oh, sh*t."

Two days later, the FBI called me.

I don't answer unknown numbers.

And, uh, I have an app
that tells you who it was,

and I put it in the app, and it says
"the Federal Bureau of Investigation."

I'm like, "Oh, sh*t,
I just denied a call from the FBI."

Call back! [laughing]

[agent] As the supervisory special agent
with the FBI,

I was in charge
of the noose investigation.

The bureau, as a whole, takes civil rights
very seriously, especially hate crimes.

The FBI deployed... you know,

ten-plus agents
and task force officers to the scene.

The evidence pointed to the direction
that this particular noose

could have been there several months
before this particular date.

They told me that it wasn't, uh,
wasn't directed towards me.

So, that was that.

[smacks lips]

[news anchor 1] The FBI determined Wallace
was not the target of a hate crime

when a noose was found in his assigned
garage at Talladega Speedway.

[news anchor 2] According to NASCAR,
the rope was used

to pull the garage door closed.

You can call it
a "pull-down fashioned as a noose."

It's a noose.

The symbolism of the noose was the issue.

[unsettling music playing]

[Hall] NASCAR went back and even went
through all the other garage door pulls

throughout all the Series,
and nothing like that existed.

Out of the nearly 1,700 stalls,
they said only one of them, just one,

the one that was assigned
to Bubba Wallace,

had a pull-down rope
that was clearly fashioned as a noose.

What are the chances?

What are the chances that that weekend,
when everything was so tense...

What are the chances
that he gets that stall?

[news anchor 2] Investigators say
the noose found in his garage

had been there since last October,

months before Wallace
was assigned that stall.

So, I was relieved
that it wasn't a hate crime.

But the thing that bothers me the most
is people jumped to their own conclusions

about... it being a hoax.

Yet another noose hoax.

The fake stunt NASCAR...

Would've been the best thing
for Bubba Wallace's career imaginable

for him to be the victim of a hate crime.

[Ruffin] It wasn't a hoax.

It was... It was real.

Mr. Wallace had nothing to do
with the placement of that noose.

I'll stand by that.

And to think that
he had anything to do with it

really infuriated me.

Knew it was gonna be bad from the get-go.

- [man 1] Bubba Wallace hoax...
- [man 2] It was a sham.

Some people are suggesting
that this is a hoax.

People say it's a hoax.
Just outrageous stuff.

No one is accusing you
of doing anything wrong.

- And the knuckleheads who...
- Oh, they are, though.

No, but you can't worry about that.

You are a f*cking piece of sh*t
for trying to make this hoax.

And that weekend felt very scary.

Like, I came and checked the house after.

We're getting death threats
left and right.

At the end of the day, I always tell
my brother just to be careful.

You always have to be careful,
always watch your back.

I read one tweet that said, you know,

"We know you've come out
about depression before."

Uh, "This Confederate flag
and this hoax with the noose,

why don't you just
go ahead and k*ll yourself?"

I cried.

People... think the situation
was blown out of proportion.

It didn't feel blown out
of proportion when it was happening.

Understanding what that symbolizes
in the Black community...

[sucks teeth] ...uh...

if it was directed towards me,
it's like, "Somebody's trying to k*ll me."

Lynching wasn't a thing that only happened
to a couple Black people. Many, many...

The estimates of Black people k*lled,
is only an estimate.

We don't know
how many Black people were k*lled.

But it was a very prominent technique
of racial terror in this country

specifically in the South.

So, anywhere you see a noose,
it's going to remind you of that.

[Phelps] It's our responsibility
as the sanctioning body

to protect the individuals
who are in that garage.

You know,
having 15 field agents come on Monday?

I'd do it again.
It was the right thing for our sport.

We had to investigate
why that noose was there.

Someone may have tied this as a bad joke.
It could have been as innocent as that.

You just said,
"We don't know their intent."

But yeah, it was a garage pull,
um, in the shape of a noose.

Okay.

[Bell] Who did it, why they did it,
what were they thinking? I got no idea.

But if NASCAR was a Black sport,
where it was peopled with Black drivers,

there's no nooses.

Two, three weeks later,
all of a sudden, out of nowhere,

Donald Trump just opens up his mouth.

Yeah. I was laying in bed about 9:30.

Um...

Amanda was in here working,

I was like,
"Hey, the President just tweeted at me!"

Give her 30 seconds.

"Are you F-ing serious?" [chuckling]

[Twitter tweets]

[Moskowitz]
The President of the United States,

for some mind-blowing reason,

is challenging Bubba to apologize.

Bubba owes no one an apology.

Bubba had nothing to do with it.

There's no...
I don't know what the apology would be.

[Hill] The target is already
on Bubba's back.

When the President then speaks your name,

that target suddenly is
as big as the Pacific Ocean.

[unsettling music playing]

[Twitter tweets]

[somber music playing]

[Phelps] Very few people could have
handled what he handled, frankly,

the pressure that he was under,
and just the grace that he showed.

And he never... wavered
from staying above the fray.

Your tweet... was so on point.

I said, here's a young African-American

who is clearly
in a predominantly white sport,

and clearly is making a way.

There will be another you,
'cause they watching.

You will create another you.

Go, go. Come on, buddy, go.

Good boy! [clicks tongue]

Good boy. Let's go bye-bye.

[Wallace] Everybody on the circuit
has one of those home track races,

any sport, you know, when you go home to...
[sighs] ...where you're from,

where you kind of grew up,
it just has a little bit more...

It's kinda special, and it's only
a 20-minute drive from the house.

- [gate worker] Hey, puppy. Need a sticker?
- [Wallace] Yeah.

Would you like a sticker?
I'll give you one on your nose.

Thank you, sir.

[dramatic music playing]

Come on, buddy.

[announcer 1] If you want to be at
the top, the elite level in motorsports,

in the NASCAR series,

you need to win the Coca-Cola 600.

This is a special race,
but a very tough one to win.

[dramatic music continues]

I told him that I wanna see progression.

The goal for us is progression.

In the summer, we gotta be running better
than the spring.

When summer rolls around,
be better than spring.

In the fall, we need to be
better than what we were in the summer.

[Wallace] Fall rolls around,
be better than summer.

- Progression.
- [Wallace] Progression.

- [Hamlin] Progression.
- Progression's the biggest thing for us.

[Hamlin] I just want to see
the line of where we start,

and the line where we end,
that it's trending in the right direction.

[announcer 2] Field addresses itself
to the starting line,

and the Coca-Cola 600 is underway!

- [engines roaring]
- [thrilling music playing]

Bubba Wallace just outside the top 10,

and ahead of his co-team owner,
Denny Hamlin.

[Wheeler, on radio]
That was a good corner there. One and two.

[Kraft, on radio] Good job.
Keep pickin' 'em up.

[announcer 2] The fight
for the final stage point.

[announcer 1] This is as solid
as I've seen Bubba in a long time.

They keep getting better,
creeping up on a top-ten right there.

[Kraft] Keep charging!
You got a few more you can get!

- [announcer 1] I think he got him.
- [announcer 3] Don't think so.

- [announcer 3 groans]
- [announcer 2] There it is for 11th.

[announcer 1] That's where he's been
majority of the night, having a good run.

Spoke to Crew Chief Mike Wheeler,

he said, "The key is
we have to finish this race off

and get the good result
to start helping Bubba's confidence."

"If we can get his confidence
where we need it,

we're gonna be good the rest of the year."

[Kraft] Plenty of time here!

No mistakes.

[Wheeler] Equipment interference!

[Wallace, on radio] What?

[Wheeler] We've got a penalty
for equipment interference.

[Wallace] Never heard of that penalty.

[announcer 2] Pit stop penalties,
Bubba Wallace, equipment interference.

Watch what happens to this right tire

as it rolls into Chris Buescher's pit,
into their gas man.

[Wallace chuckles] Little f*ck!

When you get a penalty, it really hurts
your chances of coming back to win.

- [Wallace] That's f*cking terrible.
- [announcer 2] They'll start tail end.

[announcer 1] Oh man,
such a strong run he had going.

[Wallace] Pretty f*cking sh*t embarrassing
right there, buddy.

[tense music playing]

[Wheeler] Yeah, P-14. Sorry.

Did a good job out there.

[crowd cheering]

All that work for nothing. Good job.

[all speaking indistinctly]

[machine whirring]

[fireworks exploding]

[people speaking indistinctly]

[Wheeler clears throat]
Um, pit stop times...

Again, I-I... I feel everyone's pain.

Good thing is... I don't know
what you talked to TJ about,

but, like, they are getting speed.

We are not gonna...
As long as they continue to improve...

[Wallace] I told them,
"You guys were badass."

I said, "The stop before that,
you guys were f*cking flawless."

"When you're in this moment again,
think about what you just did,

the previous stop,
and be like, 'We'll do that again.'"

"Not think, 'Oh sh*t, I don't want
to have this happen again.'"

It's gonna happen again
if you think like that.

Forget, move on,
show up ready to work the next stop.

That's why I wanna make sure
you're on the same page.

Because next time it happens,
you know, don't...

If it's CJ or it's somebody else,
you know, just keep going. You know?

[Hamlin] When the car is good,

I think what message
gets sent to our pit crew is,

"Don't take us out of the race."

"Don't... I don't need you
to gain me two spots a stop."

- Hold court.
- "Don't take us out of the race."

[Wallace] Yeah.

And I say, Bubba, 'cause, again,
you're live and in action and a leader,

but, like, um,
this happened the day before.

[Wallace, on recording] How?

[crew 1] You have got to be
f*cking kidding me.

[yelling] That's a f*cking joke!
Get their sh*t together! What the f*ck!

[Hamlin] That's Turtle.

No. That's either Krafton or Junior.

[Smith] It was Junior.

Oh, that's... that's Krafton.

- [Smith] It was Junior.
- It was?

Yeah, because about five seconds later,
Krafton goes, "So what was that about?"

- [chuckles]
- [Wallace] Oh.

It was about not being able
to get the right rear tire off.

If I was on a pit crew,
I think I would have just left.

It's like, "I would quit right there."
And it's like, ooh, we all suffer.

So, look, y'all can preach,
"Oh, we gotta be sensitive." f*ck that.

I don't... If I do something wrong,
I expect my a*s to get chewed out,

and to take it on my shoulders.

- I didn't tiptoe around CJ.
- [Wheeler] I agree with you...

I said, "Hey, you f*cked up,
and you cost us a top-ten day."

But tomorrow, you forget about it
and show up to work.

Yeah.

I'm not tiptoeing around sh*t,
"Oh, how can I talk to you?"

If I f*ck up, chew me out,
say I f*cked up.

I wrecked a lot of sh*t this year.

- Take it on my shoulders, make hay of it.
- [Wheeler] Agreed.

I think it is good for being instructive,
like you said.

Like you said, constructive criticism.
Like, just avoid these.

I don't take back my "We're a
f*cking embarrassment" on the radio,

because we were a f*cking embarrassment.

- [Wheeler] Yeah, that's fine...
- I don't know if I'd ever get like that.

It's one thing
to want to be a part of something,

but you also gotta execute
at the same time, and I'm hard on them.

You know, I went to CJ's a*s
after the Charlotte race here.

After the race, I went...
On my ride home, I just played my music,

cleared my head,
knowing I'mma k*ll practice next week,

and I'mma go into the next week
like nothing ever happened.

You know what happened,

but you gotta go in with that clear head
that you got to dominate every week.

- [crew, on radio] Mike?
- [Wheeler, on radio] All the way.

[Paige] Bubba lets us know
when we make a mistake,

and he basically encourages us.

Even though he's mad at the mistake,
he still gives us encouragement.

That's what it takes to be successful,

is taking criticism
and... and learning from that.

[Wallace] Dude, everybody fired
their whole pit crew back in the day.

- Harvick, Truex...
- Yeah.

[Wallace] Did you fire them
back in the day?

Not really.

[Wallace laughing]

- Take a vacation.
- No, but I mean, I think...

I don't say anything
about bad stops anymore, 'cause... Just...

They know. f*ck. They know that...

You did right, Bubba,
going, "Hey, I'm part of your team."

But making sure they're accountable
and realize, "You did screw up."

Back to it, you know?

[cicadas chirping]

[basketball bouncing]

[Hamlin] The older that I get,
I'm more doing maintenance.

[chuckles]

I've essentially kinda knocked off
all four fenders at one point.

I've... I've gotten two ACL replacements,

got a left shoulder surgery.

End of this season,
I'll do the right shoulder.

Wanna get some rotations?

[Hamlin] I've had chronic back issues
for a very long time.

I actually fractured my spine

in a crash in 2013.

[Auto Club announcer 1] Here comes Kyle!
Hit Logano in the wall!

[Auto Club announcer 2]
Hamlin spins down the race track!

[thud]

[Auto Club announcer 1] Ooh.
The whole car just came up off the ground.

[tires screeching]

[trainer] All right. Go. Come on.

[Hamlin] I'm not an
all-out gifted athlete.

I'm 40 years old.
I have to work really, really hard.

Am I the most talented race car driver?

Not a chance. Probably not in the top 100,

but I feel like I worked my way
into that top 100

because of my work ethic.

I'm ready, I'm prepared,
and I'm gonna give it all I got.

If it ain't good enough,
it ain't good enough.

[Hamlin exhales]

[birds chirping, sheep bleating]

- [car engines roaring in distance]
- [thrilling music playing]

[Wallace] Sonoma's on the schedule,
another road course race.

I've run there twice,
but, man, I struggle with that place.

Road courses...

It's like, COTA? Oh, gosh.

Charlotte?
Ooh, excited 'cause it's an oval.

And then Sonoma.

It's like, "Can we get off
the road courses for a minute?"

[Hamlin] We have triple the road courses
on our schedule than ever before.

It's a big part of what we do,
so you better be good at it.

So, I had texted everybody
from Toyota to Denny,

"I need all the road course help
I can get."

And so they were like,
"Okay, fair game. Here we go."

[car engine roaring]

[Wallace] We get some road course testing
put on the schedule.

Go out to Sonoma
with Chris Cook and his g*ng there.

[Cook] Very fortunate to work
with great drivers like Bubba Wallace

and a lot of his NASCAR brothers.

Specifically working with Bubba today

on road course technique
and getting him prepped for Sonoma.

[engine idling]

[Hamlin] It was difficult for us

to expect him to go out there
and run top-ten, top-15 with a new car.

- [Wallace]...whenever. Get in and...
- [Cook] Switch around...

[Wallace] Yeah, yeah.

[Hamlin] I can't emphasize
this enough that, you know,

going from a Chevy to a Ford to a Toyota...

Even though they drive similar
on a big track,

like the Daytona race track,

they drive as opposite
as they possibly can on the road course.

It's the braking is different,
our steering is different.

The throttle response...

That's something he has to get used to
all while he has no practice.

[thrilling music playing]

We'll send him out on the track
for about five, six, seven laps.

And we'll do that all day long,

and just really, really focus
on all aspects of road course techniques

specific to a stock car like what
Bubba races week in and week out.

- [engine revving]
- [thrilling music continues]

[Cook] The road course has up to 20
different corners, uphill, downhill.

Such a variety
on how you enter the corner,

how you use the brake, downshifting.

It's a multi-step dance.

[engine roaring]

When you turn left for your whole life,
you get comfortable with the Gs.

[engine roaring]

Being pulled to the right side of the car
when you turn right,

it's a total different feel.

We got blind corners,
going up over crests, down and swells,

and trying to shift, and braking,
and it's just a lot more going on.

[Cook, on radio] Sounds like when you go
to third gear, you go a little bit late.

Don't know if you're downshifting late,
but it sounded like you were.

[Wallace, on radio]
Yeah, I'm about a car length later.

So, I'll work on getting it earlier.

[Cook] The braking, really getting
into the corner is... is almost all of it.

Really, really good over the hill.

If that timing from corner to corner
isn't spot-on,

you lose a tenth here and a tenth there,
and it's a lot.

[on radio] Turn two, man,
it's a stellar job.

Really, really good.
I mean, just right on.

Bubba, why don't you bring it in
on this lap.

Meet you in the garage.

[Cook] Hey, man, you can stay in the car
if you want to or...

[Wallace] It's hot. [chuckles]

[Cook] Yeah, they're definitely hot boxes.

The biggest thing that I haven't seen
that we talked about is braking points.

Try to figure out...

- what reference points work best for you...
- Yeah.

...and always have
that can of spray paint in your bag,

so, late at night, if you're near
the race track or before you guys leave...

- Yeah. Put a mark down.
- Yeah, man.

In those maximum hard braking zones,

make sure you spike it
at that maximum level.

Whatever that maximum level
of the pressure is... Right now.

[cicadas, birds chirping]

[girl] Because...

[Hamlin] Where's my mixer at?

[girl] It was right here!
And you just opened that drawer!

[Hamlin] Well, I need the small one.

[Hamlin] Every day that I've got the kids,
I'm makin' breakfast for them.

Extra chocolate chips.

I try to get to them before they
make themselves a bowl of cereal.

It's one of the things I like doing.

[Hamlin] Eggs ready.

[girl] Here's your egg.

[woman] That's Dad's egg.

[Hamlin] It's such a balance
to try to have enough family time

and also have a day job working for 23XI
and working on the ownership side,

as well as my responsibilities driving
the Number 11 car in the Cup Series.

Get me an orange juice?

- Yes, I got you one. Here.
- [girl] I just canceled...

I used to have a whole lot more days off,
so the family time was more,

but certainly things have changed
with the new role I've taken on.

How's your pancake?

Ma, is it good?

[woman] You know it's good
when they're quiet.

It is.

[buttons clicking]

[projector beeps]

[Hamlin] My dad...

He hates that I say this,
but my dad was tough.

He always says, you know,
"I wasn't as tough on you as you think,"

and I think back,
and I'm like, "Eh. Yeah, you were."

But I appreciate it.

I think it made me
the person that I am now.

He said, "You wanna go racing,

get your a*s out in the garage
and work on the car."

"You go clean the go-kart.
This is not my hobby. It's your hobby."

He instilled a work ethic into me
that I really appreciate now.

And it's probably why I'm so critical

of other people's work ethic
when I shouldn't be.

I shouldn't even care.

But it's just, like,
I hate seeing people's potential,

and they're not working hard at it.

Hello. What's up, man?

Damn, I ain't swung a club
since last week.

I don't think we voice it a whole lot,
but he takes pride in beating me.

You know, the weekends that, uh,
you know, he outruns me,

I can see that he gets a lot out of that.

[blows raspberry]

I know I'm a big competitor.
I know Bubba is a huge competitor.

[golf club whacks]

[Hamlin] Oh, wow. He actually hit it good.

No one likes to lose,

and, you know, any time that I'm competing
one-on-one with somebody,

I want to win.
It doesn't matter what we're doing.

Lefty coming up.

Yeah, clear everything out.

I think early in the year...

That's gonna go a little bit.

...Bubba thought he was gonna
get in our cars, that are fast,

and just go win races
and finish in the top five,

and compete with myself
and Joe Gibbs Racing.

- Go! Go! Go!
- [Wallace] Look at her go!

I think that people in general
are apprehensive to confront Bubba

and hold him accountable.

I'm not.

Oh, I smoked it.

Ooh.

The honeymoon stage is over,
and he's not happy with how we're running.

He has all the right to not be happy.

I've invested a lot in this team.
Michael has invested a lot in this team.

We have to have results.

And for me, it was frustrating
at times in the early part of the year

when we see Bubba not doing his homework.

There's a lot that goes into being a pro.

It's more than just race car driving.

You got to watch film,
you got to study some things.

It's like, "Come on, man. I'm paying you
millions of dollars a year."

"I think that you can,
you know, do this work."

Some of that a little bit is
some immaturity on his end,

thinking that, "I'm gonna be
good enough to do it, just on talent."

But I think that
over the course of the season,

he's seeing that, "Oh, you know,
I've got to find... areas to improve in."

[Wallace] Our sh*t is so cutthroat.

They could've said,
"He's not getting the job done."

"We'll get somebody else
to come in and... and get the job done."

[Hamlin whistles]

[Wallace] Putting is where it's gonna...

- [Hamlin] You betcha.
- [men laughing]

That's where I'm gonna get...
That's why I gotta get three feet.

[Hamlin] Early in the year,
the speed was there,

and it seems like after he's gotten
in a few incidents here and there,

damaged the car, he's kind of
backed off his aggression level.

With that, I think
he's backed off the speed level.

And so now we got to get back
to just being faster.

[Wallace] Oh.

- [Hamlin] Dang it!
- [man] You did it.

- [Wallace] Bow! Let's go!
- [Hamlin] Dang it.

I'll take a bogey.

All day.

That's 90s all day.

[car engine roaring in distance]

[intriguing music playing]

[Wallace] We go to the sim for Sonoma.

Toyota has a good simulator,
and it's a tool for us.

It's a computer, and it takes
a lot of input from, you know, models.

We have the software
where we can plug in our physical setup

into a bunch of numbers
and formulas and letters

and plug it into
the simulator that I'm driving,

and it'll dump out information
and give me the exact same feel

of what to expect
when we show up there in real life.

These rigs cost
well over a million dollars,

so it's not like turning on a video game,
like, "I'm going to race Sonoma."

You get the actual feel
of the racetrack, the bumps.

It's super beneficial.

- [thrilling music playing]
- [engine roaring]

So, trying to time that and still make
the corner obviously is a problem.

Obviously, we have less downforce
than two years ago.

[Wallace, on radio] Yeah. 10-4.

I was about two, three seconds off,

and I'm like, "Make lap time.
Can you pick up three seconds here?"

Three seconds is a lot,

and you're like, "Where? How?"

I'm going as fast as I can.

We worked on turns
one, two, three, and four a lot.

[Wheeler] You lost three tenths
here and there.

Turn eleven was like a half second,
just roughly.

You got better after... almost
all of those in turn eleven.

- You were a bit better.
- Okay.

And I'm like... [exhales]
"I'm still two seconds off."

And so, then, competitive mode kicks in,

goes into overdrive,
and it's like, "Try harder."

So, then the 139s come.
It's like, "Here we go."

One thirty-eight comes, I'm like,
"Getting there. I'm only a second off."

Got down to the last run,
and, um, ran, uh, two 138s?

And I busted off a 137,
and I'm like... pumped!

Damn near picked up three seconds.

And it was just like trusting the car,
trusting yourself, and having fun with it.

And... I'll be damned
if I didn't have fun, you know?

- That's an improvement.
- [Smith] You did it.

- We can vouch for these...
- [Wallace] Great day of testing.

Maybe.

So, real life to sim
kind of translated over.

I'm like, "I know what's coming up next.
I know how fast I can drive the car."

So now I'm, like, excited to go to Sonoma.

And anybody that knows me,

"Are you drunk?"

Yep. All right, fellas.

- [Wheeler] All right.
- Good work.

I'm out.

[car engines roaring in distance]

[dramatic music playing]

[announcer 1] Lot of places
where you can pass,

a few where you dare pass,

and, uh, some that are just
downright difficult and intimidating.

- You know it's gonna be fun.
- [announcer 2] Oh, I love this racetrack.

[man] Sonoma is a big race
for Bubba Wallace, 23XI Racing.

It's a Toyota-sponsored race.

It's a race a lot of people
in the industry like to go to.

The racing is exciting, it's competitive,

it's more open, where you don't always
see the same drivers and teams win.

It draws a lot of attention.

It's one of those races
on the calendar that people circle.

[man 2] Mike!

[Jordan] What's up?

[man 3] Michael Jordan!

[Pockrass] Whispers on Sunday morning,
"Hey, is Michael Jordan gonna be here?"

"You know if Michael Jordan's
gonna be here?"

"Do you know when he's gonna be here?"
"You know which way he's coming in?"

You hear all that stuff
because it's Michael Jordan.

[Jordan] Hey, CJ. What's up?

- Nice to see you.
- [CJ] That's lit.

[Paige] Just couldn't believe
I was gonna be a part of his car

and one day I could hopefully meet him.

Now we'll work for him.
It's just unbelievable to me, honestly.

[Blaney] When MJ comes to a race,

the atmosphere changes, you know?

Having someone like that,
who is so well-known around the world,

to be so involved
and invested in a NASCAR team...

He's not just a guy with his name
on the title of the race team.

He's very involved,
and it's pretty cool to see, honestly.

[Jordan] When Bubba comes in, says,

"You wanna put in a bit more air,"
how do you adjust it?

[Hamlin] It's important to see him
visiting team members inside the hauler.

They wanna know
who they're working for, right?

I mean, they wanna see
that this guy is really behind them.

[Jordan] I'm gonna sit
and talk to the boys.

[Pockrass] When you have
Michael Jordan at the track,

and it's your worst track
or one of your worst tracks,

it's gotta play in your mind a bit.

It's tough when any of us
are working and our bosses are there.

Bubba Wallace, at road courses,
was a driver, who, at times,

was defeated
before he took the green flag.

[Wallace] Part of me was "f*ck-it" mode.

"Go find your actual limits, bud."

Go find where it's like,

"Oh, okay, you're gonna spin out
if you go any harder." You know?

And then back it down.

As to where before I was just like...

[groans] "I think that's the limits.
Yeah, I think so..." You know?

Then you got guys passing left and right.

Drivers!

Start your engines!

[engines revving]

[announcer 1] Here we go.
We're racing in Sonoma.

[Kraft, on radio] You know the deal.
All four on the pavement all day.

- Let's go to work.
- [Wallace, on radio] Yes, sir!

- [engines roaring]
- [thrilling music playing]

[Wallace] I feel good.

Like, "Okay, here's your opportunity
to go out and showcase what you can do."

I feel fast.

[announcer 3] Bubba trying to put on
a good show.

He's got Michael Jordan in the house.

[announcer 1] There's a power move
for Chase Elliott

around the outside of Bubba Wallace.

[Kraft] Coming back.
He's there. Right side.

Still there, half.

It was a... a good day.
We were having a solid day.

[announcer 1] Bubba Wallace, Chase Briscoe
coming to pit road

with three to go in Stage 1.

[Wheeler, on radio] Two and one.

Then we come down pit road,
and he has a speeding penalty.

[machines whirring]

[engine revving]

[engine roaring]

[announcer 1] And on the pit stop,
Bubba Wallace too fast exiting.

He'll have to do
a drive-through penalty down pit road.

[Wheeler] I'll call it
three, two, and one.

[Kraft] Don't speed.
All the way through the line.

[Kraft] Okay, that's fine.
We'll get over it.

Wheels makes a great call,

gets us some track position back,
gets us back in the race.

[Wheeler] No mistakes. Settle down.
Deep breath. Half a lap.

[engine roaring]

[Wheeler] The left rear's flat.

[Wallace] You gave me flats, bud?

[announcer 3] Ooh, flat tire
on the left rear of Bubba Wallace.

Oh, boy. Oh, boy. Oh, boy.

Somehow, leaving pit road, unfortunately,

the tire changer knocked
the valve stem out of the tire.

I think the g*n ripped it off
when he spun the wheel.

[announcer 2] That's absolute
worst-case scenario on that 23.

It's coming apart a bit there,

but if that thing lays a carcass out
right in the middle of the race track,

they're gonna be forced to...
You can see it barely holding on.

Did a good job, Bubba.
That was a complete lap.

- [announcer 1] There it goes.
- [announcer 2] There it went.

[machines whirring]

[announcer 3] Gotta lift this thing up,
get it on the jack. Good job.

[Wheeler] Three, two, and one.

[engine revving]

[announcer 3] Question is whether he goes
a lap down. I think he will.

So, now we're relegated back to 35th.

[Wallace] If that doesn't suck
all the wind out of your sails.

[Kraft] No mistakes.
Settle down. Deep breath.

[Wheeler] Promise you the second half
will go better. It should be okay.

[announcer 1] Got a ways to make up.

[announcer 3] Gonna have a whole fleet
of cars to pass.

[Kraft] Zero lap down now.

- [announcer 2] Puts to him...
- [announcer 3] Pulled out.

[cars crashing]

[announcer 3] And it's just
aggressive, hard racing

at this late stage in the race
is what that is.

[Wallace] Whoo!

[announcer 1] Bubba Wallace
back on the lead lap.

[Wallace] We got a chance, huh?

[Wheeler] How can something actually
go our way today? Amazing.

[Wallace] f*ck 'em. Let's go to work.

[Kraft] Yes, sir!

[announcer 2] That's the emotional
roller coaster of these road courses.

[Wheeler] Got a 15.
Just be smart. March forward.

Two laps to go, we recovered
to top-15 again.

- [thrilling music playing]
- [engines roaring]

[announcer 1] Kyle Larson wins at Sonoma.

[tires screeching]

[Kraft] Did not go well for a while,
took a bad turn,

and then we recovered
to have a really good day for us.

[Wheeler] Yeah, good job today.
Ranked good there.

Much improvement beginning of the year.
Thanks, MJ, for coming out.

Pit crew, road crew,
appreciate you guys working hard.

Keep it up. Let's keep improving.

[Wallace] Appreciate that. It was fun.

That was definitely
my best road course race.

Coming from last to 14th.

That's the bright side of that.

The other side is we still have,
you know, ten races,

and we're still missing out
on some big components,

uh, whether that's communication,
trying to piece everything together.

Our season's not done.

- Good job, fellas.
- [Wheeler] Nice work.

[Kraft] Nice comeback. Good job.

- [Kraft] Thanks for driving those miles.
- [Wheeler] Good half the race.

[Nashville man] NASCAR is back
in Nashville!

The results are f*cking awful,
and I hate 'em.

[Wallace, on radio] Exchange the lefts.

f*cking pathetic.

Sore from just
getting my f*cking a*s kicked!

f*ck. How far we gonna fall?

In this point in the season,
you gotta win.

Jesus Christ.

Go back to those humble beginnings
when you were loving racing.

[NASCAR announcer] It's Wallace up front.

sh*t starts doing this...

You're like, "f*ck it. Here we go."

[metal crashing]

[down-tempo rock song playing]

♪ Oh, oh my God
I got to make it to the end ♪

♪ It's far ♪

♪ All my life, I've been counted out ♪

♪ All my life, it's been hard, hard
Oh, hard, hard ♪

♪ And oh my God
I got to make it to the end ♪

♪ It's far ♪

♪ The sun is burning
And it's getting hot ♪

♪ Feeling so alone, alone ♪

♪ There's only one thing left to do ♪

♪ I put the pedal to the floor ♪

♪ I put the pedal to the floor ♪

♪ I put the pedal to the floor ♪

♪ I put the pedal to the... ♪

♪ They're coming for my head ♪

♪ Leaving just to see my shame ♪

♪ I think they want me dead, dead ♪

♪ But no, I won't give up ♪

♪ And no, I can't give in ♪

♪ I'm in my journey
And God, you know I'm gonna win ♪

♪ They're coming for my head ♪

♪ Leaving just to see my shame ♪

♪ I think they want me dead, dead ♪

♪ But no, I won't give up ♪

♪ To know I can't give in ♪

♪ I'm in my journey
And God, you know I'm gonna win ♪

♪ I'm gonna win, oh ♪

[singer vocalizing]

[song fades to silence]