New Netflix Series Focuses On Pivotal Year For Nascar And Bubba Wallace

When Formula 1 partnered with Netflix in 2018 for a docuseries titled: Formula 1: Drive to Survive, it became an almost instant hit. The show provides a behind- the-scenes look at the world of the F1 paddock and races from the perspective of the drivers.

Some credit the show, which was renewed for a fourth season by the streaming service, for increasing interest in the sport of F1 particularly among Americans. ESPN, which has partnered with Sky Sports to air races since 2018, said in a report that the 2021 season was averaging 931,000 viewers through 14 races; 53% higher than the 2020 season average and 40% higher than the first 14 comparable races in 2019.

Another report said that more than 400,000 showed up in person for this past year’s F1 US Grand Prix and a million more watched the race on TV. Overall ratings for the 2021 season were up more than 40%, making it the most-watched F1 season ever in America.

In other words, the stylized, and edited, scenes of a driver’s life have those who may not have considered watching or attending an F1 race giving it a look. And those are the sort of numbers that would get the attention of any sports league; that includes NASCAR.

NASCAR is now once again attempting its own foray onto the Netflix platform, this time with a similar show. Instead of focusing on several drivers however, this new series will involve just one driver. And it’s that driver who is leading the effort.

Before 2020, Bubba Wallace was best known as the NASCAR Cup series lone African American driver. But in 2020 America began a reckoning of sorts. While the country and the world were shuttered due to the Covid pandemic, George Floyd, a Black man, was killed by police in Minneapolis and soon protests were breaking out across America.

NASCAR took notice and soon began a reckoning of its own. Born in the South, racism and NASCAR seemed to go together in the early years. As time went on, however, the two became estranged as the sport tried to tiptoe away from its racist past.

It was in 2020 they began to take giant leaps. The divorce became final as Bubba Wallace stepped up at the first race after the Floyd tragedy wearing an “I Can’t Breathe” t-shirt on the starting gird at Atlanta, a reference to the words Floyd spoke before he died as a police officer kneeled on his neck. Prior to the green flag at Atlanta the field was stopped along the frontstretch, and engines were silenced. Crew members stood on the pit wall as a message from NASCAR president Steve Phelps was shown on the Fox broadcast.

Then as the field rolled off to begin the race, a video featuring several top drivers vowing to “listen and learn” was aired. The video included seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson and Wallace. Drivers had already posted it on their social media accounts. A few days later after that race Wallace was interviewed on national TV and said it was time NASCAR banned the display of Confederate flags at its events and properties. And just a few days later, it did just that.

Later in the season when NASCAR arrived at Talladega Superspeedway the subject of race again entered the conversation. Prior to the race news broke that a garage pull appearing to be fashioned into a noose had been found in the garage stall being used by the No. 43 team of Wallace. The FBI was called into investigate. That investigation found that the noose incident was all a misunderstanding and it had been that way since at least the previous year.

It was the display of unity prior to that race however, that showed just how far the sport had come.

Before the race every driver in attendance along with Wallace’s then boss Richard Petty, who flew in that morning just to support his driver, pushed the No. 43 car, which Wallace drove at the time, to the front of the field on pit road. All gathered there surrounding Wallace during the invocation and the singing of the National Anthem.

The movement carried over to social media where the hashtag #IStandWithBubba began to trend. The track also painted the hashtag on the infield grass prior to the race. The image of the drivers gathered around and behind Wallace became a symbol that made it clear the racism once common in the sport would no longer be tolerated.

Wallace has continued to be the face of those efforts. He moved to a new team for 2021, the newly formed 23XI Racing co-owned by driver Denny Hamlin and NBA legend Michael Jordan. And in October last year, Wallace won his first NASCAR Cup race, fittingly, at Talladega Superspeedway.

Viewers will get insight on all that happened with Wallace during that pivotal 2021 season during the six-episodes that will cover the life of Wallace from his upbringing to his racing career and personal life as well as the social justice activist he has become. Much of that will be interspersed with footage shot during races in the 2021 season and feature appearances by his new boss Denny Hamlin, driver Kyle Busch, former driver African American Bill Lester, team owner Joe Gibbs, Richard Petty, and NASCAR president Steve Phelps among others.

“Excited for everybody to get a get the full glimpse of what we were able to capture last year,” Wallace said. “I went to Netflix. I was motivated from the F1 ‘Drive to Survive’ stuff. Hopefully, this will be somewhat close, hopefully in the same ballpark as that.”

Wallace said he wants to show people what it takes to be successful and provided some insight on what viewers can expect to see.

“I’m a very raw and real person,” he said. “I think that you often got to be buttoned up and not really show your true side at times; that’s where I get in trouble because I don’t listen to those rules. I’m always raw and real every time, but you get to see that every day. You get to see the ups and downs and what it takes to be successful at the top level of the sport. And you’re quickly humbled each and every day. Just because everybody at this level is great.”

During the offseason, the 23XI Racing team hired NASCAR champion Kurt Busch as the team’s second driver. He will race alongside Wallace this season.

 “He’s a champion and just seeing how tough it is to win one race. I can’t even imagine what it’s like to win a championship,” Wallace said. “You’ve got to have it each and every day, each and every minute to be successful. And then with that comes a lot of pain, a lot of pressure, a lot of emotion and I think that captures that, so we’ll get to see it.”

This isn’t NASCAR’s first attempt to entice viewers on the Netflix platform. Last year a 10-episode sitcom, The Crew, featuring Kevin James ran on Netflix. While entertaining, the show never produced the numbers needed for a second season and was cancelled.

This time there is no scripted comedy, instead there is real drama. RACE was shot during a pivotal time in the life of Bubba Wallace, and in the evolution of NASCAR itself.

“We were looking for ways to support Bubba and help tell his important story,” Matt Summers, who serves as an executive producer for NASCAR on the Netflix project said. “When the opportunity came to work with Netflix again, we knew it was an ideal platform to share Bubba’s incredibly powerful journey with a wide-ranging audience.”

If the show is successful viewers will be able to see how the dynamics between Wallace and Kurt Busch, and a great deal more; that is if Netflix commits to a second season, something Bubba Wallace hopes will happen.

“I think it’s all about numbers,” Wallace said. “I don’t know. Hopefully it’s good enough to have a second season. It was fun. The process was fun. We started back in like November of 2020 and shot all of last season; I think they got some good stuff.”

That ‘good stuff’ not only shows the life of Bubba Wallace, but a season that will be considered transformational for the sport of NASCAR.

“When we look back many years from now, I believe 2020 will be remembered as the most important year in the history of NASCAR. That was the year we embraced transformational change and that Bubba Wallace – in the face of great turmoil and adversity – took a stand and inspired an entire sport to stand with him,” NASCAR president Steve Phelps who helped lead the change said. “We made decisions then that would forever change the perception of NASCAR, and that would help us build a more diverse, welcoming and inclusive community of fans. We continue forward on that journey today. But in that moment, it was Bubba who carried the burden as a Black driver standing up for justice and equality, and he did so with tremendous strength and courage.

“Bubba Wallace is more than a NASCAR driver and Cup Series race winner at that. He’s become an icon whose story changed a sport, inspired millions and will be celebrated for generations to come.”

RACE will debut on Netflix on February 22.