Explanation:
In June 2020, Bubba Wallace left Talladega Superspeedway the epicenter of NASCAR's racial justice movement after an alleged noose was found inside the garage area. Michael Jordan watched from afar, the NBA's best player-turned-owner with a passing interest in motorsports.
Then 16 months later, Wallace left a Cup Series winner, driving for Jordan himself in the biggest breakthrough turnaround the sport has seen this year.
It took a rain delay and a wild finish to the end of stage two to get the job done, but Wallace ended in first at the Yellawood 500, 71 laps short of its scheduled distance. For those who consider 23XI Racing their North Star, capable of ushering in a new diversity movement, no one cares much about an assist from Lady Luck.
Least of all Wallace himself.
"Doesn't matter if I won by a thousand laps or won a rain-shortened race, not everybody is going to be happy with it," Wallace said. "That's okay because I know one person that is happy and that's me, because I'm a winner and they're not."
