Bubba Wallace used to be the one who was miserable in his motorhome after a NASCAR race. So much so that there were times when those bad days might result in a pair of sunglasses getting smashed and his wife, Amanda, who felt just as terribly, not knowing what to say.
These days, however, those roles have reversed.
"I get back to the bus now and Amanda is more upset than I am," Wallace told ESPN. "It's difficult to navigate that because over the years she's known this is what we have and I have to make this work. ... Now I walk back, like after Kansas, and I was fine, and she's beside herself. It's kind of funny."
Kansas Speedway, Sept. 28, saw Wallace leading on the final lap before his 23XI Racing car owner, Denny Hamlin, made a move that ran Wallace into the fence in Turns 3 and 4. Neither of them ended up winning as Chase Elliott drove by both. Wallace would have advanced in the Cup Series playoffs if he had won. Instead, a week later, he was eliminated.
Wallace was disappointed afterward but handled his postrace obligations with professionalism and grace. Amanda's reaction, on the other hand, is where her husband was not that long ago, when he admittedly would have said something dumb.
But the current version of Wallace has come a long way. The current version of Wallace is a much more engaging driver, someone easier to work with, and someone who has learned to navigate both his personal and professional lives. Quite simply, Wallace is much more enjoyable to be around.
What changed? The arrival of Becks Wallace, his son, in late September 2024, was the biggest catalyst.
"Bubba is obviously very emotional, and you've seen that in a lot of his interviews the last few years," Freddie Kraft, Wallace's spotter and longtime friend, told ESPN. "He would have very high highs and very low lows.
"Now it seems like the highs are even higher and the lows are never as low as they've been before. We talk after the race, and a lot of times in the past, if we had a really bad day, I would get one-word answers or no answer at all until the next day. Now I can text him and we're joking around afterward, and I think it's strictly because he's either going back to the bus and seeing Becks, or he's on the phone with Becks before we get on the airplane.
"That little boy has done so much for him that it's an incredible turnaround for Bubba."
Wallace was no different from any other parent-to-be in hearing that children change your life, that parenthood is the best thing you'll ever experience. He has enjoyed learning how to be a dad and realizing that his son does make everything more enjoyable, so on the days when things don't go well on the racetrack or his championship chances come to an end, it's not so hard to handle because Becks doesn't know or care what happened.
"You don't think about that stuff in that moment," Wallace said. "You latch onto when you're with him or Amanda and nothing else matters. I could be sitting here talking to you, but thinking about practice and qualifying. You're consumed by it. You can't be changing a diaper and thinking about qualifying. It doesn't work. It's nice to have that now."
The word "consumed" is appropriate when telling Wallace's story.
Throughout his career, Wallace let what happened on Sundays eat away at him the rest of the week, which led to a poor mental attitude both on and off the racetrack. On team radio, there were emotional explosions and despondence. His demeanor projected a desire to be anywhere else but at the racetrack.
Wallace has been open about his experiences with mental health in the past, including depression, although he has never spoken about being officially diagnosed. Most of the work to become stronger has been done by himself, although that does not mean he dismisses the value of therapy; it felt awkward for him when he tried, and he didn't find anyone he could relate to.
One of the most public instances of Wallace sharing his struggles came at the end of the 2023 season when he posted a lengthy reflection on social media in which he talked about "questioning everything," a "helpless feeling," and how even seeing his friend, Ryan Blaney, win the championship didn't bring joy.
Fatherhood. The decision to cut back on social media. Compartmentalizing. The latter has been huge for Wallace on the racetrack, helping him keep from letting one bad thing snowball into bringing everything down.
"Look, I get motherf---ed if I have a bad day and get out and say I had a bad day. [People say] I'm bitching and complaining. No, I'm stating facts," Wallace said. "Part of me is biting my tongue and going with it, but at the same time, everyone is frustrated, and we've been frustrated for three hours. There is no need to add onto it. The frustration that would kick in was that I would look at our team and wonder, 'Why are we the only ones that can't figure it out?'"
The frustration behind the wheel led to holes that Wallace didn't always dig himself out of by a race's end. While it's not fair to say a driver ever gives up, Wallace struggled mentally with how badly things would go after entering a race with high expectations, leading to one bad decision after another, culminating in a mediocre day. Kraft would see it from above the racetrack and hear it on the radio, knowing when Wallace was getting in his own head.
"Now he's realizing that he belongs as a front-running guy and the cars are capable of running up front," Kraft said. "Even when we don't have a great start or have a penalty, something that puts us behind the eight ball, we have enough talent and car to drive back to the front. [Crew chief Charles Denike] has done a great job of improving his mindset on that.
"It's always fun to be around Bubba, but this year it has definitely been a little more fun."
Hamlin has been equally impressed with what he's seen.
"Bubba's turnaround over the last few years, I can't believe it, truthfully," Hamlin said. "The maturity that he has shown. He's been the lead car at 23XI, really the entire year. I think [Tyler Reddick] might have him on average finish because he doesn't have as many DNFs, but the 23 has been the fastest freaking car we've got. And that's something I can't believe.
"Whether it's Charles Denike and his setups or Bubba's mentality, something changed over there that has made Bubba someone you're going to have to contend with every single week. ... I couldn't be [prouder] of that 23 team and what they're doing week in and week out."
With three races left in the season, Wallace sits 10th in the standings and could potentially be looking at a career-best season in the Cup Series -- at least statistically. Perhaps it already has been because of Wallace's noticeable personal progression, as well as the team's growth, with performances that don't always translate to the results sheet (such as laps led, stage points earned, average running position during the race and speed).
Reddick making the Championship 4 a year ago showed Wallace the potential was there, and it was his motivation coming into 2025. In fact, Wallace has backed up a social media post he made in January, sharing that "the mentals are at an all-time high" and that he "couldn't be happier" after taking it upon himself to be better and do better after two seasons of getting "my ass kicked."
Naturally, having on-track success further helps his off-track attitude.
"It's been really, really cool to show up with speed every week and have an opportunity," Wallace said. "That's what you want: to have an opportunity to be successful. It allows you to move freely, have less stress and take full responsibility. It's like, OK, here's the keys to it, let me go figure it out. I like figuring that stuff out when it comes to the racing side of things, and when you have the right people in the right spot, the right equipment, and all of it has to jell perfectly, but we seem to have that good chemistry going right now."
How times change. How far Wallace has come. Something that is striking to him, too.
"I've enjoyed where I've been in life," Wallace said. "I look forward to waking up and competing more than I have, and it's been fun to be at the racetrack. No other way around it. That is all from enjoying every aspect of life."
