Bubba Wallace said Kevin Harvick offered advice following a $50,000 penalty for making contact with Alex Bowman post-race at Chicago.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00I've been miserable for years, walking around with a persona that I'm not proud of.
00:04I need to apologize to a lot of people, especially that are close to me.
00:09Sid, I'll start with you.
00:12Zach, you're right here, told you to walk away last week, so I apologize for that.
00:16Just frustrated and trying way too hard and not focused on the right things.
00:21And the door slam, the bump that Bowman said wasn't hard at all.
00:28For the people that, for the last four or five years, people have been wanting me out of the sport, right?
00:34But those people don't really understand when you put road course, let's talk about road courses.
00:40How many years have I been terrible at road courses?
00:42Seven, right?
00:43And so I've been putting my heart and soul into getting better and spending time with the team and
00:48the sim and trying to be better and showing up Chicago.
00:54That was our best road course race ever.
00:57And to have that wiped out in two corners when the conditions changed over messing with switches.
01:05We all know we always mess with switches.
01:06You don't mess switches in the smallest part of the track.
01:08And you had seven or eight caution laps.
01:09But when that's all ripped away, you feel some type of entitlement to show your frustration.
01:19Did I time it wrong?
01:19Sure, 100%.
01:21His window net was down, seat belts were off.
01:23Not an ideal situation.
01:26It's the guy you're racing with in the points.
01:28And then he goes on to win the race.
01:30So it's like icing on the cake, right?
01:32So it's just three or four slaps in the face when you're working your ass off to be better for the team.
01:38And just ripped away.
01:40So not that I'm justifying at all, but I'm a passionate guy.
01:43And I let my frustration get the best of me.
01:48But I will say I got my media training from Kevin Harvick.
01:52Yeah, so at the racetrack, we were at the shootout, racing legend cars.
01:57And I'm racing with him and Keelan, and he's like, you ready to roll, ready to go qualify?
02:02And I'm like, nope, not really, just got fined.
02:04And he said, man, that sucks.
02:08And he told me to show up with a smile on my face and accept it.
02:12So here's my smile.
02:14I might not agree with the penalty, but I'm smiling about it.
02:18He also told me a lot of powerful things, to show up and be the fun-loving guy that I am throughout the week.
02:26And I know you all want to interrupt?
02:29All right, then.
02:30Let me have the floor.
02:31I'm sorry, I'm going back to Old Bubba.
02:34I think that has been one of the most important things told to me, that people don't see who I actually am on Sundays.
02:47And that broke me, right?
02:49Because I always preach about being the same person on and off the racetrack.
02:54And it's a pressure cooker, being at the cup level, right?
02:58In the last four years, I've been miserable, just trying to walk around like everything's OK.
03:03And I mean, not from a mental standpoint.
03:07I know I'm big on mental health.
03:08My mental has been in check, but just trying to carry this persona, like I said earlier, that, you know, hey, don't bother me right now.
03:14I'm too busy.
03:15And then when one thing goes wrong, the whole thing crumbles.
03:18So I came into this weekend with a smile on my face and wanting to have fun.
03:25And so that's what I'm focused on.
03:29I did not have fun in qualifying.
03:30I about crashed. That sucked.
03:32But it is what it is.
03:33You know, I think last week, if this was right now, I'd be pissed off and didn't want to talk to you guys.
03:38And you know what?
03:39You roll with the punches.
03:40You roll with the $50,000 fine.
03:41You roll with a P26 qualifying spot.
03:45And it is what it is.
03:46You got another day to figure it out and go have fun, pass a lot of cars.
03:49And that's where my mind's at.
03:50So penalties, penalties.
03:53I won't be the last one to get one.
03:54And we'll see.
03:55You just got to move on.