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NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace to drive ‘Black Lives Matter’ car

by Morgan Gstalter - 06/10/20 2:07 PM ET

NASCAR driver Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. on Wednesday will unveil a car painted to support the Black Lives Matter movement.

Wallace’s No. 43 Chevrolet with team Richard Petty Motorsports will be painted all black for the Martinville’s race, the 263-mile Cup Series race in southern Virginia.

The 26-year-old is the first full-time African American driver in the top-flight Cup series since 1971.

An image of a black hand and a white hand clasping will be displayed on the hood and on Wallace’s face visor. The front and rear of the car will feature the words “Compassion, Love, Understanding.”

The hashtag “#BlackLivesMatter” will be emblazoned on the sides.

.@bubbawallace will run a special paint scheme to honor #BlackLivesMatter for Wednesday night’s race at @MartinsvilleSwy. pic.twitter.com/1axOlSsig7

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 10, 2020

“This statement that we have right here that we’re about to make — running this racecar, being on live television on Fox — I think it’s going to speak volumes for what I stand for but also what the initiative that NASCAR, the whole sport, is trying to push,” Wallace said in a video on Twitter.

Tomorrow night at @MartinsvilleSwy, @BubbaWallace will run a special #BlackLivesMatter paint scheme promoting racial equality. #CompassionLoveUnderstanding

Learn more: pic.twitter.com/MHWwNzIzFJ

— Richard Petty Motorsports (@RPMotorsports) June 9, 2020

“It’s true — Black lives do matter. It’s not that we’re saying no other lives matter, we’re trying to say that black lives matter too. If we put ‘too’ on the end, I think a lot more people would understand it,” he added. “We want to be treated equally and not judged off our skin color.”

“We always say, ‘All lives will not matter until black lives matter,’” he added.

He also announced that his foundation, Live to Be Different, would be donating $10,000 to the Black Lives Matter Foundation.

Wallace this week wore an “I can’t breathe” shirt in solidarity with protesters marching over the death of George Floyd, the unarmed black man who died in police custody last month after a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

The driver also called for Confederate flags to be removed and banned from the racetracks.

“No one should feel uncomfortable when they come to a NASCAR race. It starts with Confederate flags,” Wallace said this week. Get them out of here. They have no place for them.”

The racing league earlier this month said that it was “hurt and angered” following Floyd’s death.

“For us to heal and move forward as a nation, we all need to listen more and be united in the stand against racism, hatred, senseless violence and loss of life. And we all must hold ourselves accountable to driving positive change.”