Charlotte Motor Speedway is getting its Bubba back. NASCAR star Bubba Wallace - a longtime Bojangles' Summer Shootout competitor in his youth - is set to return to grassroots racing's ultimate showcase.
Wallace - best known for his exploits in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series aboard Richard Petty's famous No. 43 - will compete in the Boston Reid Real Estate Pro division of the Shootout. In front of the same Charlotte crowd that rooted for him throughout his childhood racing career, Wallace is slated to make his first Bojangles' Summer Shootout start since 2012 on Tuesday night.
"It's great to be able to come back to my roots and race a series that I have such a passion for," Wallace said. "The last few years, I've been trying to figure out if I should race a couple of Legend Car events, and if I did, how I'd go about making that happen. This year, the stars aligned, so I called the guy that helped me out in Legends years ago, Chris Rogers, and next thing you know we're building a car. It's going to be a bit of a learning curve to get back into the groove of things, but I'm excited."
Wallace enters this summer having won five Boston Reid Real Estate Pro division races, one VP Racing Fuels Semi-Pro event and six Bandolero Bandits features in his Shootout career. The Mobile, Alabama, native grew up in Concord, North Carolina, and is part of a a star-studded list of drivers including Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, William Byron and Daniel Hemric who moved to NASCAR's top echelon after competing in the Bojangles' Summer Shootout.
Monday night's season-opening action features "Bark Your Engines" night, the first time in the speedway's history that fans can bring their dogs to America's Home for Racing. In addition to Legend Car presented by WIX Filters and Bandolero racing, Tuesday's Bojangles' Summer Shootout brings area school principals to the track for a two-ton school bus tussle on the frontstretch quarter-mile.
Gates open at 5 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday, with opening ceremonies scheduled for approximately 6:15 p.m.
