TALLADEGA, ALABAMA – JUNE 22: Bubba Wallace, driver of the #43 Victory Junction Chevrolet, speaks to the media after the NASCAR Cup Series GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on June 22, 2020 in Talladega, Alabama. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)Longtime NASCAR driver Bill Lester made his return to the sport on Saturday, racing in the NASCAR Truck Series Fr8Auctions 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Lester, 60, said everything aligned for him to make his return to the sport.
“I need to find out how I feel behind the wheel,” he told USA TODAY. “Do I still love it like I remember I loved it? Or is it something it’s like, ‘OK, I did it. It was cool. But I have no more burning desire, [and] the flame is extinguished’? I don’t know, and I am just as excited and encouraged to find out.”
Unfortunately, Lester, who is Black, appeared to be booed by some during his return on Saturday. Bubba Wallace shared his reaction to the booing on Twitter.
“To some we all look the same…probably thought it was me,” Wallace, the only Black driver in the Cup Series, tweeted.
To some we all look the same…probably thought it was me https://t.co/c2VbNug6jf
— Bubba Wallace (@BubbaWallace) March 20, 2021
Lester praised Wallace for his influence in the sport while speaking to USA TODAY.
“For young, Black youth or youth of color, they have to see more athletes that look like them in this sport, right?” Lester said. “They need to see more Bubba Wallaces or Bubba Wallace having more success. It’s going to come. I believe, honestly, that it’s going to come with that program. But you know, folks are expecting way too much too soon. It’s not going to happen overnight. …
“But as soon as somebody like Bubba starts winning and more folks from the Black community start seeing that and realizing that’s something that they can do — because they see that, they have that exposure — then that’ll be something they start trying to do.”