“Have To Battle Blaney” – Bubba Wallace Relishing Upcoming Battle With Best Friend On Star Wars Day

It’s safe to say the force is with Bubba Wallace. What does that mean, you ask? Well, for non-Star Wars fans, May 4th is upon us. For a while now, May 4th has been generally considered to be Star Wars Day. The mega-popular space opera has since developed a massive fan following in America and around the world. Truthfully, May 4th has no particular significance for the billion-dollar franchise. However, one of the most famous dialogues is, ‘May the Force Be With You’, and a cheeky pun turned into a full-fledged celebration.

And the fan that he is, Bubba Wallace, goes all out for Star Wars. Who can forget his iconic Darth Vader-themed livery from months ago? With Columbia on as sponsors, Bubba’s fandom is put on full display, but Bubba isn’t the only fan, is he?

Now, Ryan Blaney, Wallace’s best friend, is a massive fan of Star Wars, and Wallace couldn’t take a chance to make a cheeky little jab at his buddy. And with the Wurth 400 falling on Star Wars Day, Wallace added a Star Wars-themed zinger for his friend.

Ahead of race day, he spoke to Frontstretch about his chances of winning the race. Stephen Stumpf asked, “Tomorrow is Star Wars Day, do you think you can use the force to get to Victory Lane?” In response, he told Stumpf, “Have to battle Blaney for that one. I think so, it’s been such a cool collaboration that we’ve been doing for the last couple of years with Columbia. I think anything’s possible. Yeah! They’re going all out, alright! We’ll be hopefully standing with them [storm troopers] in Victory Lane, that’ll be cool.”

DAYTONA BEACH, FL – FEBRUARY 13: Bubba Wallace 23 23XI Racing McDonald s Toyota celebrates after winning the running of Duel 1 at Daytona on February 13, 2025 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, FL. Photo by Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire AUTO: FEB 13 NASCAR, Motorsport, USA Cup Series Daytona 500 Duels EDITORIAL USE ONLY Icon250216992

Well, for Wallace, battling Ryan Blaney might be a far shot, especially since the Toyota driver is starting in 9th place while Blaney is lower starting in 24th. Perhaps the Penske man could use some luck today. His season has been one to forget so far. With an average finish of 18.75 and only 198 laps led, Blaney is far from the Cup Series champion we have come to love. And at Texas, luck is something he will need because it is one of his worst tracks. Out of the 27 tracks he has competed in the Cup Series, the Texas Motor Speedway ranks in the bottom half of the table, with Blaney’s average finish being 21.7 at the track. Perhaps this is the year he can change his fortune and finally get a win here.

 

As for Wallace, this isn’t the first time that Wallace and Star Wars have been mentioned in the same breath. Last year at the Phoenix Raceway, the #23 driver ran with a racing suit inspired by iconic Star Wars villain, Darth Vader. The year prior to that, he wore a firesuit inspired by the Rebel Alliance (one of the factions in the Star Wars universe) pilots.

What really sold the gimmick even further was the appearance of Mark Hamill as a guest. Hamill was the star of the original trilogy, playing the role of Luke Skywalker. Back then, with Wallace meeting Hamill, Blaney was quite jealous, as Bubba later revealed. “Ryan is super jealous, but I promised him I’d hook him up with some of the Star Wars pieces in the Columbia collection so I think we’re good. I actually got to meet Mark Hamill and talk about the race and the car. It gave me chills to hear him talk about the force, so that was pretty cool. It’s an honor to drive something so iconic.” 

Now, with this year’s race at Texas featuring storm troopers, it is safe to say that Bubba Wallace is firmly with the Empire, and Wallace is looking like he is ready to make it big at the track.

The 23XI Racing driver is eager to get his first win of 2025

Last weekend at the Talladega Superspeedway, Bubba Wallace was in excellent form and finished the race in 8th place. As a matter of fact, he was 5th in the opening stage and won stage 2. Admittedly, that stage win did come, courtesy of a push from Austin Cindric, much to the rage of Joey Logano. But that’s not all. When Wallace manages to get a good performance, he tries to string a bunch of strong finishes. Take a look at his back-to-back third place finishes in Homestead-Miami and Martinsville.

Coming to the Texas race, given his Top 10 qualifying position, it is a great chance to try and gun for a win. He went on to say, “Yeah, I’d love to take stage 3 and get us a win, lock ourselves in the playoffs, and yeah, I think Texas has been a decent track and we’ve had a good track record the past couple of races, but nothing’s ever the same. So, we just have to work hard today, find out what our balance is going to be, and go get it.”

With a strong average finish of 12.7 at the Texas Motor Speedway, a few Top 10 finishes, and solid form, Bubba Wallace might just look to push all the way this time at the Wurth 400.

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