Bubba Wallace wears 'I Can't Breathe' shirt, drives Black Lives Matter car in NASCAR race

NASCAR driver Darell Bubba Wallace Jr raised awareness for the ongoing Black Lives Matter movement wearing a t-shirt supporting the movement and also revealing a new paint job for his car that was used during the race on Wednesday night (Thursday IST). Bubba Wallace is the first full-time African-American driver to race in the Cup Series in nearly 50 years. In order to show his support for the protests against the murder of George Floyd, Wallace ditched the normal colour scheme for his Richard Petty Motorsports' No. 43 Chevrolet and opted for an all-black colour scheme.

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Bubba Wallace Black Lives Matter car

The 26-year-old revealed the Bubba Wallace Black Lives Matter car during the ceremony ahead of the NASCAR Cup Series race at the Martinsville Speedway in Virginia. Painted all-black, the car featured the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag on the rear panels. The words "compassion, love, understanding" were embossed on the hood along with a painting of hands of the two races clasping each other. Along with his car, Bubba Wallace himself donned a Black Lives Matter shirt for the race. 

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"I think by running this branding on our car, putting the hashtag out there, bringing more awareness to it, it lines up with the videos that we had put out as NASCAR," Bubba Wallace told CNN ahead of the race. "Listening and learning. Educating ourselves. So people will look up what this hashtag means, and hopefully, get a better understanding." Bubba Wallace finished the race at a career-best 11th place behind seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, Jimmie Johnson. Martin Truex Jr won the race at the Martinsville Speedway. 

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NASCAR Confederate Flag officially banned

Ahead of the race, Bubba Wallace made another plea to NASCAR to prohibit the use of the Confederate flags during the races. The flags were once used as a symbol of slavery and white supremacy. However, the use of the Confederate flags still hints at the lingering feelings of racism in the US. Amid the recent protests against racial injustice, NASCAR seemed to agree with Bubba Wallace on the use of the Confederate flags. The flags were officially banned by NASCAR ahead of Wednesday's race.

LeBron James gives a shout-out to Bubba Wallace for efforts amid ongoing protests

The efforts of Bubba Wallace to bring awareness to the Black Lives Matter campaign through his car and race outfit was applauded by Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James, who has so far been extremely vocal about the ongoing protests against racism in the country. LeBron James took to Twitter to laud the Bubba Wallace Black Lives Matter car and the message the NASCAR driver sent this week.

 Bubba Wallace's instant response to LeBron James

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