He also says he has a couple other irons in the fire if the main one he’s been attached to most of Silly Season doesn’t work out.
Richard Petty Motorsports needs a new driver for its iconic No. 43 Ford for the 2018 NASCAR season. Bubba Wallace needs a full-time ride.
He’s already made laps in that car, filling in for the departing Aric Almirola in a few races this season. Team owner Richard Petty seems to like Wallace too.
It seems like there’s a match to be made if there ever was one. And yet there’s been no announcement yet, and Wallace is still in limbo as he’s been ever since his Roush Fenway Racing XFINITY Series team folded in the middle of the season.
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The reason why is tied to dollars and cents. Longtime RPM sponsor Smithfield is also leaving at the end of 2017, off to join Stewart-Haas Racing. That leaves the Petty bunch in a bit of a pickle, which makes it hard to sign on a driver who has been plagued with sponsorship issues of his own.
But that’s not to say a deal can’t come together. Wallace said as much in an interview with ESPN when asked about his 2018 job-hunting.
"“Obviously Drew [Blickensderfer, crew chief for the 43] had come out on Race Hub and said the plans and intentions were to go to the 43, so we’re still working on that. But obviously with the sponsorship deal they’ve got going on, it puts things in a different light.”"
Wallace performed well when given the opportunity, improving each race from his Cup Series debut — a 26th-place finish at Pocono — to just missing a top-10 run at Kentucky. His average finish of 17.75 is actually better than Almirola’s 20.1 in 2017, albeit over a tiny sample size.
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So there’s definitely a chance for a driver and team who seem meant to be together to join forces. But the other irons Wallace says he has in the fire should probably stay there for now, because it’s never a bad idea to have a backup plan.