Bubba Wallace blows a tire during IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge at Daytona
Just as Bubba Wallace was getting to his minimum time requirement in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, he blew a tire. The right rear went down on Wallace’s Smooge Racing Toyota. Soon after, the NASCAR star had to pit and the team swapped drivers.
This entire stint in IMSA is to help Bubba Wallace on road courses. He got about 40 minutes in behind the wheel to start the four-hour endurance race. John Hunter Nemechek took over the car after the pit stop and swap.
I’m sure Wallace was able to learn plenty in the last two weeks at Daytona. He blew that tire and was able to bring his car around. The carcass of the tire eventually fell off as Wallace drove around on the rim for a bit.
The tire started to smoke and you could tell something wasn’t right.
Here is the video of Wallace and Nemechek making the swap on pit road.
Of course, Wallace wasn’t the only driver with issues. There was a lot of contact and a few flat tires that caused issues for teams in both classes.
Bubba Wallace giving IMSA a chance
The IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge isn’t an easy race. Daytona’s road course is challenging and for a set of drivers that have never raced in the series or in these cars, it’s a real challenge. Braking is a huge part of sports car racing and is something the NASCAR trio for Smooge Racing needed to figure out.
Of course, these veteran road course teams are going to be faster. They are used to the cars, the track, and the other drivers. Still, we saw issues early in the four-hour race. Flat tires and contact on the track caused issues for a number of teams, including Bubba Wallace.
John Hunter Nemechek and Corey Heim are two drivers who will want to learn from Wallace’s mistakes. He tends to overdrive his cars, and drive them hard. In this car, it ended up with a right rear tire. The good news is that a tire isn’t going to ruin your day. These sports cars are not like Cup cars and can drive with a flat.
It also didn’t hurt Bubba Wallace on his time. He was going to come to his minimum time regardless. So, there shouldn’t be a concern with that. It will be interesting to see what Wallace has to say about his first IMSA race after the end of the four hours.
Even with the flat, there are takeaways that Wallace can think about between now and the next time he races on a road course.