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Bubba Wallace opens up about ‘hated’ rivalry with Austin Hill

JHby:Jonathan Howard•04/05/25•

Jondean25

Bubba Wallace
Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

Despite being in two different series, Bubba Wallace and Austin Hill have seen a lot of each other on the race track over the years. Wallace, from Alabama and Hill, from Georgia – of course, these two NASCAR drivers had a rivalry.

Bubba Wallace is 31 and Austin Hill is 30. While they haven’t progressed through the NASCAR ranks at the same pace, they came up through the grassroots together. That is where the rivalry started.

Talking to Kevin Harvick on the Happy Hour podcast, Wallace talked about that rivalry. It shocked Harvick to hear it.

“Oh man. Yeah, I think it would have to say Legend Cars,” Wallace explained. “Man, the competition back then was super fierce. You know, I’m going to go with Austin Hill. Yeah, we hated each other. Yes. We hated each other, and it was always kind of – I knew he was in Trucks and stuff when I was kind of in Xfinity. Then, we were at Toyota together my first year at 23XI.

“He was at Hattori in the Truck stuff, and we were able to put all that stuff aside just from being around each other, and now we go back and talk about that stuff, and it’s nuts. Like, I remember his first year in Xfinity, I’m texting him like, ‘Hey man, maybe look at doing this differently.’ Pointers and stuff. Man, we hated each other.”

With how aggressive Hill is in the Xfinity Series, I can’t imagine what he was like as a kid in those Legend Cars. Either way, it sure left a mark on Bubba Wallace.

Bubba Wallace coming off back-to-back P3 finishes

Homestead and Martinsville were good for Bubba Wallace. He was able to lead at Homestead and then followed it up with another great performance at Martinsville. Things are going really well for this 23 group in the last two weeks.

Darlington is another track that Bubba can do well on. In the last six starts, Wallace has finished P16 or better in five of those races. He was P27 in a DNF in the Spring 2022 race. In the last five starts, he’s averaging a finish of 8.8. Wallace earned the pole for the Southern 500 last fall.

While the recent finishes have been solid, he needs more. That win feels like it is right around the corner. A checkered flag at Darlington would be major for this 23 team and for Bubba Wallace.