In an effort to sign one of NASCAR’s rising stars before he becomes a free agent when his contract expires at the end of the 2020 season, Richard Petty Motorsports has offered driver Bubba Wallace an unspecified ownership stake in the team.
Wallace, who has become one of the most recognizable faces in auto racing due to his role in pushing for NASCAR’s ban of the Confederate flag and his Black Lives Matter advocacy (as well as June’s noose incident), is reportedly seeking a raise that would lift him into the seven-figure salary bracket.
“We’re in discussions with him about an extension that includes ownership in the team,” Petty Motorsports team owner Andrew Murstein told Forbes.
According to Murstein, an agreement with the 26-year-old should be finalized “within the next couple of weeks.”
Wallace, the only Black driver in NASCAR’s top-tier Cup Series, is part of a free-agent pool that also includes 2012 series champion Brad Keselowski and 2019 playoff participants Erik Jones, Kyle Larson and Aric Almirola.
Receiving an ownership stake in RPM would be a coup for Wallace. Although it has happened before, as when Jeff Gordon was given a chunk of ownership with Hendrick Motorsports in 2002 or when Gene Haas gave Tony Stewart 50 percent ownership of his team after they reached an agreement in 2008, a driver becoming an owner of a team is not very common.
On the track on Sunday, NASCAR suspended Wallace’s crew chief Jerry Baxter after a pre-race inspection at New Hampshire Motor Speedway discovered an improperly mounted ballast.
In addition to the suspension, Wallace was stripped of his starting spot and penalized 10 points. Driver Corey LaJoie and his crew chief Ryan Spark were hit with the same sanctions for the same infraction.
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