Bubba Wallace is leaving his NASCAR team in 2021. Here’s where he could go next

The news that NASCAR Cup driver Bubba Wallace will not return to Richard Petty Motorsports next year isn’t all that surprising. Wallace announced Thursday that he will part with his team in 2021 following his best statistical Cup season and one in which his name made headlines in the national media.

Ultimately, the decision came down to what Wallace wants, which is something he has not been shy about sharing. He said in August that when considering options for next year, the two factors most important to him were signing with a team that “feels like family” and one that can provide competitive equipment.

“I came into this sport wanting to win races and be a household name on the track,” Wallace said.

While RPM has been his home for the past three seasons, the one-car team has struggled to find Victory Lane. The last win for the No. 43 Chevrolet came in 2014 at Daytona International Speedway with Aric Almirola in the cockpit. With Wallace behind the wheel, the team has notched three top-five finishes, one in each season, and nine top-10s. RPM typically fields a mid-pack running car and isn’t in the championship conversation. Wallace has made it clear that he wants to be racing faster than mid-pack.

RPM owner Andrew Murstein said he wanted Wallace to return next year, enticing him with a partial ownership stake in the organization.

“There’s a plethora of drivers,” Murstein told Forbes.com in early August. “There is only one Bubba.”

That comment came after a summer season in which Wallace’s name dominated off-the-track story lines as he advocated for racial justice and sparked NASCAR’s ban of the Confederate flag, prompting an influx of new sponsorship signings. Those partnerships include Columbia Sportswear, DoorDash, Cash App, Beats by Dre and Kingsford, which would likely move with him to a new team.

Ultimately, Wallace is foregoing the ride with RPM because he already has plans aligned with a more competitive team or feels confident he’ll lock them up before next season. With more pieces in place for NASCAR’s 2021 grid, that leaves only a handful of likely spots left for Wallace to land.

The rides that have been the most speculated about are Wallace signing with either the No. 42 at Chip Ganassi Racing or the No. 48 at Hendrick Motorsports, both of which are in the Chevrolet family.

The No. 42 car was previously driven by Kyle Larson, who was dropped by his team and sponsors in April for using a racial slur. Larson was replaced by Matt Kenseth for the remainder of the season. Kenseth said in an interview with SiriusXM Tuesday that it’s “probably more than likely (he) will not be racing again next year,” leaving a potential opening for Wallace.

Those discussions have already taken place, according to Sports Business Journal, which noted that the two teams share McDonald’s as a common partner, thus creating more synergies. The team is also considered a more competitive, two-car organization anchored by Cup veteran Kurt Busch in the No. 1 Chevy.

But Wallace could also have a potential opportunity with one of the “Big Four” (i.e., Team Penske, Joe Gibbs Racing, Stewart-Haas or Hendrick Motorsports). Penske’s and JGR’s seats are filled out for next season, but possibilities remain on the Hendrick and Haas front.

The No. 48 car driven by Jimmie Johnson will be vacant after 2020, but team owner Rick Hendrick said in an interview with SiriusXM last week that Hendrick would run four cars next season and that they’ve “got an announcement here a little bit later on in the year,” indicating that a driver has already been selected. However, Hendrick said he wants the team focusing on the playoffs. There has also been speculation that Erik Jones, Corey LaJoie and Matt DiBenedetto are potential candidates to fill that seat.

DiBenedetto said Thursday that his contract with the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing team was a multi-year deal and future options “have to be picked up on the team side.” He said he has not had frequent discussions with the team about extending his contract, but DiBenedetto landed a spot in the postseason for the first time in three years for the Wood Brothers after Ryan Blaney finished in ninth place in 2017.

“When I came to the team, everyone involved expressed that they wanted it to be a long-term relationship,” DiBenedetto said.

Other off-chance options for Wallace include a move to Stewart-Haas Racing’s No. 14 car driven by Clint Bowyer or the possibility that Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin starts a Toyota-backed team with Wallace as the driver. While both are unlikely alternatives, they’re not impossible.

Bowyer is not yet locked into a contract for next season, although SHR’s vice president of competition Greg Zipadelli said last week that he wants to see the same lineup back in ‘21.

“I do anticipate and (am) excited to hopefully have the same lineup that we do this year back,” Zipadelli told NASCAR.com. “I know one is very close to done, and we’re working on the other one.”

SHR driver Aric Almirola announced the following day he will return to the No. 10 Ford for 2021.

On the Toyota front, Hamlin is supposedly looking toward future team ownership. Wallace and Hamlin have had a historically strained personal relationship, but for business, they could put the past aside. Still, the most likely option is Wallace signing with either the No. 42 or the No. 48.

NBC NASCAR analyst and team owner Brad Daugherty told The Observer last month that his preference was to see Wallace in the 48 for the sport.

“I’m just being selfish,” Daugherty said. “I’d like to see him have the greatest opportunity in the world to win races and, obviously, one of the largest race teams, one of the four corners of our sport is Hendrick.”

But as NBC NASCAR analyst and former Hendrick crew chief Steve Letarte noted, rather than what’s best for the sport, “the answer needs to be what’s best for Rick Hendrick, Hendrick Motorsports or the 48 team.”

The same can be said about Wallace’s destination, which will likely include a better-funded team. While we don’t know where Wallace will land, we know he sees a departure with Petty now as best for his future.