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Start those engines: Bubba Wallace's historic rise and activism featured in first docuseries trailer

The historic rise of Bubba Wallace, the only Black full-time NASCAR Cup Series race car driver, will veer into Netflix with the forthcoming docuseries, RACE: Bubba Wallace — and if the first trailer is any indication, viewers are in for a thrilling ride.

Directed and executive produced by Erik Parker (L.A. Burning: The Riots 25 Years Later), the six-episode docuseries will chronicle Wallace's personal and professional life during the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season, tracking his unprecedented rise to the elite ranks of NASCAR and the turbulent aftermath of speaking out about racial injustice.

Amid the global protests following the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in 2020, Wallace made headlines when he wore a Black Lives Matter t-shirt — emblazoned with the words "I can't breathe" — at a pre-race ceremony in Atlanta. Soon after, he defiantly called on NASCAR to ban Confederate flags from events.

These events — ones that took a toll on Wallace's mental health — are front and center in EW's exclusive first look at RACE: Bubba Wallace. "I have a responsibility," Wallace says of his activism in the trailer. "True colors are gonna come out."

The series includes appearances by Wallace's family and fellow NASCAR drivers, as well as commentators Michael Strahan, Jemele Hill, and W. Kamau Bell, who help contextualize what it means to be the only Black person in a predominantly white space.

bubba wallace
bubba wallace

NETFLIX Bubba Wallace

Wallace calls the docuseries "unlike any project I've ever participated in."

"It's a raw, emotional and completely transparent account of the events that took place throughout the 2020 and 2021 NASCAR seasons," Wallace tells EW. "With me, what you see is what you get. You'll witness the peaks and valleys of the sport and see how one's actions off of the race track are just as important as the ones on it."

bubba wallace
bubba wallace

NETFLIX Bubba Wallace

Parker praises Wallace's vulnerability in the docuseries, saying, "The series shows us a young person making decisions and trying to understand the impact of those decisions – in real time – on his sport and on society at-large. It's vulnerable. It's raw."

Executive producer Kevin Liles adds in a statement, "What we've captured with RACE is a new American Dream at 200 miles per hour. The good, bad and ugly — a poignant story, through his eyes and his struggles of competing as the only African-American driver in the NASCAR Cup Series."

bubba wallace
bubba wallace

NETFLIX Bubba Wallace

In addition to Liles, Nolan Baynes and Kelly G. Griffin executive produce for 300 Studios. Andrew Fried,Dane Lillegard, Jordan Wynn, and Sarina Roma executive produce for Boardwalk Pictures, while Matt Summers, Tim Clark, andTally Hair do so for NASCAR. Rob Ford serves as co-executive producer.

RACE: Bubba Wallace premieres on Netflix on Feb. 22. Watch the trailer above.

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