Facebook inked a deal with NASCAR to for an eight-episode docu-series about driver Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr., giving racing fans a behind-the-scenes look at his historic run in the sport.
On Sunday, Feb. 18, Wallace will become the first African-American since 1969 to drive in the Daytona 500.
Ahead of the race, the first episode in the original series, “Behind the Wall: Bubba Wallace,” will post on Thursday, Feb. 15 on the Facebook Watch show page for the series (at facebook.com/behindthewallbubbawallace). Two episodes will air per day from Thursday through Saturday, while the series’ final two episodes will be available after the Daytona 500 next week.
Facebook is paying NASCAR for rights to distribute the series. It’s part of the social giant’s initiative with Watch to pull more premium content into the platform — to get Facebook’s 2 billion-plus users to spend more time watching TV-like episodic programming, so it can serve higher-value ads.
As the docu-series plays out, Wallace plans to interact with fans live on Facebook. “It’s been wild to have this entire journey documented leading into the Daytona 500,” Wallace said in a prepared statement. “It’s cool to finally see it all come together. I’ve watched a few episodes and it’s awesome.
The eight-part series was produced by NASCAR Productions in association with NASCAR Digital Media. It chronicles Wallace’s road to the Daytona International Speedway, from his earliest racing days to his debut in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series as the new full-time driver of the No. 43 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Petty Motorsports.
Prior to graduating to NASCAR’s top series, Wallace competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. In October 2013, he won the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway to become the first African-American driver to win a NASCAR national series race since NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Wendell Scott in 1963.
The 60th annual Daytona 500 will be run Sunday, Feb. 18, with coverage starting at 2:30 p.m. ET. It will be broadcast live on Fox, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (channel 90), with additional coverage on NASCAR.com.