LeBron James Once Came to the Rescue of a Sponsor-Stricken Bubba Wallace - EssentiallySportsAmerica's Favorites Trending in U.S.A.

LeBron James Once Came to the Rescue of a Sponsor-Stricken Bubba Wallace

Published 07/16/2022, 12:25 PM EDTBy AUSTIN, TEXAS – MARCH 26: Bubba Wallace, driver of the #18 Dr. Pepper Toyota, waits on the grid prior to the NASCAR Xfinity Series Pit Boss 250 at Circuit of The Americas on March 26, 2022 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images) It’s pretty obvious the connection between Bubba Wallace and the NBA. The 23XI Racing driver has as his boss, one of the greatest athletes of all time, and certainly the greatest NBA player ever, Michael Jordan. ADVERTISEMENT Article continues below this ad However, before Jordan, Wallace was tied to another NBA great, a fella that goes by the name of LeBron James. Back in 2015, during the initial years of his career, Wallace was struggling with finding a sponsor. That’s when Roush Fenway Racing tried coming to his rescue and devised a strategy to associate him with the former Cleveland Cavaliers player. ADVERTISEMENT Article continues below this ad “We think there’s a lot of creative opportunities to do some really crossover promotions with Bubba,” Steve Newmark, the Team President . “LeBron is under the Fenway umbrella on the sports marketing side; LeBron and Johnny Manziel.” Speaking about his sponsorship struggles, Wallace admitted that he had been struggling with finding a sponsor for over a decade. “I’ve been battling sponsorship for 12 years,” Wallace said. “It’s just been family-oriented stuff for the first six so I’m used to it. That was a lot of practice for me.”

Bubba Wallace on his troubles with sponsorships early in his career

Though Bubba Wallace has now a list of esteemed brands and companies as his sponsors, it wasn’t long ago when he was still struggling to land and keep a sponsor. And it’s not like he wasn’t winning races. ADVERTISEMENT Article continues below this ad He was. It just wasn’t working.TALLADEGA, ALABAMA – JUNE 22: Bubba Wallace, driver of the #43 Victory Junction Chevrolet, speaks to the media after the NASCAR Cup Series GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) Speaking about this in an , Wallace recalled how he was “always trying to be different”, unlike the average stereotypical NASCAR driver. ADVERTISEMENT Article continues below this ad “I was just always out there, balls to the walls, having fun. I thought that would attract sponsors, and we were producing results,” he said. “They always said, you know, You win one, the sponsors will come.’ Well, I won about five or six and the sponsors never came.” It was frustrating to go through those times.

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ADVERTISEMENT Shaharyar Khan Chauhan 1529 articlesShaharyar is an F1 & NASCAR writer at EssentiallySports. A graduate in Journalism from Amity University, he has been a passionate follower of motorsports for a better part of the decade. A Max Verstappen and Ferrari supporter, he dreams of a pairing of the two in future.Please enable JavaScript to view the ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT

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