The bad news for upcoming NASCAR racer Bubba Wallace is that he’s out of the cockpit this weekend and still looking for a ride for the rest of this year and 2018 as well.

The good news is that while he may not be driving, Wallace is not out of work.

Wallace, who put on an impressive performance subbing for the injured Aric Almirola earlier this summer in the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford, is in Chicago this weekend working on a special promotion in advance of the Sept. 17 Tales of the Turtles 400 at Chicagoland Speedway.

For the seventh consecutive season, Chicagoland is hosting the opening round of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoffs,. And for the second year in a row, the race weekend will carry a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme, with lots of special paint schemes across all three NASCAR touring series that will race there, as well as a host of at-track activities and support.

The Chicagoland promotion gets started with “A Good Day For Play,” an event open to the public on Saturday, Aug. 5, from 1-4 p.m. at Good Details Gallery in Chicago’s Art District. Wallace, who already has twice driven TMNT-themed race cars, will serve as the event’s ambassador on behalf of Nickelodeon.

Six Chicago street artists — Max Sansing, Sentrock, Tubsz, E.LEE, Lisa Gray and JC Rivera — will design TMNT murals, with the winner earning the right to design the trophy for the race. Two NASCAR race cars will be on display — a SpongeBob-themed car Wallace drove at Talladega Superspeedway in 2015, and a TMNT “Shredder” paint scheme he raced at Chicagoland last year.

“Bubba’s been gracious enough to become our ambassador, which I think is really the centerpiece to this,” said Anthony DiCosmo, Senior Vice President of Sports Marketing, Nickelodeon, during an exclusive interview with PopularSpeed.com.

“We’re in an inner-city community where there’s a lot of young kids that maybe have never been introduced to NASCAR before,” said DiCosmo. “It’s going to be probably their first experience in the sport and I think it’s really a tremendous opportunity for them to have a good time, come out and then be introduced to a driver that actually looks like them.”

DiCosmo said the combination of Wallace and the audience can be a powerful one.

“That’s going to be one of the most inspirational things that comes out of this and hopefully, we’re going to cultivate some new fans for the sport and get them to come out to Chicagoland Speedway,” he said.

For his part, Wallace he’s ready.

Among his myriad duties, Wallace will judge the murals.

“I’m actually excited about it,” said Wallace who has twice driven TMNT-themed cars in NASCAR races. “I don’t know what to expect. There’s a lot of attitude and personality expressed when you get to Chicago, whether that’s through murals painted on the walls, graffiti artists, stuff like that. It will be a fun time.”

Wallace will carry his ambassador role over to the track in September. “Thanks for Nickelodeon for thinking of me and making me a part of this,” he said.

As far as his future driving plans, Wallace said, “We’re still working on that. We’re having multiple conversations every week and every day to try and figure out what’s next.”

DiCosmo said Nickelodeon works with a number of other pro sports, but NASCAR gives them something the other sports don’t: The ability to have cars and drivers dressed up like what people see in the movies.

“For Bubba to be able to step into a ‘Shredder’ car and a firesuit and a helmet really embodies what that character is all about,” said DiCosmo. “There’s no other sport where I could do that and there’s no other sport where you can interact with the athletes literally moments before they step onto the competition field. To give our brand an opportunity to be that closely aligned with a sport is phenomenal.”

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