MOORESVILLE, N.C. (March 26, 2024) -- When Bubba Pollard arrives at Richmond Raceway on Friday, he'll do so for the first time as a driver in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
One of the top Late Model drivers in the country, Pollard will be fulfilling the dream of every driver by competing against the best NASCAR has to offer in one of the three major stock-car classes in the world.
It will be quite a feeling rolling in for his first try at the top levels of the sport.
"I'll be excited, nervous...all of the above," Pollard said of rolling through the infield tunnel into historic Richmond as a driver. "I am looking forward to it. I really never thought this opportunity would come about, so I'm really just ready to have some fun."
Pollard has competed in hundreds of races throughout his career, and the basic preparations are the same in most any series. But this one will be in a car he's never driven at a track he's never competed on.
"It's going to be quite a bit different from what I’m used to," he said. "I think the car may be the easiest part. I’m not saying it’'ll be easy by any means, but I think it's going to be more about the track, where to hit your marks, what you need to do to get comfortable in terms of adjustments. Just getting comfortable in the car to get ready for 250 laps."
Having won most of the big Late Model races in his career, Pollard said his goal was to drive the No. 88 Rheem Chevrolet into Victory Lane.
"Realistically, it doesn’t’ matter if I have one start or 100 starts, the ultimate goal is to win the race," he said. "It doesn’t matter what I do in life, I always want to win. I think Andrew (Overstreet, crew chief) and everyone behind me at JR Motorsports is there to win too.
"At the end of the day, our goal is to win, but if I can get out of there with a good clean day, have some fun and just be respectful to other drivers and the car, I’ll call that a good day. Hopefully we can leave Richmond with a solid top-five or top-10 when it's all said and done."
The chance to make his NXS debut came about through Rheem's desire to promote short-track racers and provide opportunities at higher levels.
"When they (Rheem) called me at the beginning of the year, I knew it was the perfect fit," Pollard said. "Rheem and I go back a long way to when Brandon (Jones) started racing. With everything Rheem has in terms of short-track ties and JR Motorsports as well, to me, it was a perfect fit. They’ve been great to me over the years leading up to this.
"I feel like it's a perfect fit among Rheem, JR Motorsports and myself to go out and have a good run."