LONG POND, Pa. — Bubba Wallace and his wife have a baby on the way and a mortgage to pay on their home. So when Wallace eyed a pack of media at Pocono Raceway, he decided he’d be the one to open with a question.

“Anybody got any money?” he quipped.

Wallace was a bit light in the wallet this week after NASCAR fined him $50,000 for retaliatory contact against race winner Alex Bowman on the cooldown lap of the Chicago Street Race.

Wallace door-slammed Bowman’s car and sent it into the wall.

The move cost Wallace some cash, for sure — and yes, driving for Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing team, he can afford the fine. More than that, the incident opened Wallace’s eyes to the fact that he really wasn’t acting like the person he wanted to be at the track.

“The penalty was probably the best thing that’s happened to me,” Wallace said Saturday. “I’ve been miserable for years.”

The 30-year-old Wallace has long been open about his battles with depression triggered by both personal and professional struggles. Known for wearing his heart on his sleeve, Wallace acknowledged he hasn’t been a beacon of joy at the track as he approaches almost two years since his last Cup Series victory. He starts 29th in the No. 23 Toyota on Sunday at Pocono.

“I’ve been walking around with a persona I’m not proud of,” Wallace said.

Wallace apologized for his recent behavior to everyone from his publicist to a journalist he brushed off last week to Bowman and even the NASCAR official who informed him of the fine.

“I’m just frustrated. I’m trying way too hard,” Wallace said. “I’m not focused on the right things.”

Wallace has also wrestled with his role as an agent of change in NASCAR following his successful spark to help the industry ban the Confederate flag in 2020. He is seen as a hero to some, particularly those who have longed for a Black driver to shake things up in a predominantly white sport. To others, Wallace represents something else entirely and he has seen plenty of haters out on social media over his career.

“For the last four or five years, people have been wanting me out of the sport, right?” Wallace said. “People don’t really understand.”

Wallace found a surprising source of advice this week when he bumped into retired NASCAR great Kevin Harvick. Wallace was set to race with Harvick in a grassroots racing series when talk turned to the Bowman incident and NASCAR’s fine.

Long one of NASCAR’s most outspoken drivers, Harvick told Wallace to show up at Pocono “with a smile on my face and accept it.”

Wallace insisted his overall mental health was fine. But he owed an apology to one more person, his wife, Amanda.

“I wasn’t the best husband,” he said. “I made her feel like she had to walk on eggshells after bad races. That’s not what it’s about. It’s about going home and getting a fresh reset and being close to the people that are around you. That’s what I’m looking forward to.”