Bubba Wallace Shares That ‘Every Day’ as a First-Time Father to Son Becks Brings ‘Something New’ (Exclusive).Linh

Bubba Wallace is embracing his new role as a dad!

In an exclusive conversation with PEOPLE, the NASCAR star, 31, opens up about being a first-time father after he and wife Amanda Wallace welcomed their first baby, son Becks Hayden, last month.

“It’s been fun. He’s now a few weeks old, and he’s been a blessing,” Bubba — who has teamed up with McDonald’s and Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) to celebrate their 50^th anniversary with the Gift to RMHC program — says of his infant son.

“People always ask, ‘Are you ready?’ before your kid gets here, and you’re like, ‘I don’t know.’ And I can in fact say no, we were not ready. But it’s been fun figuring it out every day, because every day is something new,” adds the athlete.

Bubba and Amanda announced their son’s birth through a joint Instagram post on Oct. 1. They shared images of their newborn’s face, alongside photos of themselves cuddling their baby boy in the hospital.

“Amanda and I would like to introduce you to Becks Hayden!” wrote the couple, who wed in 2022. “We were blessed with his presence Sunday 9/29 ☺️ 9 months of waiting on this little guy, he’s made it all worth it! So excited for this journey!”

Bubba and Amanda initially announced they were expecting in April. At the time, they posted a series of ultrasound photos on Instagram.

“Spring has sprung,” the couple captioned their post. “Summer will be rad. Fall is the first time, We’ll be mom and dad!”

According to Bubba, his son’s name came to him and his wife before Becks was born.

“We were just going through baby names. ‘What about this name? What about that name?’ And then Becks rolled around, and I’m like, ‘Becks, Becks, Becks.’ That sounds good. It’s awesome. It’s not short for Beckham or anything, it’s just kind of a unique name.”

Becks’ middle name, however, was a different story. Bubba says he and Amanda “really took the longest time” to come up with it.

“We were trying to leave the hospital, and they were like, ‘Hey, we need a name.’ We’re like, ‘Oh, yeah, we’ve got to fill that part out.’ So we went with Becks Hayden,” he explains. “There’s no family ties to any of those names. They just sounded good, rolled off the tongue really well, and we enjoyed it.”