Bubba Wallace (front) heads out of Turn 4 at Iowa Speedway during the Iowa Corn 350. (Photo: Wayne Riegle | The Podium Finish)
NEWTON, Iowa — After coming off the best weekend of his NASCAR Cup Series career, Bubba Wallace continued to show the race-winning speed that his 23XI program has produced in the past couple of weeks.
Wallace started the Iowa Corn 350 from Iowa Speedway just outside the top 10, giving the No. 23 a decent shot at running at the front of the pack for most of the day, knowing that the Next-Gen cars tend to struggle on short tracks like Iowa.
Passing was not going to be easy for any car in the field, with the repaved turns supplying high levels of grip but horrible tire fall-off throughout the long runs of the race. However, Wallace clicked into another gear, putting on a passing clinic in the closing stages of the race.
For the most part, the race was quiet for the No. 23 team. This was not a negative thing by any means, especially after coming off an incredible and historic milestone for Wallace and the young organization, that being winning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and clinching a playoff berth.
But on Lap 243, when a caution was thrown for Legacy Motor Club driver Erik Jones sliding across the grass on the frontstretch, Wallace knew a clean and efficient top 10 result was in jeopardy. Right before the caution was waved, Wallace made contact with the frontstretch wall fighting for position with fellow Toyota driver John Hunter Nemechek.
The damage from that conflict forced the No. 23 back down pit lane for service, putting Wallace outside of the top 30 and multiple laps down with 100 laps remaining in the race. Speed and luck were soon on Wallace’s side once again that evening.
Bubba Wallace (front) battles with future NASCAR Cup Series Playoff competitors Josh Berry (middle) and Shane Van Gisbergen (back) for position during the Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway. (Photo: Wayne Riegle | The Podium Finish)
From the drop of the green flag, the No. 23 Toyota Camry slowly sliced its way through the field, picking off every competitor one by one. With the help of multiple cautions throughout the closing stages of the show, Wallace moved his 23XI car near the middle of the pack with 40 laps to go.
With the varying tire and fuel strategy all over the racetrack, some front runners started to slow down compared to others from behind. If anything, Wallace just found more speed throughout the long run to the finish. By the time the checkered flag waved, the veteran 23XI driver brought home an impressive sixth place result, a solid way to back up a weekend that Wallace will never forget.
Even though the No. 23 had its struggles throughout the day, they showed the playoff grit that has been seen in flashes of past races from last year with teammate Tyler Reddick.
“It feels awesome to rebound from where we did from where we were at. I thought our day was going okay, but then we got trapped there on our strategy,” said Wallace in his post-race comments. “Halfway through the race, if you asked me if we would finish in sixth place, I would’ve said ‘hell no’.”
With all the struggles that the 23XI organization has been through over the past year, from the lawsuit against NASCAR to finding the race-winning pace the team has shown in the past, a result like this can help the No. 23 team when it comes to crunch time situations and the playoffs with a championship hope on the line.
Wallace will hit the track this coming weekend when NASCAR returns to upstate New York for a road trip around Watkins Glen International.
