(Photo: Dylan Nadwodny | The Podium Finish)
LINCOLN, Ala. — Every time that Bubba Wallace returns to Talladega Superspeedway, it’s familiar yet unpredictable.
Two years ago, Wallace won his first NASCAR Cup Series race at the track after waiting out multiple weather delays. At that point, he wasn’t a playoff driver.
Fast forward to 2023 — he’s got a spot in the Round of 8 on the line with 23XI Racing. But despite all the chaos that could ensue, he’s trying to remain level-headed and manage the weekend with the same expectations as any other week.
“It’s Talladega, you are not safe. Anything can happen,” Wallace said Saturday in a press conference. “If we do what we did at Daytona, and the first Talladega race – and finish where we were running, we will be OK. We just have to survive. We put a lot of scenarios in play – talking with our Toyota teammates on what we do and how we execute with it all. I was like we need to survive. There is usually only three Toyotas that finish the race, and there is only six of us. I was like – let’s get to the final 10 laps and then we can start to worry about this stuff.
“You don’t treat it any differently, you go out and do what you are capable of doing and try to execute the best you can. That is all you can do.”
Wallace, who barely snuck through to the Round of 12, enters Sunday’s middle race just two points below the cutline. He started the round at 14 points below the cut, but a third-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway narrowed that gap.
The 29-year-old from Mobile battled Kyle Larson for the win last week before Larson got loose late and crashed, ending his day early. On the final restart, Wallace made a mistake in Turn 3 that effectively ended his opportunity of winning the race.
(Photo: Dylan Nadwodny | The Podium Finish)
“If that is what it is, like, leading a hundred laps and finishing third – you do that every week – and it’s hard to do, but that is what we are capable of,” Wallace said. “When you are in the top three every week, they say your win is bound to come. I do believe that. We have to just keep putting our name in the hat and keeping doing what we know we are capable of doing.
“A win would be great. I would love to continue to advance by winning, not pointing our way in. But advancing is advancing – no matter how you do it. I don’t think the mindset changes. I thought last weekend was all-around one of our cleanest and greenest races from the 23’s perspective. I thought Bootie (Barker, crew chief), the pit crew, to me – we all kind of executed the way we should have.
“I guess if you divide it between three pieces of the pie – driver, pit crew, crew chief – I feel like a lot of times, we’re showing up with two of the three slices. We never had all three. So, we started to do that more and more, and look at what we are doing. It’s not because we are trying harder or whatever – it’s just show up and bring our a-game and we will take what we can get.”
Even outside of his victory at Talladega, Wallace has a strong track record at superspeedways. He has a pair of runner-up finishes in the Daytona 500 and five career top fives at between Daytona and Talladega.
Wallace doesn’t have the finishes at drafting tracks this season — his best result is 12th in five races, including the newly configured Atlanta Motor Speedway. But that doesn’t paint the entire picture as crashes and track position have limited some of his opportunities to win.
Even with a road course looming next, Wallace is confident about his chances of making NASCAR’s semifinal round.
“I think we are very capable of getting to the Round of 8,” he said. “I look at the third round – those are really good race tracks. Going off what I watched last year in Homestead – the car looked really, really fast, so I’m excited to get there, and then obviously, Vegas and Martinsville. I think if we can just fight our asses off these next weeks, it will be interesting to see what we can do for the remainder of the Playoffs.
“We know how crazy it can get. We just have to take it one lap at a time and understand what I said earlier – people are going to take themselves out, don’t be one of those people.”
Wallace will start ninth in Sunday’s YellaWood 500. Chase Elliott is the defending winner.
