(Photo: Christopher Vargas | The Podium Finish)
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — By virtue of a repeat winner, Bubba Wallace clinched the final spot in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs Saturday at Daytona International Speedway.
Wallace by no means had the flashiest race; after finishing sixth in Stage 1, he finished 21st in Stage 2 before coming across 12th in overtime. Nonetheless, clinching his first career playoff spot is a relief for the 29-year-old from Mobile, Alabama.
“What an incredible feat for our 23 team,” Wallace said after the race. “I had a heart-to-heart with my team after Atlanta after qualifying – I said if we got our shit together, we can do great things in the Playoffs. I’m so proud of the team from top down, very thankful. Back to the team – it took longer than I wanted, but to get the 23 and 45 locked in the Playoffs for all our partners, coming off a great week down at the Grove. Just to be here and get it done.”
After a crash on Lap 95 of Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 took out Ty Gibbs, the only way that Wallace wouldn’t have made the playoffs was with a new winner. Stewart-Haas Racing driver Chase Briscoe controlled most of the race by leading an event-high 67 laps, but lost track position on the final set of green-flag pit stops.
In the final laps of the race, the RFK Racing duo of Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski and SHR’s Kevin Harvick migrated to the front. Keselowski pushed Buescher to his third win of the season, a win that confirmed Wallace’s playoff status.
(Photo: Christopher Vargas | The Podium Finish)
“I’m just relieved,” Wallace explained. “I apologized to my wife (Amanda) all week. I haven’t been myself – I’ve been stressing. Thankful that we are in it. That is the most calm I’ve ever been. It’s ass-backwards. You come to Daytona, and you focus so much on controlling the things that you can control. My stubborn ass never wants to listen to people telling me that. I finally did that, and we are locked in.
“Shout to Chris Buescher – I’ll finally let our Dover beef go. Congrats on the win. We are settled. Good job.”
Wallace rode a consistent stretch over the final seven races of the regular season, though the finishes weren’t always the highest. Since New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July, Wallace has scored 29 or more points in six of the seven races to point in over Gibbs and Daniel Suarez, among others.
A first-time participant in the driver’s championship, Wallace drove the No. 45 car for 23XI Racing in last year’s owner’s playoffs where he won at Kansas Speedway. He also won his first career Cup race in the 2021 fall Talladega race, which was also a playoff event.
Both 23XI cars are locked into the driver’s championship for the first time in the organization’s three-year history. Wallace, however, didn’t qualify for the owner’s championship as the Hendrick Motorsports No. 9 car took the final spot on points.
“I’m really proud of the whole 23XI team to get two cars in the Playoffs in just our third year,” 23XI co-owner and Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin said. “It’s a testament to all of the hard work they’ve been putting in. You can’t do it without your manufacturer in Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing for the alliance and the team itself for putting fast cars on the race track, and on top of that, the drivers working to get better. We’ve seen a really big shift for Bubba (Wallace) getting better. He’s stepping up and I look forward to seeing what he does.”
Besides his two wins, Wallace said locking into the playoffs for the first time is one of his greatest accomplishments.
“On my Mt. Rushmore. I don’t have a lot of things on my Mt. Rushmore,” Wallace said. “I got two faces with my two wins, I’ll put this as the third face up there. It’s pretty special. Just relieved. I don’t have much emotion, just relieved, drained mentally.
“Glad we’ve got the day off [Sunday], because I’ll be hurting on Monday.”
