Bubba Wallace didn’t make the playoffs last year and sits on the brink again this year with eight races left in the regular season.
Bubba Wallace waves to the fans prior to the running of the NASCAR Cup Series Quaker State 400
He can look at his precarious position. He’s 23 points ahead of Ryan Preece for the final playoff spot on points with a good possibility that other drivers could win, decreasing the number of drivers who make it on points. This could happen in two ways:
— In 18 races, he has failed to finish six of them. That would tell a driver that this wouldn’t be his year, that the racing gods have decided that this would be the year the driver would end up in wrecks.
— Or despite those lack of finishes, it is a little bit remarkable that he actually still sits above the playoff cutline. No other driver above the cutline has more than three DNFs, except for Ryan Blaney, who also has six.
Predictably, Wallace has endured a rollercoaster of a season when it comes to his finishes. He has six top 10s, then six finishes of 28th or worse.
After three consecutive weeks of wrecking out of races, Wallace appeared to have gotten his season back on track with a sixth at Nashville, a fourth at Michigan and a respectable 12th at Mexico City.
But a brake failure at Pocono resulted in a 36th-place finish and then damage from an early wreck at Atlanta relegated him to 22nd.
Wallace has tried to put on a good face.
Bubba Wallace looks on during pre-race ceremonies prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Viva Mexico 250
He has been racing legends cars (small cars that are often used to teach pre-teens and early teens how to race) in a masters division during the week. A new father as of last fall, having a son probably helps take his mind off his 96-race winless streak. He tried to clear his mind this past week with a little golf.
“We’ve been throwing the word ‘execute’ around a while, but mainly on [team meeting day] Monday,” Wallace said the day prior to the Atlanta race. “It’s a new week, a new fresh set of downs, a new opportunity.”
The last couple of races have been particularly frustrating.
Both Pocono and Atlanta have been good tracks for Wallace. He was second in practice at Pocono but then his car wouldn’t start in qualifying. The brakes then left him going for a ride into the wall in the race after the team chose what turned out to be the wrong brake package.
An excellent drafting track racer, Wallace had to fight the car the last two stages at Atlanta instead of fighting for the win.
“You can’t change the past,” Wallace said Saturday at Atlanta. “Focus on what’s ahead. And hope my car starts in qualifying.
“We’ll get out of this little slump that we’re in.”
Bubba Wallace drives during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series The Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono Raceway
Wallace car owner Denny Hamlin expects Wallace to snap the winless streak. Just as he expects his other veteran driver, Tyler Reddick, to win this year.
“I just know the resources that we’ve put in at 23XI, and all of our drivers should win,” said Hamlin, who as a driver has three victories for Joe Gibbs Racing. “That is the expectation that I have of them. Obviously, it is a results-based business, and if you don’t over time, you consider your options.
“Overall, I’ve seen enough progression, specifically, from the [Wallace] standpoint, that I can see where this can go. Putting himself in a playoff position year after year is good, but winning makes it better.”
The way Wallace has pivoted on how he talks about frustrating moments is also better. There were times in the past where he’d unmercifully blame himself, indicating he should be fired. He’d wear his emotions on his sleeve.
“It is just so much easier if you have issues and you want to kick and scream, do it to us [at the shop],” Hamlin said. “When you do it outwardly in the public and in the media, it creates a lot of other distractions that you have to deal with.
“He’s made it easier. … He hasn’t even existed for a third of the races when it comes to finishes. I think it just shows how strong that they are, and what they are capable of doing.”
Bubba Wallace and Denny Hamlin look on during qualifying for the the NASCAR Cup Series Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway
In the last few weeks, Shane van Gisbergen won Mexico City and Chase Briscoe won Pocono. Both of those drivers were behind Wallace in points and now have all but assured themselves playoff spots.
It makes things more difficult for Wallace, but he doesn’t see it that way.
“In your imaginary drivers bracket that you thought at the beginning of the year, those two guys were already locked in,” Wallace said. “Briscoe has been competitive in everything he’s been able to drive, so that was cool to see him get a win although he was behind us in points.
“It is what it is. I told Shane two weeks before Mexico, I shook his hand and congratulated him.”
And on that imaginary bracket, does Wallace have him winning?
“We have expected to win at this point in the season, and we have yet to do that,” Wallace said. “But it goes back to executing and if we can just do our jobs, there’s no one behind us in the points that can beat us. So we’ll just continue to do that.”
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
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