Wallace ‘Continuing To Rebound’ With Consecutive Podiums

Bubba Wallace (Scotte Sprinkle/Race Face Digital photo)MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Bubba Wallace’s spring momentum in the NASCAR Cup Series continued Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, after he made it back-to-back third place finishes with a podium run in the Cook Out 400.

Just like last weekend at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway, Wallace was fastest in practice, qualified inside the top 10, and ultimately finished third after an overall strong day.

Wallace never ran outside the top 15 all race long and averaged a running position inside the top five throughout the 400-lap distance. His overall driver rating Sunday of 116.6 (out of a possible 150) was third-best in the field, behind only fourth-place Chase Elliott and winner Denny Hamlin.

The entire season has been great to the Mobile, Ala., driver thus far. Three top 10s, two top fives, and even an outside pole at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, have combined to create the hottest start he has ever had in his Cup Series career.

“No doubt,” Wallace said when asked about his race and if 23XI Racing is continuing to improve with his recent momentum. “A good day, nonetheless. I'm trying to scratch my head on what I could have done differently. My restarts were terrible. That’s usually one of my best traits, so I need to go back and study that. What a great day, though. We’re continuing to rebound from the start of our season.

“Super proud of our group here at the (No.) 23 team. The McDonald’s Toyota Camry was fast all weekend.”

Wallace lined up on the outside of the front row with 75 laps left for the race’s final green-flag run, but couldn’t clear down behind his team co-owner Hamlin after the restart and eventually ceded second to Christopher Bell. He hung onto third the rest of the way, ending up 5.211 seconds back at the checkers.

“That final restart, I let that second (place) get away,” Wallace noted. “I don’t know if I had anything for Denny. It would have been fun to try. But all in all, hell of a day for Toyota. Top three (sweep). That’s nice to keep the momentum going. We’re having fun.

Denny Hamlin (11) leads Bubba Wallace Sunday at Martinsville Speedway. (David Rosenblum/Nigel Kinrade Photography)

“I feel like we were definitely better than the 20 (Bell), but just everybody get so stuck,” Wallace continued. “When you feel like you have an advantage, you can’t really do anything with it. We need to continue to work on this package, but all-in-all – back-to-back top fives is a good day. It’s usually around those summer months when we do that (laughter).

“It is nice to have a really good points day. I’m sure that’s what the text from MJ (co-owner Michael Jordan) will say.”

Though his average finish sits at 17.3 due to a pair of incident-related DNFs, stage points and his two recent podiums have kept Wallace well in the game, as he sits eighth in the regular season standings after seven races.

Some of that improvement comes from the efforts of new crew chief Charles Denike, who came to 23XI Racing during the offseason from McAnally-Hilgemann Racing in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and who Wallace gave due credit to after Sunday’s race.

“We’ve showed up since the beginning of the season with our heads in the game. Charles jumping into this – I’m super proud of him to basically pick up where we left off,” Wallace pointed out. “Bootie (Barker, former crew chief) left him in good hands. It was definitely a team effort all day.

“Good to come out of here with a good result at one of my favorite places.”

After celebrating his own win as a driver Sunday, Hamlin also offered his praise to Bubba and the team.

As the co-owner of 23XI Racing, Hamlin has invested a lot into the team and all three of its drivers. He is also very hands-on with the drivers to help them improve, and is proud of Wallace, believing he will win sooner than later.

“Generally speaking, I didn’t see that kind of (winning) speed out of the 23 (Wallace) or the 20 (Bell) yesterday. I thought, and I was for the most part, kind of racing against the Hendrick cars, mostly the 9 (Chase Elliott),” Hamlin recalled. “But it’s great to see especially that team and Bubba (excelling). Like, they're really good right now. … They’re on the edge of winning races, I feel, and it’s great to see.

“My perfect scenario is me winning and my team cars (finishing) second, third, (and) fourth. That would be the perfect scenario,” Hamlin added with a laugh. “It’s nearly impossible to have. But when you’re able to execute a day where we can win and they can be in the top five and contending for a win, that’s just like I scripted it up.”

The momentum has a good chance to continue for Wallace and the No. 23 team, as the next race is at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, where he won the pole for the Southern 500 last year.

Wallace also is currently 58 points above the cutline for the playoffs. After making it to the Round of 12 in 2022, he has barely missed the cut the last two years and hopes to rectify that this season.

The next race for the NASCAR Cup Series is the Goodyear 400 at Darlington during NASCAR’s annual throwback weekend.

Broadcast coverage airs Sunday, April 6 at 3 p.m. ET, live on FS1, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.