Wallace Leaves Daytona Fighting For His Playoff Life

Bubba Wallace in action Saturday night at Daytona Int'l Speedway. (John Harrelson/NKP for Toyota Racing photo)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Bubba Wallace’s NASCAR Cup Series season has been a roller coaster of both emotions and results, and Saturday night was a microcosm of that.

In the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona Int’l Speedway, Wallace’s rigorous ride took yet another dip, after a hard-fought sixth-place finish was diminished by a winner who came from below the playoff cut line.

Entering the World Center of Racing, Wallace just needed a few things to happen: stay out of trouble; rack up stage points and lead laps; and at all costs – if in your control – don’t let there be a new winner.

However, that checklist fell through in a hurry starting on lap 191, ultimately leaving Wallace in a precarious position at the end of Daytona’s summer spectacular.

Wallace was in the third row of a three-wide lead pack when aggressiveness and bold moves finally went over the top. Race leader Michael McDowell went spinning in front of the field off of the front bumper of second-place Austin Cindric.

In the middle of turn one, McDowell did a half flip over the top of the field, setting off the first of two Big Ones and collecting a total of 14 cars.

Wallace nearly escaped the carnage, until Kyle Larson came spinning back up the banking, wounding a No. 23 Toyota Camry XSE that had race-winning pace for a second consecutive week.

Though the 30-year-old was able to bounce back from the wreck, driving through the field to 11th prior to overtime and ultimately finishing sixth, his rebound was spoiled by a new victor in Harrison Burton.

That pushed Wallace from 16th in the playoff picture and in the provisional postseason field to 17th and 21 points back, with only the regular-season finale at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway remaining.

Wallace was matter of fact in his criticism after the race, not blaming anyone else for the outcome.

“[We were] not good enough. Simple as that. Easiest way to put it,” said the Mobile, Ala., native. “We had a fast Columbia Toyota Camry – just not good enough.”

Wallace led laps, fourth-most in the field with 16, captured a stage point and, at times, was a one-man show for Toyota against an onslaught of Fords and Chevrolets. He was as high as 38 points above 17th-seeded Ross Chastain, who was caught up in a lap 60 wreck, at one point during the race.

However, it wasn’t enough for Wallace to reap the benefits of the strong run his No. 23 team put together at Daytona, even with help from splitter and nose damage to Chastain’s car that diminished the Trackhouse Racing driver’s aerodynamic performance.

With a new winner leapfrogging him, Wallace sits outside the playoffs and faces a likely must-win situation in the regular season finale. While his points deficit is somewhat manageable, he would likely need a near-perfect race at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway to make the playoffs without winning the race.

Meanwhile, Wallace’s teammate Tyler Reddick is 17 points up on Chase Elliott at the top of the standings and poised to claim 23XI Racing’s first regular season championship this season.

It’s a dichotomy Wallace is, understandably, very frustrated by.

“[We’ve] got one [team] car fighting for a regular-season championship, and another car right on the bubble. [That’s] unacceptable,” fumed Wallace.

Notably, Wallace tied his Cup Series career-high in season top 10s with his 10th Saturday night, with five of those coming in the last seven races. 23XI Racing has shown speed at Darlington with Wallace, too, with four consecutive top 10s at The Track Too Tough to Tame..

But his frustration comes from the fact he sits 13th in regular season points, but because four of the season’s winners sit below 16th in the standings, he’s one spot out in the playoff seeding.

Wallace recognized immediately in the wake of Saturday’s Daytona finish that it will be hard to knock off Chris Buescher for the final spot in the postseason when it comes to points.

In addition, the driver of the No. 17 Ford Mustang Dark Horse had a shot to win at Darlington back in May, if not for a late-race tangle with Tyler Reddick.

With all that in mind, Wallace knows he has little choice but to win the 75th Cook Out Southern 500 if he wants to return to the postseason for a second straight year, and he took the blame for his team even being in that position to begin with.

“I'll take all that weight on my shoulders. [We] should have won multiple times this year and I haven’t,” Wallace noted. “We don't even deserve to be [in this position] but we are.

“[We’ve] got to go win next week. That is it.”

The diamond running of the Cook Out Southern 500, the Cup Series’ regular season finale, takes place in its traditional Labor Day weekend slot. Broadcast coverage begins Sunday, Sept. 1 at 6 p.m. ET, live on USA, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.