Regardless of a late-season cost and a stable effort on the Darlington Raceway, Bubba Wallace got here up wanting making the NASCAR Cup Collection playoffs for the second season in a row.
A improbable qualifying lap on Saturday put Wallace on the pole for Sunday’s Southern 500 at Darlington, however a altering observe noticed the No. 23 crew battle to maintain up with changes. Nevertheless, within the race’s ultimate stage, the mixture of a cost from Wallace and Chris Buescher falling again noticed Wallace’s factors deficit to Buescher shrink to as little as two factors.
Nevertheless, a warning flag for a Carson Hocevar spin modified the complexion of the race and noticed each drivers all of the sudden begin moving into the wrong way. One other yellow flag pressured Wallacee to the center of the pack, the place he was caught up in a giant wreck in flip two with 23 laps to go.
Wallace’s harm wasn’t terminal, however it put him additional behind Buescher and crippled the automobile’s pace. Wallace clawed his approach to a Sixteenth-place end, however at that time, the factors hole to Buescher did not matter, as Chase Briscoe’s win knocked each Buescher and Wallace out of rivalry.
From June 30 to Aug. 24, Wallace racked up 5 top-10 finishes and 6 top-13 finishes in seven races, with the lone outlier being a Twenty sixth-place end at Michigan after Kyle Larson spun proper in entrance of Wallace.
So as to add insult to harm, Wallace sits twelfth within the Cup Collection’ regular-season standings. Solely wins by Briscoe, Harrison Burton, Austin Cindric and Daniel Suarez — all drivers under the top-16 threshold that determines the playoffs – saved Wallace and the No. 23 crew from making the playoffs in two straight seasons.
23XI Racing co-owner Michael Jordan was on web site for Sunday’s race, admitting to NBC Sports activities that he was nervous as he watched one among his two drivers compete for a playoff berth.
The excellent news for Wallace? The No. 23 crew has pace, and even with no championship to chase, it would not be a shock to see Wallace go to victory lane for the third time in his profession.
