NASCAR Cup Bristol II
Wallace touts Round of 12 playoff spot to those "counting us out"
Bubba Wallace faced down the prospect of NASCAR Cup playoff elimination with an impressive performance Saturday night at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
Jim Utter
Edited: Sep 17, 2023, 3:55 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Wallace, who drives the No. 23 Toyota for 23XI Racing, entered the 2023 playoffs without a win or any playoff points so advancing out of the first round was going to be a challenge.
He started with a seventh-place finish at Darlington but a wreck and 32nd place effort last week at Kansas left him one of the most likely to be eliminated at Bristol.
A difficult 14th place finish Saturday, combined with bad races by former series champions Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick, allowed Wallace to move on to the Round of 12 by four points.
Read Also:
And he continues to embrace those who would prefer not to see him succeed.
“I love that (expletive) right there – counting us out,” Wallace said referring to boos coming from the crowd. “Like (U.S. Open winner) Coco Gauff said, ‘All they’re doing is adding fuel to the fire. I love it.
“I love where I’m at with this team. Wish my mom, dad, sister were here to celebrate with me. I mean, (it’s been) a career year. Just got to keep it going.”
At this point, Wallace can’t finish any worse than 12th overall in the series standings, even without a victory so far. His best effort prior to this season was 21st in 2021.
Since the advent of stage racing in NASCAR, Wallace is one of only three drivers – Alex Bowman (2018) and Clint Bowyer (2019) are the others – to advance to the Round of 12 despite not having any playoff points.
Bubba Wallace, 23XI Racing, Columbia Sportswear Company Toyota Camry
Photo by: Gavin Baker / NKP / Motorsport Images
What that means is Wallace’s continued participation in the playoffs won’t come easy.
There is some good news, however.
Toyotas in general have been very competitive on intermediate tracks such as next weekend’s race at Texas. He has performed well on superspeedways and owns a Cup victory at Talladega, the second race of the next round.
“We know next week’s a reset. We just got to go out and have some fun, work our asses of,” he said. “Thank you to the ones that believe in me. Keep it going. Yeah, on to next week.”
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article NASCAR Cup champions Logano and Harvick eliminated from playoffs
Next article NASCAR Mexico Series joins Busch Clash at LA Coliseum in 2024
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jim Utter
Erik Jones agrees to multi-year contract extension with Legacy Motor Club
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Erik Jones agrees to multi-year contract extension with Legacy Motor Club
Goodyear's option tires at Richmond "were like Mario Kart with a star"
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Richmond II
Goodyear's option tires at Richmond "were like Mario Kart with a star"
NASCAR: Austin Dillon move was "really close to crossing the line"
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Richmond II
NASCAR: Austin Dillon move was "really close to crossing the line"
Latest news
Kaden Honeycutt: "I put my nuts on the dash" to win Homestead and NASCAR Truck title
NASCAR Truck
NSTR NASCAR Truck
Homestead
41 min
Kaden Honeycutt: "I put my nuts on the dash" to win Homestead and NASCAR Truck title
Chase Briscoe leads NASCAR Cup Homestead practice; Larson brushes wall and Reddick wrecks
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
4 h
Chase Briscoe leads NASCAR Cup Homestead practice; Larson brushes wall and Reddick wrecks
Hamlin and Bell left with what could have been in NASCAR Chase
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
4 h
Hamlin and Bell left with what could have been in NASCAR Chase
Why Max Verstappen ended F1 practice early in Brazil – Red Bull explains
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
5 h
Why Max Verstappen ended F1 practice early in Brazil – Red Bull explains
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe