“There’s gonna be a lot of pressure”: Bubba Wallace’s future at 23XI Racing could get tricky as per NASCAR Insider
That sent NASCAR journalist Jordan Bianchi into a sharp comment on what the future could be for Bubba Wallace, who was out of playoff contention for this season. Wallace was the first driver when the team was announced in January 2020 for completing the 23XI Racing team’s name. The #23 driver has been with the team since the beginnings of the team owned by Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan and only has two wins in four seasons.
While Wallace took 12 races to log 100 laps, his teammate Tyler Reddick has completed more than double of that in half the time. Reddick signed for 23XI in 2023 and since his entry has clinched four races and the NASCAR Regular Season championship trophy for this year. Denny Hamlin, on the other hand, has been in the playoffs three times in his career in the Cup Series; while Bubba Wallace has only one time in only his Cup Series. In fact, Reddick has been making playoffs for two consecutive years for the 23XI racing. Highlighting this contrast between the two 23XI drivers, NASCAR insider Bianchi said:Highlighting this contrast between the two 23XI drivers, NASCAR insider Bianchi said:
“This is year four for Bubba Wallace at 23XI Racing. They’ve made the playoffs one time. He’s won two races. That’s tough to swallow when your teammate is — Tyler Reddick, has won two races in each of the last two years, and just won the regular season championship. That’s hard. There’s gonna be a lot of pressure on Bubba next year. You’ve got to take that next step. Some of the things you can’t control. You can’t control getting wrecked at Michigan when you got a fast racecar.”
Bianchi said they are very happy with Wallace’s performance in Darlington, though when the speed got beyond him, then the race was over. He told the residents that the #23 team does not always do ‘a good enough’ job when it comes to ensuring that they stay up-to-date. For that aspect of bad luck and being collected in a wreck, that also occurred at Darlington according to Bianchi, Wallace needs to stop getting himself there.
“Sometimes that’s unavoidable with pit stop cycles, but too often it seems like they find themselves in these spots where they shouldn’t be, and bad things happen to them,” he added.
Bubba Wallace reacts to him not making the playoffs after the race at Darlington
Following the start of the race at Darlington from the first position, Bubba Wallace was on the way of having an ideal evening to make it to the playoffs. His results in the past few weeks, indicated that Wallace had developed the speed and the kind of consistency that would get him to the playoffs.
Since Nashville Wallace had three more races with finishes that ranked him within top ten and few within top five. Still, after he was unlucky to be collected in a late-race wreck at Darlington, Wallace’s playoff position became even worse. In post-season, after final race of the regular season Wallace stated that his exclusion from the play-off wasn’t because of the lazy man’s work.
“Man, just wasn’t good enough for 16th this year. I hate that. It stinks saying that, but it wasn’t for a lack of effort for all of us on the 23 car. Best of luck to the 45 (Tyler Reddick) and hopefully a Toyota wins,” Wallace said after the race at Darlington.
In doing so, Wallace considered himself to be out of playoffs as an affair that he could not agree with. But he also compliment Chase Briscoe, who won the race at Darlington, for outdoing the #23 team and brought it when it was time to bring it.
