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Mandatory Credit: Vasha Hunt-USA TODAY Sports

Bubba Wallace reflects on disappointing finish at Talladega: ‘Didn’t make the right moves’

Originally posted on 5 GOATs | By Jonathan Howard | Last updated 10/1/23

Things did not go well for Bubba Wallace and his No. 23 team late at Talladega in the Yellawood 500, and he finished P23. This means that Wallace will have to overcome a points deficit at the Charlotte Roval. To hear it from the NASCAR driver himself, he just didn’t do what he needed to do.

For whatever reason, Wallace didn’t carry his qualifying speed to the race. He was up in the top-5 and top-10 at times, but never for long and only when the outside line got going.

It was fun for fans to see that three-wide racing. However, it wasn’t enough to get the job done for Bubba Wallace and his team.

“Just, I don’t know, we need to go back and debrief and figure out,” Wallace said to NBC. “But track position was so important. If the bottom and the middle lanes were riding and the pace slowed down enough you could make the third lane work, but that last pit stop we had a number we were trying to get for fuel and we came out 13th or 14th when we were 5th.

“I made a wrong call there I cost us and the 45 a lot of positions and a really good day. Didn’t make the right moves there at the end but just trying to make up for what we had lost, track position-wise.”

Bubba Wallace echoed his “just another race” mantra at the end of his interview. He heads to the Roval for an elimination race.

Ryan Blaney wins this race over Kevin Harvick. That is, until Harvick got disqualified from the race for having his windshield fasteners unfastened.

For Bubba Wallace, he will hope to have a repeat of his Roval performance last season. He was able to steal a top-10 finish last year at this track.

If Bubba Wallace makes Round of 8, he goes all-in on Las Vegas

Now, it’s going to be a tough battle for Bubba Wallace at the Roval. He just doesn’t stack up well when you look at his history at the track and his road course background. Wallace qualified P14 and he finished P7 a year ago, if we want to go with recency bias.

I’ll even give him credit for a P14 finish in the 2021 race. Also to Wallace’s credit, he’s always improved his previous result at this race in his five starts. Wallace did overcome the second-largest deficit to make the Round of 12 at Bristol.

Still, eight or nine points is a lot to overcome at this point in the playoffs.

With that being said, I suspect if Bubba Wallace makes the Round of 8, there is just one way for this team to look at it. They will have to go all-in on Las Vegas. If this Cinderella has any chance of making it to the ball, it would be a win at Vegas and a ticket to Phoenix.

Right now, it doesn’t look like we will see Wallace advance beyond the Round of 12., barring a career-best finish at the Roval. It’s a true long shot. But the Roval has produced wilder results before.

This article first appeared on 5 GOATs and was syndicated with permission.

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