Bubba Wallace shows growth, potential as he makes 200th Cup start

Bubba Wallace‘s journey through the NASCAR Cup Series reaches start No. 200 Sunday evening at Nashville Superspeedway.

The six years since his debut at Pocono Raceway as a fill-in driver for the then-injured Aric Almirola have been arduous, adventurous, and admittedly not always pretty. But the statistics don‘t lie: Wallace holds two wins, 15 top fives and 27 top 10s in 199 starts with an average finish that has improved every year of his Cup career to date.

With 10 races left in the 2023 regular season, the driver of the No. 23 Toyota for 23XI Racing provisionally holds the 15th of 16 spots in the NASCAR Playoffs with a 26-point buffer to the elimination line. That stems from a tremendous month of May that saw Wallace string together three straight top-five finishes at Kansas (fourth), Darlington (fifth) and Charlotte (fourth). Throw in the exhibition NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro where he finished runner-up to Kyle Larson and it‘s four straight.

MORE: Cup standings | Nashville schedule

Perhaps finally, Wallace has arrived on the Cup scene as a true regular contender.

“I think contender is probably the right and correct word for him,” Denny Hamlin, co-owner of 23XI Racing, said at Sonoma Raceway. “I think he was a participant for a while, and now he is a contender, week in and week out. That‘s what we wanted and what we expected, and that is what he‘s delivering.”

To get consistent results has necessitated growth as both a driver and a person, Wallace admits. Understanding how to maximize the performance of his vehicles required better use of the tools at his disposal — and a better mindset to handle the trials that come with the highest level of motorsports in the country.

His top-five streak was interrupted at World Wide Technology Raceway on June 4, when a failed brake rotor late in the event ended his day prematurely, resulting in a 30th-place finish after running inside the top 10.

“I think, year by year, you start to let that stuff go,” Wallace said. “Like for example, in (Sonoma) qualifying, I totally botched qualifying. And I think a year ago, I’d have been mad and pissed off, not trying to help the team get better. And I got out of the car and I was pissed off, yeah, for sure. But I was like, ‘Guys I messed that one up. Sorry. Move on.’ And (crew chief) Bootie (Barker) is like, ‘Hey, don’t think about it.‘ I was like, ‘I’m already thinking about what’s for dinner.‘ So we’re good. I think letting little stuff go and focusing on the big picture has helped us a tremendous amount.”

That shift in mindset did not happen overnight. Pit-road issues through the first half of 2022 often derailed good finishes for the No. 23 team, which Wallace didn‘t take lightly.

“I think we look at last year and we knew that all the mistakes that we had as a team and not executing put us behind,” he said. “You know, how we ran at the end of last year was how we should have ran at the beginning. But we couldn’t seem to get out of our own way. And so now that we’re not in our own way, the finishes are showing, so the speed’s been there.

“In Darlington, I look back and that may have been the one where I think we could have won … Other than that, we’ve finished kind of where we deserved, and then it’s been really good. So we’ve just got to keep pushing and striving for more. I think everything that’s been going on, putting the work in, the conversations that we have, Bootie and I, the engineers, are just making this better. It’s been paying off. So as long as we don’t get in our own way, we’re fine.”

Racing is largely momentum based — what happens one week seems to impact how a driver and their team enter the next race weekend. That‘s especially critical in a grueling 38-week schedule that just passed its lone off week until the season finale in November. A confident Wallace helps the No. 23 team handle its day-to-day tasks that much better.

“I think (Wallace) is a results person and that he is capable of winning, and he‘s got the confidence now that he is capable of being a successful driver in this series,” Hamlin said. “So even when you have bad weeks like you did (at WWT Raceway), you have a failure at the end, he was still competitive enough and in the top 10 to understand that, ‘I‘m with a really good team, and that team, in general, is really working well at improving.‘ I think that is what we are seeing. … I‘m just really happy of where he is at, and the progression he‘s made.”

That Hamlin has seen Wallace‘s progress firsthand has allowed him to exhibit more patience in his role atop 23XI Racing.

“He just needs to keep doing what he‘s done the last month and a half,” Hamlin said. “If you could have listened to what we were talking about on our ownership calls on what is the strategy to get the 23 in the playoffs, it was just kind of, let‘s everyone take a breath here and let‘s see how this goes for the next month and a half before we start changing our strategy. And then he goes on a run of top fives and top 10s. I think consistency still pays, not only to get in the playoffs but once you are in it.”

Indeed, Wallace is still seeking the first driver‘s playoff appearance of his career. Each of his two victories — Talladega Superspeedway in 2021 and Kansas Speedway in 2022 — have come during NASCAR‘s postseason after Wallace missed the playoff field. He did gain playoff experience last year by aiding the No. 45 team through the owner‘s championship bracket, advancing the team thanks to his Kansas triumph after former driver Kurt Busch put the car itself in the playoffs.

The next 10 races will emphasize execution and resilience, starting Sunday in Nashville (7 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) where Wallace rolls off ninth after spinning in the final round of qualifying.

RELATED: Full-field analysis heading into home stretch of regular season

Ten drivers have locked themselves into the playoffs with wins this year, meaning six spots remain available on points. Kyle Busch and William Byron lead the series with three wins apiece while Kyle Larson and Martin Truex Jr. hold two each. As positions dwindle, Wallace knows his situational awareness must remain a premium — and that other drivers’ first wins of the year like Ryan Blaney‘s Coca-Cola 600 triumph at Charlotte mean another opportunity vanished.

“I think when we’re when we’re riding fourth or fifth in the last couple laps, you’re like, ‘Alright, it’s the No. 8 (Busch) or 5 (Larson) or 24 (Byron), they’re already good.‘ Like I was pumped for Blaney, but I was like, ‘Damn, that’s a spot gone,‘” Wallace said. “So we’re paying attention to that stuff. But you can’t get too far ahead and start thinking about that stuff. You’ve still got to go out and execute. And you know when the time is right, it’ll show up. So we keep putting our name in the hat and showcasing that we’re here, we’ll be fine.”